Team Building Workshops

I’m now offering corporate team building workshops!
Skip the ropes course and join me for a few hours of crafty bliss and bonding. Through the process of hand carving and printing a two-color block print you and your team will practice:

  • Visualization

    To create a two color block print we’ll start with an image drawn or traced in pencil, and then we’ll imagine how it will look in various color combinations. Envisioning the final print before it exists is key to success.

  • Iteration

    Printmaking is all about the multiple. Think Gutenberg - creating copies of text or images in order to widely disseminate ideas. As all makers and innovators know, it takes many drafts to bring an idea into its final form. After the initial carving, you’ll pull a print and decide where small changes could make the final image even better.

  • Vulnerability

    Each person chooses their own image for their print. Whether it’s your new puppy or a trendy chevron pattern, this choice gives us a small glimpse into who you are. Through a few hours of hanging out and working side by side, there's a lot of time to get to know your colleagues while trying something new.

  • Having fun!

    Seriously, it’s just a lot of fun. Block printing has a way of enchanting people young and old, regardless of their skill or experience. Artists and the stick-figure-challenged alike are delighted by the process.

Testimonials

I loved how Lucy walked us through step by step but that there was plenty of time for people to work creatively on their design. A really fun class and great fun to see the results!

 - Stacee G.

Lucy is a capable instructor and excellent guide at block printing, but the most impressive part was how she broke the ice in the class and got everyone to open up and talk to each other.

- Veronica P.

Lucy made the class so fun and interesting. The group worked so well together too. And Milo (Lucy’s dachshund) was critical to everyone’s success.

- CE

Details and Booking

Workshops run 3-5 hours and have between 5 and 20 students. We’ll make a 2 color, 3x3” print on a tote bag and bandana, or on another fabric item of your choice. All you need to provide is a space with seating at tables and a sink, and I’lll come to you with all supplies needed. Fill out the booking form to reserve your spot!

Lucy Holtsnider mixing ink for printmaking class at the Denver Tool Library

Denver Tool Library Workshops

Over this five hour printmaking class we’ll practice drawing, carving, and printing a two-color reductive linoleum print by hand.
No experience is required, and we’ll use non-toxic materials and a set of simple tools to make prints that are easy to recreate at home without a press.

Block Printing on Fabric

Denver Tool Library

Make a two-color linocut print onto fabric! All supplies provided, including one yard of cotton fabric. Bring a 4x6” image of what you’d like to print and your own fabric items to print onto if you’d like.

Block Printing on Paper

Denver Tool Library

Make a two-color, reductive, linocut print onto paper! All materials are provided, just bring a 4x6” image of what you’d like to print.

Teaching Experience

  • Rocky Mountain Land Library

    Summer 2021

    This afternoon workshop provided an introduction to reductive block printing. We use the picnic tables at Buffalo Peaks Ranch in South Park, CO as our outdoor studio and created two color block prints with minimal equipment. This really fun outdoor workshop will be a blueprint for many more similar ones to come!

  • Colorado College, Book Arts and Letterpress

    Summer 2018 - 2021

    This course provides an introduction to the basic skills of designing, printing, and binding artists’ books and related ephemera. We first explore typography and setting lead type through the creation of a collaborative type specimen book, then study page composition through a poster assignment for a fictional speaker event. For the final project, students complete an edition of three original artists’ books of any structure and content. Throughout the course, alternative approaches to book making, including using a laser cutter, learning new book structures from YouTube, and unconventional collagraph printing, are encouraged

  • Marist College and the Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University, Design for Social Justice

    Spring and Fall 2019

    Design for Social Justice combines printmaking in the studio, digital graphic design skills, and an examination of historical protest imagery to practice crafting a powerful visual message. To hone communication skills, concepts including typography, page composition, and color theory are applied through projects incorporating linocut and monotype printing.

  • Colorado College, Visual Environmental Communication

    Summer 2016 and 2017

    The Institute for Visual Environmental Communication is a summer course in which students gain the skills and knowledge to communicate environmental issues impacting the Colorado Rocky Mountains with the public in an engaging way. This interdisciplinary course develops creative problem solving and strong visual communication skills.

  • University of California Santa Barbara, Teaching Assistant

    Fall 2016 through Spring 2018

    During the course of my MFA, I served as a teaching assistant for five courses: Introduction to Printmaking, Introduction to Photography, Foundations of Art, Science, and Technology, Foundations of Visual Literacy, and 3D Design. My responsibilities as a TA included running a discussion section twice a week, reviewing assignments with students, planning review lectures, doing demonstrations, and completing grading.

  • Fresh Prints Letterpress Poster Collective

    Fall 2016 through Spring 2018

    In response to the 2016 presidential election results, I founded a letterpress poster collective at UCSB called Fresh Prints. Our mantra is, "Use your hands to speak your mind", and we do this by printing letterpress posters by hand. We met bi-weekly, with around 15 members taking part at different times.

  • Co-Director, Climate Odyssey

    2015 through 2016

    Climate Odyssey was a year-long sailing expedition and art and science collaboration. After restoring a 30-year-old wooden catamaran, we sailed more than 3,500 miles from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, documenting climate change impacts and adaptations in an edition of artists' books and an interactive digital map.

  • Japan Exchange and Teaching Program

    2012 through 2013

    I taught English at Osafune Junior High School in rural Japan through the Japanese Exchange and Teaching, or JET, program. This challenging experience profoundly shaped my understanding of culture and independence.