Interview with Jasper Duberry

This month, we had the opportunity to interview Jasper Duberry, co-op member, recent Full Color Print Fellow, artist, and new dad (!!!), about their creative practice, inspiration, and what being a part of Highpoint has meant to them.

I am a printmaker who lives in Minnesota, where I grew up most of my life.  My printmaking is focused primarily on the form of relief through woodcuts.  Art has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember.  As a kid, I would draw the Rugrats and provide coloring sheets for my kindergarten class. My love for printmaking, however, didn’t start until I learned the art form in college.  I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin (Go V-hawks!). The themes that I like to explore are those encompassing the black experience – pain, joy, excellence, healing, and resistance, to name a few. Exploring these themes has provided an avenue for me to reflect and express personal emotions, thoughts, and feelings of being a black male in America.

Can you tell me more about your current exhibition in the Threshold gallery at Highpoint?

Absolutely. First of all, I am extremely grateful and fortunate that Highpoint makes this available for it’s members to have this fantastic opportunity.  I think every artist dreams of having their own show at some point so opportunities like this are fantastic to come upon. 

The woodcuts in my show explore themes from my experiences and encompass the Black experience – pain, joy, excellence, healing, and resistance, to name a few.  As I have been working on my pieces, along with curating my show, I wanted to tell a story that ranges from pain and struggle through resistance and rallying to creating the future we want to see and victory.  I have also been drawn to using the medium and my pieces towards educating on Black history, topics and moments as well.  With that, you will see my piece “Just Us,” which is focused on the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 – which helped give Blacks and other marginalized groups protection to be able to vote in America.

I believe that the viewers, no matter what walk of life they are from, will be able to resonate with the pieces.

You've been involved with Highpoint in several capacities, including co-op member and Full Color Print Fellow. Could you talk about your experience?

My experience with Highpoint started with the Full Color Print Fellowship. It was truly timing and stars aligning that brought me to Highpoint. After being gone for several years, I had just moved back to Minnesota and was looking around for a printmaking studio.

What drew me to Highpoint was their state-of-the-art studio, availability of many different printmaking styles, and a clear commitment to diversity and community.

When I reached out to check it out, I was introduced to the Full Color Fellowship and told about it.  That confirmed my prenotion on how Highpoint showed its commitment to diversity and community.  My experience with the fellowship and time after it has been nothing short of amazing.  My favorite part of being at Highpoint through these experiences has been the opportunity to meet many visiting artists, getting to explore many different techniques and classes along with non-stop continual support from staff and other members on whatever venture or idea that I want to explore from themes to materials or research to help foster my thoughts and ideas. I would say my highlight so far has been the opportunity to hang my pieces in the Threshold Gallery.  Special shoutout to Josh, who is always available for questions and ideas and helping make this show physically happen. 

Highpoint is a community where everyone belongs. A place where everyone is able to be themselves both personally and artistically and has the freedom to explore whatever idea or theme they would like to without fear and provided the tools and guidance along the way to help them get there.

Obviously, being part of the Full Color Print Fellowship, I would say that this is something I am very passionate about and would love to see continued and for others to know about.  I would also challenge those who don’t think about representation in art to take some time to educate themselves on it.  This can be seen and not seen on many different levels, from the art that we are shown (and again not shown) in museums to deciding who dictates what messages and art should be seen, and at its smallest scale, it is programs like this that start to turn the tide with some of these ideas and concepts. 

Highpoint has been a huge help with both my creative process and my early career as a printmaker.  From a creative process standpoint, Highpoint has been instrumental not just in the equipment and space it provides as far as co-op but also in the continual education in the form of classes and access to visiting artists, shows, and resources as well. 

Some of the best magic about Highpoint is how all the artists here are on similar journeys of wanting to improve, help one another, and be successful. There hasn’t been a single day that I am in the studio where a fellow co-op member hasn’t asked what I was working on or made a suggestion for technique or simply an artist to check out.  This magic also carries over into our careers as far as getting the opportunity to meet possible patrons and collectors at the many different co-op shows and gatherings. 

instagram.com/jasperduberry
jasperduberryprints.bigcartel.com

From the Back of the Bus, now on display through December 31, 2024.

Interview with Grace Sippy

My name is Grace Sippy and my primary method of creating art is through printmaking. I earned a BFA in Printmaking at the University of Iowa and an MFA in Printmaking at the University of Alberta. For over 15 years, I have explored all the print disciplines, whether through my own practice or by way of teaching at the university level, workshops, and demos. Though my primary art form has been printmaking, over the years, different mediums have been part of my practice, such as drawing, photography, and artists' books.

 If I had a double of myself, they would have learned all the disciplines of book arts (paper making, book forms/binding, letterpress, etc.); I have done a little of each of these things and have taught them, but I have never gone through a lot of formal training.

We recently asked Grace about their experiences at Highpoint and what it has meant for their creative practice.

Can you tell us about some of your current projects/ideas/inspiration?

My current work pursues a completely new exploration of concept, technique, and methodology, compared to what I have previously concentrated on for over a decade. Loss, grief, the ephemeral, and a deep longing for the past are themes sometimes experienced in Motherhood. It began with an artist book, 7 Seconds, that I printed and made imagery for while a Grand Marais Art Colony Juried Artist in Residence in 2020. Starting the book was a process of healing and processing a loss I had suffered a year before. Over the next two to three years, I slowly bound the book, ultimately completing it in 2023.

Since receiving the McKnight Artist & Culture Bearer Fellowship in Printmaking, I have been working on some paper sculptures and a collagraphic series incorporating text from 7 Seconds. Using garments once worn by my young children, I have transformed them into collagraphs and explored several ways of creating prints from them. Some exist as embossments, others inked and printed. Chine-collé and embroidery are used for other elements in the print: mimicking fabric, text on tags, or small garment details. The transformation of the garment to a printing matrix is a paradox, destroying the garment in the process but creating something new, a remnant of what was there. This currently untitled series presents a reflection of loss and grief: of hopes of having a child, of a child since grown, and the loss of a child.

