Dear Friends of Highpoint,

I’m thrilled to join you as Executive Director of Highpoint Center for Printmaking.

I have deep respect for Highpoint and its history. Leading up to my appointment and since my arrival last month, I’ve spent time meeting with members of Highpoint’s community to learn more about the organization. What is clear from all of these conversations is how impactful Highpoint’s programming is on individual lives, our local arts ecosystem, and the international art community. This impact and Highpoint’s sustained success are the results of its visionary co-founders, Cole Rogers and Carla McGrath, and a dedicated and thoughtful staff, who built the programs and relationships that have resulted in the lasting culture and following that surrounds the organization.

Cole and Carla founded Highpoint Center for Printmaking to address a lack of access and community for printmakers in the Upper Midwest. Since opening in 2001, Highpoint has grown into a dynamic community of artists, collectors, gallery-goers, class-takers, and the print-curious.

Highpoint’s mission, values, and unique programming model align with my lived and professional experience. I share Cole and Carla’s entrepreneurial impulse: I founded Waiting Room, a gallery for local and national emerging artists, and the Emerging Curators Institute, an educational fellowship program for women, non-binary curators, and curators of color. I produced educational programs for all ages at the Walker Art Center and learned about evolving artists’ needs across the state while Program Director for Mn Artists. I understand the significance of printmaking through art historical and contemporary lenses and served as Gallery Director and Curator at Macalester College before joining Highpoint (where I presented the work of renowned printmakers like Roger Shimoura!) I started my career as a studio artist and I know the value of the studio, both for producing artwork and for building community with other artists.

My leadership approach is collaborative; I have been engaging staff, board, artists, and audiences, in conversations to expand upon the success of Highpoint’s 20-year foundation and collectively envision our future. The future of Highpoint will be built with the communities that surround it; because we value education, Highpoint will be a learning organization and actively learn with, and from, artists and audiences; we will create conversation-worthy programs and ask big questions about how print connects us to important conversations of our time; we will grow to become a gathering place where both the arts-invested and broader public feel a sense of belonging; we will empathetically respond to the issues affecting our communities, locally and globally.

At the core of this vision, we will continue to share the story of printmaking, its unique history, processes, and artistic labor. Highpoint doesn’t just value prints, we value printmaking—how prints are made—we value printmakers, and we value new and returning community members. I look forward to meeting you in the months to come and would love to learn more about your connection to Highpoint and ideas for our future. Please stop by one of our upcoming events to introduce yourself!

Warmly,

Jehra Patrick

Originally printed in Presstime Fall/Winter 2022