Local printmaker connects at the 39th National Arts & Crafts Conference
Denise Markbreit connects the eras of a time-honored technique.
Photo by Rachel Pressley
The Arts & Crafts Movement, which took root in the late 19th century, began as a call to hands — a pushback against industrialization and a return to the quiet intimacy of making. Asheville printmaker Denise Markbreit still answers that call.
“I am a very analog artist,” says Markbreit, founder of Print House, a working studio and gallery in downtown Asheville devoted to traditional printmaking methods. “Working within the ethos of the Arts and Crafts movement and having a ‘maker’s touch’ to all of my work is important to me, even if my personal current work doesn’t have the Arts and Crafts aesthetic. It’s always in the back of my mind as I approach my work simply.”
This winter, Markbreit will bring that hands-on philosophy to life as an instructor at the 39th National Arts & Crafts Conference, leading a two-day linoblock printmaking workshop at the historic Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa.
Markbreit’s relationship with the conference runs deep. She first attended the event in 1993 with her late husband, both of them avid collectors of pottery, furniture, metal, fabric, and print. Over the next two decades, the couple returned year after year, drawn by the camaraderie and craftsmanship that define the gathering. “The conference led us to satellite events across the country and many long-lasting friendships,” says Markbreit.
This winter, Markbreit returns to the Grove Park not as a collector, but as a teacher. During her workshop, she will guide participants through every step of linoblock printmaking, from the first sketch to a finished edition. Alongside technique, she’ll trace the tradition of relief printing, showing how this humble process still links modern makers to Arts & Crafts predecessors such as Arthur Wesley Dow and Margaret Jordan Patterson.
“Denise Markbreit is a wonderful addition to our workshop instructors,” says Kate Nixon, the conference’s director. “Her experience as a local printmaker shows her clear admiration of the Arts & Crafts style and the historic artisans of that era.”
Markbreit carries that same spirit of intention to her work at Print House, the downtown studio and gallery she co-founded with fellow printmaker Anna Bryant. For years, the two anchored Asheville’s printmaking community from their space in the River Arts District, until Hurricane Helene changed everything.
“The scope of the devastation was complete,” Markbreit says of the flood. “We lost all of the work in the space, supplies, materials, and much of the equipment.”
With help from grants and donors, they salvaged what they could — including a few cherished printing presses — and began again, this time on higher ground. Now located on Carolina Lane, Print House functions as both a working studio and gallery, showcasing original works by Bryant and Markbreit and offering workshops that invite people to reconnect with the physical act of creation.
“So many folks feel disconnected from making things, of touching materials, of getting dirty even,” Markbreit says. “Feeling the materiality of things and getting dirty is a very grounding experience that humans crave.”
The 39th National Arts & Crafts Conference & Shows happens Friday, Feb. 20 through Sunday, Feb. 22, at The Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa (290 Macon Ave., Asheville). As part of the pre-conference offerings, Denise Markbreit’s Linoblock Printmaking Workshop will take place Thursday, Feb. 19, 2-5pm, and Friday, Feb. 20, 8-11am. The $225 class fee includes all tools and materials. For more information, visit arts-craftsconference.com. For information about classes and workshops at Print House, 29 Carolina Lane, see printhouseavl.com.