Can you tell me more about your goals/process during your current McKnight Printmaking fellowship and what growth/changes/inspiration you have found along the way?

I have been highly motivated to get as much work done during the fellowship as possible for a few reasons. One is that the course of making this work is one of healing for me and of processing different aspects of Motherhood. These are things that cannot be forced or rushed, but the fellowship is a period where I get to have a lot of time to devote to it through artmaking. There is a dichotomous aspect to the work where part of me wants to feel heard, and part of me wants to hold a secret. Another reason to explore as much as I can is that I likely will not have as much time to devote to my practice after the fellowship ends.

The framework of graduate school keeps coming to mind—time, resources, support, starting a new vein of work, the spirit of exploration, etc. The work I’ve been creating during the fellowship has been very different than what I’ve been doing for a long time, so naturally, there’s been a lot of investigations. Paper, for example, a range of weights, textures, colors, etc. I’ve also been working on some paper sculptures, something I haven’t done in over a decade, and collagraph, a printmaking technique I haven’t done in a long time. Working with text and images created some challenges with the collagraphs. One was figuring out how to integrate them together in a way that made sense for the concept while considering aesthetics. For this series, I’ve used embossment, embroidery, letterpress, and chine-collé, among others. Collagraphs are wonderful because you can print them as intaglio plates, relief plates, or both at the same time. I’ve also been able to capture lots of detail with just embossing (also called blind embossing: running plate through the press with no ink on it.)

You've been involved with Highpoint in several different capacities. Could you talk about your experience, what it means to you, and the lessons learned?

I’ve gotten to experience many aspects of what Highpoint has to offer: co-op membership and exhibiting opportunities, receiving the Jerome Early Career Residency and McKnight mid-career fellowship, as well as teaching demos, samplers, workshops, and classes, so it has been very rich for me as an artist and individual. Community is one of the biggest benefits of being at Highpoint, and it feels like a special blend of workplace and family. I’ve been involved with HP for six years now; some friends have come and gone, and some remain. I remember a “regular gang” of co-op members—we all sat in more or less the same places at the work tables—and me feeling welcome. We’d have conversations while we worked, and I’d get to know them while they got to know me. That group has shifted somewhat, but it remains a warm memory for me.

Being able to scratch the teaching itch has also been very impactful. Before we moved to the TC, I was an assistant professor in printmaking at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; I taught all levels and areas of printmaking and courses in typography and basic drawing. I even taught a broad course on book arts, with paper making, artist books, and printing. After a couple of years, I was let go due to major budget cuts, which left me discouraged and disillusioned. I had worked so hard and so long for that “dream job,” had done all the right things, and was still let go. It was one of several types of losses I experienced within a short period, and I learned nothing is guaranteed and to not put anything or anyone on too high of a pedestal. When I came to HP, I began teaching demos, samplers, and, eventually, full classes and workshops. It is not the same as teaching at the university level, but it’s still an outlet for my desire to help others, share knowledge, and connect through a common love of art. I don’t know what teaching and artistic practice will look like for me going forward, but I’m trying to keep an open mind.

HP provides so many great programs. The educator in me has a heart for all education-related programs. Anything that helps folks learn about and experience printmaking gets me excited. Being able to teach at HP is always so rewarding; I love to engage with students.

Has Highpoint or the co-op impacted your creative process or career?

Highpoint has definitely impacted my career as an artist and educator. Through the co-op, I’ve been able to continue my printmaking practice with more technical options than my home studio; I’ve also gotten to sell some work and gain some visibility, both as an artist and educator. The various programs I’ve been part of have led to further opportunities. In terms of impacting my creative process, having the space and equipment to explore what you could otherwise not afford through HP is huge. As I mentioned earlier, the McKnight alone has been an explosion of creative investigation for me.

Highpoint is. . . an epicenter—a major resource with a resounding impact.


gracesippy.com
Instagram.com/grace.sippy

Current/Upcoming Exhibitions:
McKnight Printmaking Fellowship Exhibition, opening March 7, 2025, at Highpoint

I will have a piece at Rosalux Open Door 19 at Rosalux Gallery. It runs from December 7th to 29th, with an opening reception on Saturday, December 7th, from 7 to 10 p.m. 

Interview with Melissa Sisk

This month, we had the opportunity to interview Melissa Sisk, co-op member and active community member, about their creative practice, inspiration, and what being a part of Highpoint has meant to them.

My name is Melissa Sisk, and with over a decade of experience in directing, designing,  and creating visual graphics, I’ve built a career focused on both educating and entertaining through visual art. My journey began with creating medical illustrations and animations, transitioned to managing and developing board game art, and more  recently, teaching graphic design classes at Dunwoody College of Technology. I’ve also enjoyed engaging in portfolio reviews, speaking events, and art panel moderation. More recently, I’ve been expanding my practice into the world of traditional printmaking,  specifically silkscreen printing.

Part of my creative practice is motivated by my love of the natural world and a desire to help others, which led me to earn a Master of Science in Biomedical Visualization. After graduating, I worked at the National Institutes of Health, where I created graphics for publications, marketing materials, and research. Here, I learned how to practice merging creativity with utility, using design to educate and inform while remaining visually captivating and aesthetically strong. 

A career-changing opportunity led me to Minnesota, where I joined my dream medical animation company. Here I got to further explore the intersection between art, science,  and storytelling while bringing client’s visions to life. I believe that the most powerful visuals are those that marry beauty with precision. This experience taught me how taking risks can lead to incredible rewards. 

Today, I combine my passions and experiences by teaching at the college level and creating at Highpoint Center for Printmaking. For me, creative practice is about pushing boundaries—experimenting with new techniques, materials, and ideas. I’m always looking for ways to grow, learn, and refine my work to better communicate the messages I’m passionate about. It also brings me great joy to amplify the work and voices of others. 

Can you tell me about some of your current projects/ideas/inspiration? 

