Oct 19-Nov 21. Greater Newark Plein Air Photography Challenge. Up to four images are to be submitted 9/1 to 9/12 digitally. Notifications from jury on 9/21 Event Chair: David Shoemaker drop off for accepted framed Photos on Friday Oct. 17 & Saturday Oct.18. Reception Nov.14, 6-8 pm.

Tues | Wed | Thurs | Sat | 12–4pm
Fri | 12–8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

The monthly meeting of Upper Chesapeake Book Arts will be held at Lead Graffiti (120A Sandy Drive, Newark). If you are interested in bookmaking and the book arts, please drop by and see what’s happening. There is free parking and snacks. Enter the parking lot door.

Agenda for the evening: Annual Book Exchange

At the October meeting, brown bags will be distributed, into which the contributing artists will place their books for exchange. We’ll mark our bags with a symbol, not your initials, so as not to select your own book at the exchange. Your book must have content, such as images, text, drawings, etc. No blank books. Seal the bag with staples. Use a unique mark on the bag, so you don’t pick your own.

How the exchange works:

• All bags will be placed in the center of our Vanderecook Universal III.

• Each participant will draw a number to determine the order for selecting a bag.

• Starting with # 1 a book will be chosen. The person who drew #2 will go next and so on.

• Once all the bags have been chosen, they will be opened, and the book will be shared with the group in the order it was selected.

• The artist is invited to make comments on their contribution.

• The books will be placed on the table so all the participants can take a look.

See the top of page 1 of this website. Ray will be printing a page for a UCBA collaborative book in the studio. The printing experience will be available for interested participants from 9:30 to 11:30 and 1:00 to 3:00. We’ll go to lunch from 11:30 to 1:00 at Amalfi’s. The letterpress part is free.

See the top of page 1 of this website. Ray will be printing a page for a UCBA collaborative book in the studio. The printing experience will be available for interested participants from 9:30 to 11:30 and 1:00 to 3:00. We’ll go to lunch from 11:30 to 1:00 at Amalfi’s. The letterpress part is free.

See the top of page 1 of this website. Ray will be printing a page for a UCBA collaborative book in the studio. The printing experience will be available for interested participants from 9:30 to 11:30 and 1:00 to 3:00. We’ll go to lunch from 11:30 to 1:00 at Amalfi’s. The letterpress part is free.

See the top of page 1 of this website. Ray will be printing a page for a UCBA collaborative book in the studio, and it will be available for visitors from 9:30 to 11:30 and 1:00 to 3:00. We’ll go to lunch from 11:30 to 1:00 at Amalfi’s. The letterpress part is free.

Sept 23-Oct 17. Ascending Artists: A Focus on New Talent of the Newark Art Scene. Artwork by Natalie Schmidt, Khamari Smith, and Isaura Lopez Valdez. Reception Oct 10, 6-8 pm.

Tues | Wed | Thurs | Sat | 12–4pm
Fri | 12–8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

Monthly meeting of the Upper Chesapeake Book Arts will meet at Lead Graffiti (120A Sandy Drive, Newark). If you are interested in bookmaking and the book arts, please drop by and see what’s happening. There is free parking and snacks. Enter the parking lot door.

Agenda for the evening:

Monthly meeting of the Upper Chesapeake Book Arts will meet at Lead Graffiti (120A Sandy Drive, Newark). If you are interested in bookmaking and the book arts, please drop by and see what’s happening. There is free parking and snacks. Enter the parking lot door.

Agenda for the evening:

Aug 19-Sept 20. By the Book. Artwork inspired by or created from Novels. Juror: Bill Buck All media accepted. Submissions Friday

Tues | Wed | Thurs | Sat | 12–4pm
Fri | 12–8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

Monthly meeting of the Upper Chesapeake Book Arts will meet at Lead Graffiti (120A Sandy Drive, Newark). If you are interested in bookmaking and the book arts, please drop by and see what’s happening. There is free parking and snacks. Enter the parking lot door.

Agenda for the evening:

June 24-July 19. Recycled; Repurposed; Reimagined. Collage, assemblage, constructions of used materials, all media. Juror: Maggie Chreshkoff Submissions Friday June 20 & Sat. June 21. Reception July 11, 6-8 pm.

