A Decade of Counterproof Press
September 25 – October 25 at the Contemporary Art Galleries
Art Building, 830 Bolton Rd.
Historically, printmaking has played a key role in the transmission of knowledge in the form of printed texts as well as images. Foremost among the visual arts, it fosters collaboration, with printers working alongside other artists and thinkers to realize their aesthetic ideas. A fine art press therefore seems especially at home on a university campus, where it serves as a hub for faculty and students from across disciplines to work together on art objects, artifacts, and publications. This exhibition samples the collaborative studio projects facilitated by Counterproof Press, a joint initiative founded in 2014 between the Creative Writing Program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Printmaking, Graphic Design, Illustration/Animation, and the Design Center in the Department of Art and Art History.
The exhibition includes the full run of Wallace Stevens Poetry Program broadsides, which are exemplary of the student-driven projects facilitated by Counterproof. The broadsides commemorate the annual Wallace Stevens Poetry Program, which brings an important poet to the University of Connecticut during the spring semester. For the past six years, the Wallace Stevens Poet has given the gift of a poem to be published as a broadside by Counterproof. Situated somewhere between a book and a poster, broadsides make poetry public in the form of a limited-edition print. The graphic design students of Design Center Studio have designed each broadside, marrying the visual and literary arts in a cross-campus collaboration. The student-designers work with faculty in the Department of English to explore the poem’s content and meaning, which informs the typographic statement formulated under the leadership of Design Center faculty members. The prints are then editioned by faculty and students in Printmaking and sold through Counterproof in support of the Press’s operations and educational programs.
The exhibition also features prints by visiting artists, who typically present their work in a public lecture and interact with UConn students during their time in residence at Counterproof. While some artists who work with Counterproof are experienced printmakers, others bring the sensibility of different media like painting, which they translate into prints using a variety of techniques. Many of Counterproof’s projects take the form of photopolymer letterpress prints, a process that fuses digital art with analog printing. The process involves exposing light-sensitive photopolymer with UV light through a digital negative to create a printable plate. The negatives can be created in software like Photoshop, which gives artists greater flexibility than traditional letterpress printing. For example, the process allowed visiting artist Rebecca Morgan to make a drawing, scan it, and then edit it digitally, making it much easier to her to translate her idea into a print during her residency at Counterproof.
In addition to publishing fine art prints, Counterproof advocates for the inclusion of printmaking across the curriculum. The press hosts interdisciplinary workshops that promote creativity on UConn’s campus. Across the 2024–2025 academic year, nearly 80 students in two sections of WGSS 2204: Feminisms and the Arts at UConn Storrs created a collaborative feminist newsletter. Led by Adjunct Professor Luciana McClure, together with Associate Professor John O’Donnell, the project ran through both the fall 2024 and spring 2025 semesters, guiding students from concept to production.
Working in groups, they produced original texts, selected historical excerpts, and curated images that reflect the diverse voices and perspectives of feminist discourse today. This publication demonstrates how collective authorship can function as both pedagogy and activism, giving students a platform to amplify their voices within the university community.