I’ve recently taken a short break from creating new art after completing a significant project earlier this year: my first solo art show. This project came to life after I spent the summer of 2023 in the south of France. I was inspired by my experience of being an outsider and reflecting on what “otherness” means, both literally and metaphorically. I  began thinking about how I could reflect that in my work, and before the plane landed back in Minnesota, I learned about an open call from Alliance Francaise for artists to host their own exhibitions. 

This experience deepened my passion for screen printing, and I’m now reflecting on new directions for my work, including expanding my creative practice further into other printmaking techniques and exploring new themes of identity, belonging, and cultural perspectives. At the heart of my work is a desire to spark curiosity and inspire reflection. Whether I’m creating educational visuals or personal artwork, I aim to create pieces that resonate with the viewer long after they’ve seen them.

What drew you to printmaking? Which processes speak to you? 

I’m drawn to the versatility of printmaking, where each technique—whether it’s screen printing, etching, or lithography—offers a unique way to tell a story. My original goal in learning screen printing was to create my own graphic novel. Both graphic novels and screen printing allow me to transform intricate designs into tactile, expressive works that resonate visually and physically. Although I’m still in the early stages of developing this graphic novel, I’m gathering experiences and knowledge that will serve as stepping stones, guiding me toward that goal in the future.

You've been involved with Highpoint in several different capacities. Could you talk about your experience?

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from screen printing is the importance of letting go of control and embracing the unpredictability of the process. Unlike other mediums, screen printing often requires a balance between precision and chance, and  I’ve come to appreciate how mistakes can lead to unexpected discoveries that push the boundaries of my work. 

Equally important was learning the courage to ask for help. The kindness and expertise shared by the co-op community helped me embrace the process in new ways and encouraged me to view my strategies differently. As a result, I was able to grow both personally and artistically while steadily moving forward in my work.

As an educator, I believe the Jerome Residency is one of the most important programs offered at Highpoint, as it supports the artistic and career development of early-career printmakers.  Artists in this program are not only encouraged to demonstrate imagination and rigor in producing new work, but also embrace curiosity and eagerness to learn technical  proficiency and craft. Their practice embodies a distinctive vision and authentic voice,  pushing the boundaries of convention through innovation, creative risk-taking, and  thoughtful inquiry. By supporting these artists, we help cultivate not only a dynamic and  forward-thinking artistic landscape but also a generation of empathetic, open-minded,  and inquisitive individuals who will engage with the world in meaningful and  transformative ways. 

Being a co-op member of Highpoint has profoundly impacted my mind and soul,  providing me with invaluable access to a vibrant artistic community and resources that have enriched my practice. The collaborative environment has allowed me to learn from fellow artists, expand my technical skills, and refine my creative vision. Additionally, the opportunity to work in a professional studio has strengthened my confidence, giving me the space to experiment, take risks, and push the boundaries of my work. This experience has not only deepened my artistic growth but has also broadened my professional network and opened doors for future opportunities in the field. 

melissasisk.com 
Instagram & X: @sisk_meli

Interview with Mads Golitz

My name is Mads, and I am an artist and educator in the Twin Cities. I received a BFA in Sculpture from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. After graduating in 2020, I moved back to the Midwest and have found a home in Minneapolis’s arts community these past few years. Since moving here, I have grown as a teaching artist through various roles at Highpoint, starting as an Education Intern and currently as the Education Programs Assistant. 

We are pleased to introduce and celebrate Mads Golitz, our newest addition and Education Programs Assistant. We recently asked Mads about their experiences at Highpoint and what it has meant for their creative practice.

Can you tell us more about your current work:

Recently I have been reviving a past art style that depicts playful dancing figures. They originated as expressions of joy during hard times. Lately, I’ve been drawing inspiration for them from queer love and community. I am enjoying applying this old work to new print techniques, as well as exploring their connection to other themes in my life that I am hoping to explore more through my work this coming year. In short, I am a bit all over the place right now but excited about the direction I am heading. 

What drew you to Highpoint?

Highpoint was on my radar since moving to Minneapolis. It was exciting to see the various opportunities that were consistently being offered. Even now, I appreciate the range of levels of experience that Highpoint programming accommodates. It was encouraging to see classes for folks new to printmaking alongside grants for mid-career artists. For that reason, I saw Highpoint as a place where an artist, at any point in their career, could join and grow.

I might be biased here, but I feel most passionate about Highpoint’s education programs, especially for the youth. When students come to Highpoint for field trips, it is often the first time they have tried printmaking. I believe it is important to show kids spaces where people make art as a community and that they can see themselves making art in those spaces. The same is true for adults. I love to teach introductory classes to see folks who would not consider themselves artists discover or rekindle a love for creating.

Has Highpoint impacted your creative career/practice?

I am incredibly grateful for what Highpoint has done for my career. It has given me the space, resources, and opportunities to grow as an artist. From my time here, I have strengthened old printing techniques and learned new ones. Most importantly, Highpoint connected me to an arts community from which I can seek support, inspiration, and guidance. It has also allowed me to give back as a member of that community, taking on more responsibility as I step into new roles.


Interview with Horacio Devoto

Meet artist Horacio Devoto. Horacio has been a Highpoint co-op member for about two years and, along with Laura Youngbird, was recently awarded the 2024-25 Full Color Print Fellowship. They will spend the next year working with a mentor and creating in the cooperative printshop.

We recently asked Horacio about his experiences at Highpoint and what it has meant for his creative practice.

My earliest experience with Highpoint was attending Free Ink Days in 2011 with my son. I have such fond memories of those days, seeing my son’s eyes opened to the possibilities of printmaking. I think Highpoint’s public access programs like Free Ink Days are a wonderful gift to the community.

For someone like me, without formal training as an artist, Highpoint has offered so many opportunities. I started by taking classes and was amazed by what one can do in printmaking. For years, I worked in large-format photography, but, with printmaking’s greater authority, one can manipulate the subject matter and control the hues, textures, and layers.

When the opportunity to become a Highpoint member arose, I jumped at it. I continued taking classes, but as a member, I had access to incredible equipment and became part of a community of artists committed to the painstaking process of printmaking. This community is creative and kind–there is always someone to turn to when I can’t quite get the picture in my mind to translate to ink and paper. I take inspiration from my fellow Highpoint members, and the print studio produces some of the most beautiful prints I have ever seen.

