In the fall of 2021, board members and staff sat down in the first Program Committee meeting to review the programs River Arts offers to determine where our greatest successes were and where we could improve. Looking over the number of people served and the number of programs that were canceled for low enrollment, it was obvious that the River Arts Clay Studio has been a huge draw in the community. The committee formed a plan to replicate the communal studio model in our underutilized upstairs back classroom and establish a community printmaking studio.

Board member Rob Schulze posed the question: what are our physical assets and are we utilizing all of them to their highest potential? Our tiny classroom spaces are not perfect for large group settings. And what began as a dream shared between former ED Dominique Gustin and dynamite Adult Program Coordinator Heidi Bielenberg, our tiny but mighty clay studio has grown into a thriving space where young and old work side by side. The clay studio has acted as a lunch point for programming, with workshops, class series, independent access, monthly memberships, and community partnerships spreading access to this medium. Who would have thought such a small space could serve over 50 individuals each quarter?

As we walked around the building and dreamed up our programs, we realized that our upstairs classroom was really only used for a single program for a couple of hours each week. It functioned as a poorly organized storage space and was often more of an eye sore than a welcoming studio. We brainstormed other artistic mediums that require specific tools that people may not have access to at home. Block printing, etching, and screenprinting require access to equipment that community members may not be able to invest in.

Thanks to the generosity of Jo Harrison and Judith Wrend, River Arts is now home to a beautiful cast iron printmaking press from the mid 1800s.

This beautiful press is the catalyst for our renovation of the upstairs back classroom. A grant from the Vermont Children’s Trust Foundation has helped us to purchase a four-color screenprinting press, an exposure unit, and a power washer to clean screens. We still have some equipment to invest in and more work to do to organize the space, but we’re excited to share the progress on this project. We look forward to a similar model of punchcard access and a monthly membership to this space when it is completed.

If you are interested in getting involved in our Programming Committee or would like to just volunteer to help us get our Community Printmaking Studio up and running, please reach out to the chair of our programming committee Amy Kolb Noyes.