Tues | Wed | Thurs | Sat | 12–4pm
Fri | 12–8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

Monthly meeting of the Upper Chesapeake Book Arts will meet at Lead Graffiti (120A Sandy Drive, Newark). If you are interested in bookmaking and the book arts, please drop by and see what’s happening. There is free parking and snacks. Enter the parking lot door.

Agenda for the evening:

Saturday, June 14
2 – 4pm
South College Avenue & West Main Street
Outside Old College at UD
Newark, DE 19711

Get ready for a big day of national protest on June 14th! A parking map is available at www.IndivisibleNewarkDE.org. Please be conscious of where you park, and leave closer spots for people who use a wheelchair, a walker, etc.

We are coordinating a food drive at this protest to support the Delaware Food Bank! Look for the black pickup truck with the Food Bank signs right at S College and W Main!

There is an optional 1.5 mile march.

Monthly meeting of the Upper Chesapeake Book Arts will meet at Lead Graffiti (120A Sandy Drive, Newark). If you are interested in bookmaking and the book arts, please drop by and see what’s happening. There is free parking and snacks. Enter the parking lot door.

Agenda for the evening:

May 20-June 20. Stories Trees Tell Us. Atala Toy and Pat Wisniewski dual show. Photos of trees and artwork created from wood. Reception June 13, 6-8 pm.

Tues | Wed | Thurs | Sat | 12–4pm
Fri | 12–8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

You can READ about the workshop here.

You can REGISTER for the workshop here.

PASTE PAPER • Bookmaking • Monday, May 19 • 1 - 5pm • $80.00

July 22-Aug 15. Grids and Galaxies. Paintings by Stacey Hendrix. Lego wall art by Jason Olney. Reception Aug 8, 6-8 pm.

Tues | Wed | Thurs | Sat | 12–4pm
Fri | 12–8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

April 23-May 17. The Beauty and Bounty of the Garden. What we treasure in the garden. All media accepted. Juror: Christina Peters. Submissions Friday April 18 & Sat. April 19. Reception Fri. May 2, 6-8 pm. Newark Arts Alliance & Gallery Shop Hours:

Tues | Wed | Thurs | Sat | 12–4pm
Fri | 12–8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

Monthly meeting of the Upper Chesapeake Book Arts will meet at Lead Graffiti (120A Sandy Drive, Newark). If you are interested in bookmaking and the book arts, please drop by and see what’s happening. There is free parking and snacks. Enter the parking lot door.

Agenda for the evening:

PUBLIC TALK: LEAD GRAFFITI’S CREATIVE WORK & PROCESS

Frederick Book Arts Center
127 South Carroll Street
Frederick, MD 21701
2 - 4 pm
FREE
 

As an accompaniment to their 200-piece exhibition, Ray Nichols and Jill Cypher will talk about their history, focus on a few of their favorite projects, and answer questions about their artistic focus and processes related to the production of their letterpress work. Much of their work is for sale in support of the Frederick Book Arts Center.

Come, look at the show and find a piece you want explained.

The talk is free.

They are also leading a letterpress workshop from 9 to 1 on the same day about producing creative dissent posters via letterpress. Click here to link to the Frederick Book Arts Center website for information or to register for this workshop.

WORKSHOP: CREATIVE DISSENT VIA LETTERPRESS

Frederick Book Arts Center
127 South Carroll Street
Frederick, MD 21701
9 am - 1 pm
$85
 

Throughout history, artists have been agents of change. Join Ray Nichols and Jill Cypher from Lead Graffiti, who will work from prepared lockups to produce a first-hand letterpress experience related to their creative process. A general overarching focus of the workshop will be the notion of “chaos” and altering what you perceive as “normal letterpress.” Poster production will involve using Lead Graffiti “ink pulls,” ghost printing, and hand rolling, among others, both on the printing/type image and the paper itself. Workshop participants will leave with three or more samples of their poster work.

Below is the general look of one of the posters you’ll walk out with.

Click here to link to the Frederick Book Arts Center website to register for this workshop.

WORKSHOP TEST RUN:

CREATIVE DISSENT VIA LETTERPRESS

Lead Graffiti
120A Sandy Drive
Newark, DE

Sunday, March 30
10 am - 5 pm (pizza lunch)
$100 each (limit of 8 people)
 

You can sign up for the workshop here.