My most recent work involves photographs and printmaking. I am interested in how humans act in the natural world. Some have described my recent work as apocalyptic, and, given the state of the climate, that seems right.

Remembering Cathy Ryan

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Cathy Ryan passed away on Saturday, October 5th, 2024. She was a beloved friend, co-op artist, active community member, and board member and will be missed by so many. Cathy’s lifelong love and commitment to art and community have inspired and left a lasting impact on us all.

In accordance with Cathy’s wishes, her partner Doris and her family will not be hosting a memorial service or end-of-life celebration.

To make a memory gift in Cathy's honor, please make a donation to the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA).

Cathy made an impact in so many organizations and individuals’ lives throughout her career and art practice. Many know that Cathy was a talented printmaker and book artist who received the MN Book Artist award in 2022, the Jerome Book Arts Fellowship in 2011-12, and had her work included in the 2012 Quarry publication “1000 Artist Books.” She has been an artist-in-residence at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, co-curated The Contained Narrative: defining the Contemporary Artist’s Book exhibit at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and received an artist residency in Salzburg, Austria. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in private and public collections, including the Minnesota Historical Society, Hennepin County Library Special Collections, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Library Special Collections.

“Cathy was a talented artist with a rich career devoted to education and philanthropy. We are grateful for Cathy’s warmth, knowledge, and presence within our community as a co-op member and Board member. “ — Jehra Patrick, Executive Director

Cathy Ryan (second from the left) at the opening reception of The Contemporary Print: 20 Years at Highpoint Editions

Additionally, she contributed to the broader Twin Cities arts community through her service on MCBA and Highpoint’s Board of Directors. Cathy was a longstanding member of our community here at Highpoint; she has been a member since 2005, a co-op member since 2011, and a Highpoint board member since 2021.

“Beyond the abundance of artistic accomplishments and philanthropic efforts, Cathy Ryan was simply a great human being. Her loss will be felt deeply within Highpoint and well beyond our walls.” — Josh Bindewald, Director of Artist Programs

Cathy Ryan, URBAN OASIS (detail), screenprint, letterpress, collage, digital photography, 2020

Cathy Ryan, CHRONICLE, screenprinted and letterpressed on Rives BFK. The binding is drumleaf, and the cover is Hanji Irish Grey over a bookboard. The box is Japanese book cloth over a bookboard.
Photography: Petronella J. Ytsma.

Most importantly, Cathy was a wonderful human and friend and will be terribly missed in our community. Thanks for keeping Cathy's memory and her partner Doris in your thoughts.


Announcing the 2024-2025 Jerome Early Career Printmakers

Left to right: Emma Ulen-Klees, Conor McGrann, Nancy Ariza

Please join us in welcoming the 2024-2025 Jerome Early Career Printmakers Emma Ulen-Klees, Conor McGrann, and Nancy Ariza!

Three artists are selected annually to participate in the Jerome Early Career Printmakers Residency at Highpoint. Thanks to the generous support of the Jerome Foundation, this program has existed since 2003 and has served more than 50 early career printmakers.

The Jerome Residency program is open to early career Minnesota printmakers who already possess training in one or more traditional printmaking techniques. Early Career is defined here as an artist with a record of creating and exhibiting original work who has not received consistent development and production opportunities and significant recognition, awards, and acclaim regardless of age or recognition in other fields.

These artists will use the co-op studio at Highpoint to pursue their printmaking practice toward their culminating exhibition, which will open in June 2025. In addition to studio access and their eventual exhibition, Emma, Conor, and Nancy will enjoy periodic studio visits with invited guests, along with learning and professional development opportunities.

Special thanks to our esteemed panelists Bo Young An and Luis Fitch for their careful review of the outstanding applicants.

About the artists:

As a new(ish) father to a two year old daughter, Conor McGrann has found that his artistic practice has changed quite significantly since she was born. As such, he says “I am so excited for this opportunity, as it will allow me to invest the time and resources I need to fully develop a new way of working as an active artist and parent. I really love intaglio printmaking in all its forms. I find it to be a perfect and at times frustrating collaboration between myself, the materials, and the process. Even after many years of work the act of making a plate always provides surprises. I hope to use this time at Highpoint Center for Printmaking to lean into the “how did that happen?” moments to make work that is fully in conversation with the process and material restrictions intaglio offers.”

Conor McGrann is an artist that makes things usually on paper, living and producing work in St. Paul, MN. He is the Digital Studio Arts Technician at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, where he maintains the printshop and photolab and facilitates the use of digital and analog interactions for faculty, staff, and students in the Art & Art History Department.

In his own work Conor has a particular interest in the translation errors and systemic breakdowns that occur when filtering work between digital and analog production methods. His work is focused on the relationship between political systems, geography, the built environment, sense of place, and culture. He received his MFA in May 2021 from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and his BFA in printmaking from Syracuse University in 2009.

About her Practice, Nancy Ariza offered this: “Pattern serves as my primary visual language through which I explore my Mexican heritage, seeking to understand my lineage and deepen my connection to my ancestors and culture as a second-generation immigrant. During the residency, I will focus on exploring new ideas that are rooted in Chicana feminism while still working in abstraction. I’ll be revisiting large-scale printing and continuing to investigate experimental printing techniques using powdered pigments. I’m also looking forward to receiving feedback on my work from guest critics and fellow Jerome artists in residence.”

Nancy Ariza is a Mexican American printmaker, educator, and arts administrator. In her studio practice, Ariza explores intergenerational relationships, storytelling, and memory as a way to understand and honor her Mexican heritage. Often working in woodcut and screenprinting, her artwork combines traditional and experimental printmaking techniques. Ariza has exhibited across the United States in group shows at Blanc Gallery in Chicago, IL; Janet Turner Print Museum at California State University in Chico, CA; Klemm Gallery at Siena Heights University in Adrian, MI; among others. She is also the founder of Amilado Press, a collaborative print studio in Minnesota.

