This four-day intensive workshop at Prints on Paper Studio is designed for photographers, book artists, and image-makers working in extended series who are ready to take their projects to press and into book form through photogravure — one of the most singular and revered print processes in photography. The workshop is capped at six students and is lead by J Carrier, Walker Blackwell, and Nathanael Kooperkamp.
When: October 19th->22nd, 2026
Where: Prints on Paper Studio, 1243 Walbridge Rd, Cabot VT 05647
How Much: $450 booking fee, $2500 total. Remainder due one month before workshop begins.
How Many: Six workshop attendees, three teachers, four full days.
Who Can Attend? Anyone who wants to make an artist book in photogravure.
Photogravure renders thousands of distinct tonal transitions in oil — a capacity unmatched by virtually any other photographic print method. At Prints on Paper, that process has been developed and refined by two practitioners who have spent decades at the forefront of fine art printing. For photographers looking to make a unique handmade book, there is no comparable studio.
Participants work with Walker Blackwell and Nathanael Kooperkamp — who together teach, operate, and oversee the gravure process — and with photographer J Carrier, whose seven published photobooks include Elementary Calculus (Mack) and Mi’raj (TIS Books). Blackwell and Kooperkamp guide each participant through the material decisions that define a book made in gravure — image selection and rendering, paper and ink — while Carrier brings his experience as a photobook maker and editor to questions of sequence, layout, and structure.
The four days move from foundation to production: photobook theory, gravure process, and participant share-out on day one; print-testing, editing, sequencing, and material commitment on day two; hands-on plate preparation and printing on days three and four. Each participant also proofs a single editioned print of an image drawn from their project.
You arrive with a developed body of work. You leave with a finished press proof — the basis for a self-published edition, or to share with a publisher. This is a print/proof/concept workshop. So it’s not about the binding (which can happen later by the artist or at an art bindery like Hope Binding). While we are targeting at least one full print run of each book for each participant, the plates produced in this workshop are good for between 10 to 50 editions. Those editions can be pulled by the artist at any print-shop with a decent etching press.
Before the workshop starts we will set up a few zoom sessions. One will be an introductory session with J, Walker, and Nathanael and all of the workshop participants. The second will be individual sessions with J and each participant. These are designed to gauge the level of selection and sequencing required during the first few days ahead of the plate creation and print production. Ideally the first few days of work are all about final image choices and aesthetic designs: ink, paper, size, positioning, etc ahead of full-blown production. This workshop is a first of its kind. ***things may change.
J Carrier (b. USA) has lived and worked as a photographer across Africa and the Middle East from 2004–2019, with periods in New York and Washington, DC. His practice centers on extended photographic series and the photobook. He has published seven books, including Mi’raj (TIS, 2024), recipient of the 2024 Lucie Photo Book Prize and Elementary Calculus (Mack, 2012), included in the 2013 International Center of Photography Triennial. He is currently completing InCircles, the third volume of his Palestine/Israel trilogy, selected for the Polycopies & Co. Publishing Grant. Carrier holds a BS from Pennsylvania State University and an MFA from the Hartford Art School and is Associate Professor of Photography at George Mason University.
Walker Blackwell (he/him), a collaborative printmaker, teacher, and inventor, has been at the forefront of the digital printing industry since 2004. Specializing in monochromatic inkjet, he coined the term “pigment print” in the early 2000s to describe mechanically produced pigmented inkjet prints. A founder of Black Point Editions (Chicago) and co-founder/funder of Latitude Chicago, Walker has collaborated with renowned artists worldwide to create unique works. He often adapts new printing techniques on the fly to meet the specific needs of artists or prints. As the lab coordinator for Light Work residency in Syracuse, New York, he transformed the space into a modern facility. Later, he became the head innovator in the fine art printing industry. Walker has taught printing techniques for over two decades, both in community workshops, one-on-one sessions, and at the university level. Teaching and learning are integral to his practice as a printmaker and artist, and he continues this tradition at Prints On Paper.
Nathanael Kooperkamp, a printmaker, papermaker, bookmaker, and teacher, has honed his skills across various mediums. Trained in traditional printmaking, his work spans the history of the art form while infusing it with a digital twist. Kooperkamp’s journey led him to the most rewarding aspect of the art world: collaborative master printmaking. After completing his master’s degree in fine arts at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, he immersed himself in the hand papermaking process at Dieu Donne Studio in Brooklyn.
Later at Cone Editions Press, he supported diverse artists, from idea to final product, using traditional techniques with contemporary technologies to expand the studio’s capabilities. Kooperkamp’s enthusiasm for tradition and collaboration continues at Prints on Paper Studio, where he innovates new processes, honoring the medium’s history while embracing digital advancements.
