Our Facilities

Highpoint occupies 10,000 street-level square feet facing Lake Street in the heart of Uptown. The printshop is designed for accessibility and is ADA-compliant. Highpoint has off-street parking spaces available behind our building (off Colfax  Avenue South) for members and visitors, one off-street parking space for a school bus, and ample on-street parking in the surrounding area.

Access Policy

Highpoint Center for Printmaking provides equal opportunity and access to its facilities and programs to all individuals and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, color, gender, age, beliefs, sexual orientation, or disability in admission, access, or employment. Upon request, accommodation will be provided to allow individuals with disabilities to participate in all Highpoint services, programs, and activities. Adopted by the Board of Directors on January 27, 2005.


Galleries

Main Gallery

Each year, the Main Gallery at Highpoint hosts the McKnight Printmaking Fellowship exhibition and the Jerome Early Career Printmakers exhibition, as well as two semi-annual Artists Co-op Member shows, two international print exhibits or collectives, and the annual student show. Highpoint’s Main Gallery also exhibits work from Highpoint Editions, organizes a biennial juried print show, Stand Out Prints, and periodically hosts other traveling exhibitions. Each of these exhibitions takes place within our beautiful, 1,000-square-foot (135 linear feet), window-lit gallery that overlooks Lake Street. 

Additionally, a selection of Highpoint co-op member prints is always available to peruse and purchase in the print sales racks near the gallery entrance.

Print Research & Study Room

For print enthusiasts, this room allows a more intimate viewing experience of Highpoint Editions published prints. With the archives readily accessible, visitors from schools and universities, as well as researchers and collectors, can take a closer look at the diverse work from HP’s visiting artist program, past and present.

The 325-square-foot Print Research and Study Room always features HP Editions prints on its walls, has flat files full of artwork, and is equipped with rolling screens that contain additional Highpoint Editions framed inventory.

Threshold Gallery

In 2010, Highpoint created the Threshold Gallery to showcase solo work by co-op artists. Located adjacent to Highpoint’s north entrance, the Threshold Gallery presents four exhibits annually. This intimate space allows each artist the chance to organize a “mini-show” and personally curate the space.

The Threshold Gallery contains 30 linear feet of dedicated display area.


Highpoint's Cooperative Space

Approximately 1850 square feet, dedicated to Highpoint’s Artists Cooperative.

  • Flat file, storage locker and vertical storage provided for each member

    Wi-fi through facility

    LED overhead lighting

    Large skylight with retractable shade

    Reusable shop rags

    Large work area with seating

    Large light table

    Paper tearing station with fixed tear bar and 9/32" registration punch

    Portable rulers, tear bars, and cutting mats

    14 professional grade composition rollers and brayers (1-1⁄2 x 2" * up to 6-1⁄2 x 20-1⁄2")

    Lighted solvent exhaust booth

    Miscellaneous studio supplies including black ink for all processes, ink modifiers, bench hooks, drawing bridges, transfer paper, rulers, files, rasps, step stools, etch cups, stainless steel bowls, technical reference books, etc.

    Kitchen for co-op members with refrigerator, microwave, sink, tea and coffee makers

    Key card access 8am – midnight, 365 days per year, except during occasional special events

    Threshold Gallery and exhibition opportunities

  • Approximately 680 square feet of Highpoint’s 1,850 square foot Cooperative space is dedicated to intaglio, relief, and monoprinting.

    Amenities for the intaglio, relief and monoprinting areas include:

    Three Takach presses: 24 x 48", 30 x 48", 40 x 72"

    Assorted blankets for intaglio, monotype, collagraph, and relief

    Foot-operated 36" wide plate shear

    36 x 48" paper soaking sink

    Heated plate wiping station

    24 x 36" professional hot plate for melting grounds and fusing rosin

    Four vertical ferric etching tanks for plates up to 30 x 40"

    Plate rinsing sink

    Trays for spit bite and sugar lift

    Aquatint box for plates up to 30 x 40"

    Terry towels for blotting

    Assorted acrylic sheets for use as monotype matrices

    32 x 48 " print drying rack

    100+ square feet drying board with pins

    Homasote boards and weights for flattening/drying

    Plastic cards for ink application

    Various plate oils

    Whiting

    Degreasing and deoxidizing solutions

    Putz Pomade

    3 in 1 oil

    Steel wool

    Felt scraps (for polishing)

    Liquid and ball grounds

    Asphaltum

    Ground rosin

    Newsprint

    Tarlatan

  • Approximately 490 square feet of Highpoint’s 1850 square-foot Cooperative space is dedicated to Lithography.

    Amenities of the lithography area include:

    Two 34 x 60″ Takach presses, each with a 30 x 40″ plate backer

    Retractable vent hood for stone or plate processing at each press

    Scraper bars from 8″ to 30″

    Tympans of assorted sizes

    Library of 75 lithographic stones from ″ x 11″ up to 26 x 34″

    Half-ton capacity hydraulic stone lift

    48 x 60″ graining sink

    Two leather rollers

    32 x 48″ print drying rack

    Carborundum grits (80 - 220)

    Levigator

    Citric acid counter etch

    Various litho varnishes

    Lithotine

    Gum arabic

    Nitric and phosphoric acids

    Tapem and 50/50 (for aluminum plate etching)

    Rosin and talc

    Asphaltum

    Newsprint

    Emerald plate developer

  • Approximately 500 square feet of Highpoint’s 1850-square-foot Cooperative space is dedicated to screenprinting.