The multiscalar realities and consequences of environmental degradation, transformation, and fragmentation are central to the work of Emma Ulen-Klees. She states: “Through research, and the intensely personal process of archiving, extinct flora and cartographic text/imagery become material actors in ever evolving environmental narratives. The material reality of each subject is further reflected in my method of making and each projects’ form, allowing me to experiment with both the physical and conceptual capabilities of different mediums.”

“The Jerome Fellowship will allow me to push my practice by continuing these ongoing projects, as well as providing support and foundation to experiment and grow new ideas! While I look forward to the advancement of a long term project archiving extinct plants through paper embossings, I am also excited to translate a series of ink paintings/drawings exploring the history of cartography and its symbols, into prints for the first time. I often process ideas through series, or sequential works, so the particular ways many print matrices hold a memory through transformation will be a great push for those ideas. I am especially interested in how lithography, and monotype will bring out different elements within this work. Beyond these particular projects I happily anticipate the unpredicted and unexpected paths my work may take over the course of the fellowship, whether by happy accident, or generative community feedback. It is this mutual exchange between subject and process (which feels particularly rich in printmaking) that I most look forward to learning from.”

Emma Ulen-Klees is a multidisciplinary artist and writer whose work centers the fragmentation and transformation of landscape. Her individual but interconnected projects come together to mourn extinction and absence, magnify the accumulation of plastics, and interrogate the distortionary nature of western cartography, while still allowing for the beauty and awe vital to emotional relationships to place. Ulen-Klees earned a Printmaking BFA from California College of the Arts (2014), and MFA from Cornell University (2020). Past awards include the Ralls Scholarship in Painting, Yozo Hamaguchi Scholarship in Printmaking, as well as the Kala Art Institute Emerging Artist Residency. She has exhibited at the Missoula Art Museum (Missoula, MT), Zolla/ Lieberman Gallery (Chicago, IL), Jack Hanley Gallery (New York, NY), Safe Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Anglim Gilbert Gallery (San Francisco, CA) as well as in Oakland, Berkeley, CA, and Ithaca, NY. Internationally she has exhibited in Osaka, Japan and Hjalteyri, Iceland.


About the review panelists:

Bo Young An is best described as a creative. Her practice includes, but is not limited to, curation, illustration, design, murals, and education. An received her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts from the University of Washington, Seattle, and her MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2022. Her work has been shown at exhibitions in Seoul + Hanam (KR), Honfleur (FR), Leon (SP), and Seattle + Wisconsin + Minnesota (USA).

Luis Fitch is an internationally renowned Mexican artist, mentor, and creative entrepreneur specializing in visual art and working across gallery and urban art settings. His legacy transcends barriers, cultivates cross-cultural connections, and infuses design with meaning and purpose. His relentless commitment to bridging divides through his creative endeavors inspires the world—a testament to the enduring power of art and design to foster unity and understanding.

His artwork is featured in over 380 private and institutional collections throughout the United States, Europe, Dubai, Mexico, and Latin America, including prestigious institutions such as the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minneapolis, and many more.

Luis's creative journey continues to evolve, marked by recent milestones that underscore his indomitable spirit. Notably, he was commissioned to illustrate four stamps for the United States Postal Service, a testament to the profound impact of his artistry on a national scale. Additionally, Luis crafted the first-ever art collection by a Mexican artist for Target stores, commemorating the revered Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) tradition. His involvement as the Commission Chair of the State Flag and Emblem Redesign, appointed by the Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs, further exemplifies his dedication to shaping cultural narratives.

Bo Young An and Luis Fitch

Record of a Rolling Garden, New Print by Leslie Barlow

Record of a Rolling Garden

Leslie Barlow, 2024

14-run lithograph on White Somerset Satin

Edition of 20

Paper: 26 ¾ x 21 ⅜ in.

Image: 22 ½ x 18 in. (approximate)

Click here for availability or Email our Gallery Director Alex Blaisdell alex@highpointprintmaking.org

Highpoint Editions is proud to release Record of a Rolling Garden, a new lithograph by Minnesota artist Leslie Barlow. This 14-run lithograph is Barlow’s first print with Highpoint Editions and features two of the artist’s friends at the now-closed Roller Garden roller rink in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. With this print, Barlow explores nostalgia, belonging, resilience, and how the vibrant and complicated history of roller skating has unified the Black community. Barlow’s style of storytelling with colorful and nuanced portraiture shines through in this richly layered lithograph.


From the Artist

Through my time working with Highpoint Editions, I fell in love with the photo lithography process. The image this print is based off is from a photo taken on my birthday in 2020. Depicted are two of my friends posing at the St. Louis Park roller rink, the Roller Garden, at a time when they were closed to the public but renting the whole place on an hourly basis to small masked-up groups. There was birthday cake, we got to play our own music, and everyone showed up in style.

I began rollerskating with some frequency back in 2017, but in 2020 the recreation took on a whole new meaning for me. "When the reality of racial injustice became too taxing, skating was the revolutionary way to reclaim their joy," said Amanda Alcantara in the article How Black and Brown Women are Reclaiming Rollerskating Culture. Skating was not only a safer activity to do in the height of Covid, but it allowed for a physical release of the built up anger, anxiety, and pressure.

Some of my favorite childhood memories include school field trips to the Roller Garden. I returned to that beloved rink over the years with different friend groups, and at different points in my life. It always had that same smell, same greasy food, same dinosaur and mural that greeted you in the entryway. It was one of those places that you could lose time, and lose yourself.

After that October 2020 birthday, I only got to skate at the Roller Garden a couple more times. Like many businesses, they struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic, and after 52 years in operation by the Johnston/Sahly family, the Roller Garden closed its doors in May 2021. The place wasn't perfect, and had a complicated history, but it was heartbreaking to see it go. Skaters poured out their memories and desires to save it on social media, but in the end we all came to the realization we'd have to forge other spaces. As the 2018 documentary United Skates says, "You can take the goddamn building, but you can't take the spirit." — Leslie Barlow

Leslie working on a film for one of the 14 lithographic plates used to print Record of a Rolling Garden.


