Counterproof Press was formed with collaboration in mind.  Throughout the year, we engage in cross-disciplinary workshops with on-campus programs and classes, cultivating the opportunity for the process of printmaking to be integrated across artistic and non-artistic curriculums.  In addition, we use the Happenstance as our platform for student-driven projects that result in the production of a work or artifact with Counterproof Press as a partner and co-producer.

2016-2017 Academic Year: “Ithaka Imprints”- Initiated by graduate student poet Brian Sneeden from the English Department and Program in Literary Translation.  Sneeden provided his translation of a poem by Greek author Phoebe Giannisi. MFA artist Jelena Prljevic provided artwork to accompany the translation, which was then printed into a letterpress booklet.

In the fall semester, we held a Poetry Happenstance with graduate and undergraduate poets from the English Department.  Nine students and one faculty member contributed original poems or translations, and MFA student, Kelsey Miller, contributed artwork.  The poets learned letterpress technique and produced a dozen copies of a micro anthology including each poet's work.

In the spring semester, we held a happenstance with English 3701 Intermediate Creative Writing class.  Fourteen student writers contributed original short texts for printing.  Students then spent two hours in the print shop learning the letterpress process and printing their texts.  Each student produced eight copies of his/her text, using different papers.

We are currently putting the finishing touches on the MFA Grad Student Exchange portfolio, spearheaded by CPP studio assistant and MFA Graduate student, Kelsey Miller.

Coming up in the next academic year, we will collaborate with Department of Dramatic Arts Professor, Marie Percy, to offer her students the opportunity to pair movement-based theatrical exploration with printmaking. Professor Percy will also be investigating additional methods for expression as an added component to Visualizing Space Harmony, a choreography project using Motion Capture technology to create images of the trace forms in Laban's Space Harmony scales.If you have interest in developing a printmaking collaboration with Counterproof, please contact us through our project form.