    Amenities of this screenprinting area include:

    47 x 63″ vertical lift, one-arm vacuum screen press with micro-registration dials, and 24, 32, and 40" dedicated squeegees

    Two 36 x 48″ vacuum printing tables

    Backlit washout sink with pressure washer for screens up to 60 x 72″

    Emulsion Remover, screen degreaser, and Simple Green

    24 squeegees from 4″ – 34″ blade length in two different durometers (hardness)

    8 scoop coaters from 6″ – 28″ blade length

    Vertical storage area for screens

    Screen drying rack with overhead fan

    32 x 48″ print drying rack

    Kickstands and spatulas

    Newsprint

  • Approximately 240 square feet of Highpoint’s 1850-square-foot Cooperative space is dedicated to the darkroom.

    Amenities of the darkroom include:

    20 x 24″ vacuum photopolymer plate exposure unit

    42 x 62″ photo-litho one-point exposure unit

    50 x 70″ UV screen exposure unit

    47 x 70″ plate developing sink

    Assorted photo-developing trays

    Horizontal storage for emulsion-coated screens up to 48 x 60″

    18 x 24″ Aquatint exposure screen

    Stouffer scale

    Storage space for light-sensitive materials

    Emulsion storage

  • Key card access 9 am-midnight, 365 days per year, except for occasional special events

    Opportunity to participate in co-op member exhibitions in the main gallery (semi-annual)

    4 yearly individual member show opportunities in the Threshold Gallery

    Print racks in the reception area and gallery for the sale of co-op member work

    Reference library of over 300 books on Printmaking techniques, studios, artists, and exhibitions

    Compilation of various resources for co-op members

    Weekly email updates on exhibition and professional opportunities

    25% off all HP print classes

    Discounted Steel-facing services

Classroom

Each year Highpoint’s classroom serves several thousand students and community members of all ages as part of our school partnership programs, free community workshops, and adult classes. Highpoint’s classroom is an accessible space for visitors to experience hands-on printmaking in a professional studio setting.

  • Approximately 950 square feet. For school groups, seating for up to 30.

    Takach etching press: 40 x 72"

    Conrad etching press: 24 x 48"

    12 portable screenprinting stations

    30 - 24 x 31" screens

    24 x 48" light table

    18 x 24" drying rack

    ADA accessible restroom

    Digital Projector for demonstrations

    11 x 17″ laser printer for separations

Professional Shop

Highpoint Editions (HPE), founded in 2004, is the publishing arm of Highpoint Center for Printmaking. Through the HPE visiting artist program, artists create original editions with the guidance and support of a Master Printer, Senior Printer, and printing staff. Since Highpoint’s inception, HPE has created over 800 original prints and editions. HPE has worked with esteemed artists such as Julie Mehretu, Brad Kahlhamer, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby and exhibited works by diverse artists in The Contemporary Print: 20 Years at Highpoint Editions exhibition at Mia, and several fairs such as EXPO Chicago, IFPDA in NY, and Ink Miami among others. Read more about Highpoint Editions.

  • Highpoint Editions is a 1450-square-foot semi-private studio.

    Takach Variable speed motorized intaglio press 44 x 84"

    Takach variable speed motorized lithographic press 40 x 72"

    AWT Seri-Glide one-arm vacuum screen press 88 x 72"

    Etching facilities up to 42 x 60" plates

    Large skylight with retractable shade

    Steel-facing tank for plates up to 32 x 50"

    Large lighted exhaust booth

    Assorted brayers 2 - 12" in length

    Assorted rollers up to 10" diameter by 39" length

Visiting Artist Studio

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Overlooking Highpoint's rain garden, the Visiting Artist Studio is a well-equipped, 300-square-foot semi-private space for Highpoint Editions artists to develop their images and consult with the Master Printer and printing staff. The carefully engineered studio is easily customized to fit the needs of individual artists and the scope of their projects.


Robert L. Crump Library

Thanks to a wonderful gift from the Crump Family (Jonathan, Matt, Aaron and Sarah Crump, and Tina Crump Lanier) Highpoint Center for Printmaking was able to create a library to honor the life and work of Minnesota artist and printmaker Robert L. Crump.

The Robert L. Crump Library at Highpoint serves to document, present, and preserve publications about prints and the printmaking arts. A non-circulating collection, the library houses thousands of titles from a wide range of publishers from around the world. Books from the private collection of Robert L. Crump have been donated to the library. The goal is also to include exhibition catalogs and monographs, a selection of artist books, and periodicals and journals as space permits.

The library is open by appointment during Highpoint’s gallery hours (9–5 Monday through Friday; Noon-4 Saturday).

About Robert L. Crump: Robert L. Crump, who passed away in 2009, was a noted artist and printmaker and former superintendent of the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition. He worked as a designer and an art director for companies in Minneapolis and the Midwest.

In his 2009 book published by the Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota Prints and Printmakers: 1900 –1945, Robert Crump relates the fascinating story of Minnesota’s graphic arts world and its growth from provincialism to part of a national movement, showing how art printing — etchings, woodcuts, lithographs, drypoints, monotypes, and screenprints — blossomed after the turn of the last century. He chronicles the support of the federal government during the 1930s and the important role played by local organizations such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Minneapolis School of Art (now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design). The book offers short biographies of and sample prints by nearly two hundred printmakers, including Wanda Gag, Adolf Dehn, George Resler, Miriam Ibling, Syd Fossum, Gilbert Fletcher, and Gustav Goetsch. Crump’s eye for memorable images makes the book a pleasure to behold for collectors and readers interested in Minnesota art. (excerpted from MNHS website and Amazon.com)

Visit the Minnesota Historical Society’s website at MNHS.org to purchase this book.