Leslie Barlow (b. 1989) is a visual artist, educator, and cultural worker from Minneapolis, MN. Barlow believes art and art making is both healing and liberatory, through the power of representation, witnessing and storytelling. Her life-sized oil paintings are inspired by community and personal experiences, and serve as both monuments to community members and explorations into how race entangles the intimate sphere of love, family, and friendship.

Barlow is a recipient of the 2021 Jerome Hill Fellowship, 2019 McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship, the 20/20 Springboard Fellowship, and five MN State Arts Board grants between 2016 and 2023. Her work can be viewed in collections around Minnesota including at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota Historical Society, Weisman Art Museum, Minnesota Museum of American Art, and US Bank Stadium. Barlow earned her BFA in 2011 from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and her MFA in 2016 from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. In addition to her studio practice, Barlow has taught at the University of Minnesota, Metro State University, and Carleton College. Barlow also supports emerging artists at Public Functionary as Director of PF Studios, is a member of the Creatives After Curfew mural collective, and is the creator/producer of ConFluence, an arts and science fiction convention.

Barlow is represented by Bockley Gallery in Minneapolis, MN.

For availability and to purchase Record of a Rolling Garden, email our Gallery Director Alex Blaisdell alex@highpointprintmaking.org

Andrea Carlson to Exhibit at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Andrea Carlson will be presenting an exhibition titled Andrea Carlson: Shimmer on Horizons at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago from August 3, 2024 through February 2, 2025. Andrea Carlson is the 26th artist to participate in Chicago Works, a solo exhibition series at the MCA that features artists who are shaping contemporary art in the city and beyond. The exhibition is presented in the MCA’s Turner Gallery, on the museum’s fourth floor.

Andrea Carlson (b. 1979, Ojibwe/European descent; based in northern Minnesota and Chicago, IL) considers how landscapes are shaped by history, relationships, and power. Her artworks imagine places that are “everywhere and nowhere,” visualizing these shifting yet ever-present dynamics. Grounded in Anishinaabe understandings of space and time, the works in this exhibition reflect on how land holds memories of colonial expansion and violence, Indigenous presence and resistance.

Across painting, video, and sculpture, Carlson organizes imagined landscapes around one constant: the horizon. This line is reminiscent of her homelands on Lake Superior. It is also a significant art historical trope that artists have employed to depict territories as vast and vacant, ripe for the taking. Carlson’s prismatic works are not empty: they are densely layered with an abundance of motifs, making reference to the tactics of colonialism as well as her family and peers, Ojibwe culture, and Indigenous sovereignty. Confronting histories of erasure and dispossession, Carlson proposes that what appears to be lost can be remade, reimagined, or otherwise regained.

Andrea Carlson: Shimmer on Horizons is curated by Iris Colburn, Curatorial Associate.

Learn more about the exhibition here!

Tate Announces Solo Exhibition for Do Ho Suh in 2025

Do Ho Suh, Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home 2013-2022

Installation view at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, Australia. Photography by Jessica Maurer. © Do Ho Suh

The Tate Modern has announced that Do Ho Suh will receive a solo exhibition in 2025 titled The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh. The exhibition will be on view in London from May 1 through October 26, 2025.

“Korean-born, London-based artist Do Ho Suh invites visitors to explore his large-scale installations, sculptures, videos and drawings in this major survey exhibition.

Is home a place, a feeling, or an idea? Suh asks timely questions about the enigma of home, identity and how we move through and inhabit the world around us.

With immersive artworks exploring belonging, collectivity and individuality, connection and disconnection, Suh examines the intricate relationship between architecture, space, the body, and the memories and the moments that make us who we are.

Wander through the passages and thresholds of Suh's renowned fabric architectures. Discover his early installations delicate works on paper and videos. Move across Seoul, New York and London through his life-sized replicas of past and present homes. Encounter sculptures that explore the tradition of monuments.

Experience the breadth and depth of Suh’s inventive and unique practice over the last three decades, including new and site-specific works on display for the first time.

The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh in partnership with Genesis

Co-curated by Nabila Abdel Nabi, Senior Curator, International Art, (Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational) and Dina Akhmadeeva, Assistant Curator, International Art, Tate Modern “

Learn more about the exhibition here!

Gatson's Portrait of Shuttlesworth Finds Permanent Home at Birmingham Airport

Highpoint Editions artist Rico Gatson’s portrait of Civil Rights Icon Fred L. Shuttlesworth is now on permanent display at the Birmingham Airport. Originally created for the Birmingham Museum of Art’s Wall to Wall series. the mural is nearly 13 feet high and 66 feet wide and features a portrait of Shuttlesworth with surrounded by a sunburst array of colors.

On Thursday May 23, officials with the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport unveiled a new mural honoring The Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth in Concourse B. The airport was renamed in his honor in 2008.

Dozens of area leaders, activists and residents gathered for the unveiling which was attended by members of the Shuttlesworth family, including daughters, Dr. Ruby Shuttlesworth Bester and Patricia Shuttlesworth Massengill.

Ruby Shuttlesworth Bester, daughter of the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, addresses crowd after the mural unveiling. (Marika N. Johnson, For The Birmingham Times)

In addition to the Shuttlesworth family, those in attendance included former Mayor Richard Arrington; The Rev. Thomas Wilder, Senior Pastor, Bethel Baptist Church, Shuttlesworth’s former church; Bishop Calvin Woods, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Alabama poet laureate Ashley Jones; Birmingham City Councilor Crystal Smitherman, DeJuana Thompson, CEO, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute; former gov. Don Siegelman; activist Helen Rivas; and many others.

Daughters of The Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, from left, Ruby Shuttlesworth Bester and Patricia Shuttlesworth Massengill with artist Rico Gaston (Marika N. Johnson, For The Birmingham Times)

Learn more about the mural here!

Remembering Sally Gordon

This week, we received the heartbreaking news that Sally Gordon, a beloved friend, artist, and long-time community member, has passed away. It is with a deep and profound sadness that we relay this news. Sally was extremely close with her family, and there was much comfort in knowing that she was enveloped in their love when she passed. 