THIS IS A TEST RUN for a workshop Lead Graffiti will be doing at the Frederick Book Arts Center, MD, on the first Saturday in April, which is already sold out. This Sunday’s workshop aims to show how we think about the letterpress process and its role in our work. Participants will be printing versdions of protest posters we want to do for Lead Graffiti. There can be an opportunity for you to inflict some of your taste. There is no prerequisite, and we will sidestep most of the typical here’s-how-you-do-letterpress start-up. You’ll get a lot of that information by doing hands on.

FIVE PROJECTS will be ready to print. Given the current political climate, a general idea flows through these projects: C h A o S. There are many protest opportunities on most weekends, and at the end of the day, you should have at least five good posters to join the rallies with. We have nothing against a good handmade marker poster, but we like to produce interesting and memorable typography, copywriting, and design.

SO, JUMP IN. Some of the prints you’ll be working on are experiments for us, so the final look is still up for grabs. All materials will be supplied.

Below is the general look of one of the posters you’ll walk out with. The letters of RESIST shown here are printed via letterpress. The background marks depicting the “chaos” would be applied by hand-rolling with a brayer, choosing from various ink colors. In this example, we presented the word in black and breaking out of hiding.

You will work from several typographic lockups utilizing two different Vandercook and iron hand presses, which you will either ink on press or hand-roll. We will also have some fun with ghost printing. Some papers will be blank, and others will have existing backgrounds using our “ink pulls” for a little variety and mystery. So sign up to let us know you’re coming to add your energy to the cause.

You can sign up for the workshop here.

Mar 25-April 19. Annual NAA Members’Show. (1 entry per member; 36” x 36” maximum size.) Submissions Friday, March 21 and Sat. March 22. Reception. Fri. April 1, 6-8 pm.

Newark Arts Alliance & Gallery Shop Hours:

Tues | Wed | Thurs | Sat | 12–4pm
Fri | 12–8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

Monthly meeting of the Upper Chesapeake Book Arts will meet at Lead Graffiti (120A Sandy Drive, Newark). If you are interested in bookmaking and the book arts, please drop by and see what’s happening. There is free parking and snacks. Enter the parking lot door.

Agenda for the evening:

Upper Chesapeake Book Arts will meet at Lead Graffiti (120A Sandy Drive, Newark). If you are interested in bookmaking and the book arts, please drop by and see what’s happening. There is free parking and snacks. Enter the parking lot door.

Agenda for the evening: Caroline Brown will lead a discussion and show-and-tell about collage (collage, not college). She will share some of her collage work, some engaging illustrations in books, and a fun technique for creating unique collage paper. If you have done any work with collage or have books that use it creatively, please bring them to share.

At this meeting, the theme and size of our Group Book will be determined. This meeting is the commitment deadline for those who intend to participate. The number of completed pages each person must bring to the meeting on Wednesday, June 19th, will determine the number of completed pages each person must bring. Depending on the technique used to bind the book, we may start the binding process on June 19th.

You can click here to see the ongoing UCBA agenda for 2025.

Below is the book entitled “Opposites,” which we did in 2023.

We’ll be printing about 400 postcards for 302UnitedDE. We’ll be printing from a from a photopolymer plate. The plan is to print the black run first and then assuming things go smoothly, we’ll be printing a split fountain of the logo and a bit of the type.

To register, click here.

You can register for this free tour by clicking here.

We offer a couple of free 90-minute to 2-hour letterpress intensive tours of Lead Graffiti each month and can usually provide one when you want. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are good days. We are trying to restrict ourselves to 4 studio days a week to reduce the heating costs during the coldest parts of winter.

We will show various Lead Graffiti projects, including books, posters, wedding invitations, and cards, to give you an idea of the range of possible projects with each type of press we have. We’ll show our two Vandercook cylinder presses, floor-model platen, iron hand presses, paper cutter, board shears, and other pieces to help you push your creativity.

We are happy to discuss the history of printing and can show examples of letterpress printing from its earliest days.

Bring your kids or friends. It’s free for all. We would love it if you could bring some questions, ideas about things you might like to do, etc.