A memorial for Sally is being held on Friday, May 31st at the American Swedish Institute. A short service will begin promptly at 1 PM, followed by a celebration with food and drink and a playlist of Sally’s favorite music, ending at 5 PM. 

Find her obituary and memorial information here.

Sally joined the the co-op at Highpoint in June of 2003 and she was a constant presence. Stone lithography was her domain, she learned the technique at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities. Sally was an incredibly gifted draftsperson, a former arts writer for the Star Tribune called her “the Human Xerox Machine”. It’s no wonder that lithography, the printmaking technique most closely related to drawing, was her chosen medium. I think it’s fair to say that Sally was routine oriented. She typically parked in the same space in the lot behind Highpoint. She always sat at the same spot and in the same chair at the co-op work tables because that was the one place where the light was just right. The images that she made affectionately illustrated the people (her family) and scenes from everyday life or Her World as she called them in her 2019 solo exhibition at Highpoint. An exhibition that she was reluctant to agree to at first but ultimately embraced. 

Sally Gordon at the Prints on Ice Co-op Exhibition, 2023

Sally was a lover of music. Her musical tastes were diverse and surprisingly contemporary. Even though she liked to rock out while drawing on her stone, Sally was never unavailable. Sally would slide her headphones off to converse with anyone at any time, including the many curious schoolchildren that looked over her shoulder on their way to the classroom. Sally brought her perfectly wrapped homemade caramels to Highpoint every year as a holiday treat. On at least one occasion, she organized a co-op soup exchange. She had the best hooded sweatshirts, including those that read “Live, Laugh, Lithography” and “Trust me, I’m a printmaker". There are countless, charming anecdotes about Sally but of all the interesting things about her, most important is that she was a genuinely good person. Whenever Sally came to Highpoint, she brought a brightness with her. Sally is going to be dearly missed in our community.

With input from her family, and when the time is right, we will permanently commemorate Sally at Highpoint.

Sally Gordon and her husband Gallen Benson at the Highpoint’s 20th year anniversay party at the Minneapolis Institute of Art

Photo from Sally Gordon’s recent Threshold Gallery exhibition

Written by Josh Bindewald, Director of Artist Programs and friend of Sally.

20th BMW Art Car with Julie Mehretu Debuts in Paris

The 20th BMW Art Car was presented to the public for the first time on May 21st, 2024 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Designed by renowned New York-based contemporary artist Julie Mehretu, the project transforms the BMW M Hybrid V8 race car into a performative work of art, continuing a longstanding tradition of BMW Art Cars and competitive racing. Just a few weeks after its World Premiere in the French capital, the newest edition in the storied BMW Art Car collection will compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“The whole BMW Art Car project is about invention, about imagination, about pushing limits of what can be possible. I don’t think of this car as something you would exhibit. I am thinking of it as something that will race in Le Mans. It’s a performative painting. My BMW Art Car was created in close collaboration with motorsport and engineering teams,” says Julie Mehretu. “The BMW Art Car is only completed once the race is over.”

Learn more about the BMW Art Car here!

Keepsakes Featured at College of Wooster Art Museum

Delita Martin’s series with Highpoint Editions titled Keepsakes will be on display during the College of Wooster Art Museum’s exhibition COLLECT: New Acquisitions from January 30th through April 30th, 2024.

COLLECT: New Acquisitions celebrates the generous contributions of donors to the Art Museum over the past five years. From the earliest years of the College, alumni and affiliates have supported its teaching and learning mission with gifts of art, artifacts, and funds. Donations comprise the greatest part of the Art Museum’s collection; each tells a story about the collectors, their interests, and their relationships to the college.

Update: On March 26th a talk was held to discuss Keepsakes led by Dr. Brittney S. Miles followed by an opportunity for attendees and students to take part in the acquisition decision for the College to purchase one the the seven portraits.

“At the end of the talk, sticky notes were distributed, and guests were encouraged to place their note on the wall beside the portrait that they liked the most. These votes would help with the College’s decision of which piece to purchase. It was difficult to choose, as each of the seven faces perfectly represented its own facet of childhood that would be worth adding to a permanent display. One girl was thoughtful and quiet. Another wore a playful smirk. Still another portrait smiled a toothy grin, eyebrows raised and eyes widened in that familiar expression of pure, youthful excitement. I would be happy to see any one of the pieces become a part of The College of Wooster Art Museum. Some will see the chosen print as a beautiful piece of art with stunning embroidery detail. For others it may serve as a mirror, reflecting the complex and funny and innocent memories of youth — the keepsakes of Black girlhood.” -Amanda Crouse in her article Reclaiming Black Girlhood and Innocence Through Art

Read more about the exhibition and the College of Wooster Art Museum here.

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum at Baltimore Museum of Art

Works by Dyani White Hawk and Julie Buffalohead are featured in a recent intiative by the Baltimore Museum of Art titled Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum.

The artwork, perspectives, and histories of Native artists, scholars, and community members are at the center of Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum, a major BMA initiative. The wide-reaching project seeks to begin addressing the historical erasure of Indigenous culture by arts institutions while creating new practices for museums.

The expansive Preoccupied project extends into the galleries and beyond with public programs, nine exhibitions, staff training, and new interpretive texts for artworks throughout the Museum. The curatorial team worked closely with Native artists, curators, and Baltimore-region residents on a community advisory panel to frame the questions this project would ask. In the earliest stages of the initiative, all Preoccupied project participants were invited to an “unconference,” a weekend-long retreat with the exhibitions’ curators, where they discussed Native visibility in the face of colonial oppression.

Dyani White Hawk’s work is on display in Dyani White Hawk: Bodies of Water. Dyani White Hawk presents one new and two existing sculptural works from her Carry series. Each Carry piece, composed of a large copper bucket and ladle adorned with glass beads, bears extravagantly long fringe whose draping emulates arboreal root structures. Alongside the artist’s works, White Hawk selected historic Lakota belongings from the BMA’s collection. Through these works, White Hawk insists upon an interdependence between art and function—and by extension art and life—effectively calling into question art history’s tendency to devalue craft. These works operate as physical metaphors for the carrying of history, cosmology, generational teaching, and deep thought.

Julie Buffalohead’s work is on diplay in Illustrating Agency. This installation highlights the ways in which Native artists have increasingly asserted agency—the exertion of one’s own power—over representations of their communities and identities over time. In the early 20th century, white arts educators encouraged Native artists to create “authentic” art—as defined by settlers—that embraced traditional subject matter while often neglecting present realities. In the decades that followed, generations of artists have shrugged off settler expectations by depicting their community on their own terms. Such work illustrates the modern Native experience, problematizes harmful stereotypes, and pointedly challenges outsider understandings of Indigenous identity.

Learn more about the larger initiative and exhibitions and installations on display here!

Dyani White Hawk Named 2024 Guggenheim Fellow

The Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation announced their appointment of 188 Guggenheim Fellowships to a distinguished and diverse group of culture-creators working across 52 disciplines. Chosen through a rigorous application and peer review process from a pool of almost 3,000 applicants, the Class of 2024 Guggenheim Fellows was tapped on the basis of prior career achievement and exceptional promise. As established in 1925 by founder Senator Simon Guggenheim, each fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level under “the freest possible conditions.”

White Hawk is one of three Minnesotan artists who received the honor, alongside author David Mura and painter Lamar Peterson.

The annual fellowship dates back to 1925 and is one of the most prestigious awards given to scholars and artists who are citizens and permanent residents of the United States and Canada.

Winners are chosen from a pool of approximately 3,000 applicants with about 175 fellowships awarded annually. The fellowship is accompanied by a grant to help fund a specific project. The amount varies from project to project, but past grants have averaged between $40,000 and $55,000.

Read more about the fellowship here!

Willie Cole: Lyrical Reconstructions at Country Music Hall of Fame

Willie Cole: Lyrical Reconstructions, features new and recent works by the critically acclaimed American sculptor and printmaker, opening Thursday, March 28 and on view through May 16, 2024.

Cole’s creative process blends familiar consumer objects with references to the appropriation of African and African American images, resulting in sophisticated hybrids. His most recent bodies of work repurpose discarded water bottles or musical instruments, such as his 2022 commission, “Ornithology,” for the Kansas City International Airport, a work comprised of twelve larger-than-life birds made entirely from alto saxophones with an accompanying soundscape in honor of jazz legend Charlie “Yardbird” Parker.

This exhibit is guest-curated by Paul Barrett.

Read more about the exhibition here!

Do Ho Suh's "Some/One" featured in Mia's The Shape of Time: Korean Art After 1989

Do Ho Suh’s “Some/One” (2001) is featured in a new exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art titled The Shape of Time: Korean Art After 1989.

This exhibition features the first generation of artists of Korean descent to experience the new freedoms and rapid changes ushered in by democracy. Born between 1960 and 1986, they came of age in a time of transition, their work filtered through the collective memory of authoritarian rule in South Korea. Here, they reflect on social and political tensions, economic and cultural shifts. In often monumental works, they bring viewers to the border with North Korea, illuminate the ironies of globalization, and suggest what has been gained and lost in South Korea’s ascendance.

Organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, this is the first major showing of Korean contemporary art in the United States since 2009. Many of the artists are well known in South Korea or have an international following; others may be less familiar, especially in American museums. They mold the medium to their message, whether photography or painting, ceramics or video. They honor some traditions and resist others. They bend time and place, addressing the past, present and future to make sense of their complex experiences.

Learn more about the exhibition here!

Julie Mehretu Unveils 'Ensemble' at Palazzo Grassi in Venice

“From March 17th, 2024, to January 6th, 2025, Palazzo Grassi in Venice hosts Ensemble, Europe’s most extensive exhibition of Julie Mehretu’s art to date. Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, the Pinault Collection’s Chief Curator, in collaboration with Mehretu herself, the exhibit showcases over fifty pieces spanning 25 years, encompassing paintings and prints, including her latest works from 2021-2024. Spanning two floors, the show features 17 pieces from the Pinault Collection alongside loans from global museums and private collectors.

Interspersed throughout the exhibition are pieces by Mehretu’s closest artist friends, with whom she shares a profound connection cultivated over the years through collaboration and exchange. The exhibition, designed around visual resonance, offers a non-linear exploration of Mehretu’s oeuvre. designboom had the privilege of experiencing the exhibition firsthand, delving into Mehretu’s artistic journey to understand how it came into being and is constantly renewed.”

Read more about the exhibition on Designboom here!

Images by Marco Cappelletti © Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection

National Museum of Asian Art Announces “Do Ho Suh: Public Figures”

First New Sculpture To Be Displayed Outside the Museum in Three Decades, Ushering in Museum’s Second Century

“The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art presents “Do Ho Suh: Public Figures,” a sculpture by contemporary Korean artist Do Ho Suh commissioned to celebrate the museum’s 100th anniversary. The monumental plinth will be unveiled April 27 and installed on the museum’s Freer Plaza for five years, facing the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

First presented as part of Public Art Fund’s 1998 exhibition “Beyond the Monument” (Brooklyn, New York), “Public Figures” challenges the notion of heroic individualism and the stability of national narratives. For the work, Suh created a plinth for a monument; however, its imposing form is not a base to support a heroic figure or to mark a particular historic event, but rather a massive weight held aloft by many small, individualized figures caught in mid-stride. Prominently placed in the center of the United States capital where it will be visible to some of the 25 million visitors to the National Mall each year, the commission dovetails with the global movement to rethink the role of the monument.

The unveiling of “Public Figures” marks the culmination of the National Museum of Asian Art’s centennial celebrations. In 2023, the museum honored its 100th anniversary with a yearlong series of events and programs that deepened public understanding of Asian art and cultures and their intersections with America. Ushering in the museum’s second century, this will be the first new sculpture to be displayed in front of the building in over three decades.”

Read more about the exhibition here!

Image Credit: Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul and London.