Women's Studio Workshop (WSW) is a nonprofit visual arts studio and

private press Private press publishing, with respect to books, is an endeavor performed by craft-based expert or aspiring artisans, either amateur or professional, who, among other things, print and build books, typically by hand, with emphasis on Book design ...

offering residencies and educational workshops, located in

Rosendale, New York Rosendale is a town in the center of Ulster County, New York, United States. It once contained a village Rosendale, primarily centered around Main Street, but which was dissolved through vote in 1977. The population was 5,782 at the 2020 census. ...

, United States. The workshop was founded in 1974 by Ann Kalmbach, Tatana Kellner, Anita Wetzel, and Barbara Leoff Burge as an alternative space for female artists to create new work, gain artistic experience, and develop new skills. The studio operates throughout the year with artist residencies, gallery exhibitions, artist lectures, and diverse educational programs for children and adults. In addition, they operate a Summer Art Institute which includes options to study abroad. The studio supports projects in a wide range of media types, with a focus on

book arts Book arts may refer to: * Artist's book, a work of art in the form of a book * Book design, the art of designing a book * Book illustration, illustration in a book * Bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex ...

papermaking Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is Pulp and paper industry, made using industrial machinery, while handmade pape ...

, and printmaking methods:

screen printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen in a "flood stroke ...

letterpress Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing for producing many copies by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against individual sheets of paper or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable t ...

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

, intaglio. The workshop is represented in book arts and special collections of notable libraries, such as the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

, the Dexter Library,

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, it is regarded as one of ...

, and James Branch Cabell Library,

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

. Editions by visiting artists published by the Women's Studio Workshop have been featured in overview exhibitions and symposiums on contemporary book arts such as the Codex Book Fair and Symposium, and the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair. In 2025 the traveling exhibition ''A Radical Alteration: Women’s Studio Workshop as a Sustainable Model for Art Making'' presented examples of Artist’s Book Grant publications from WSW. The tour includes the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and the

The Artists' Book Collection

The artists' books produced at the studio cover a range of topics from the political to the personal. The books come in a variety of forms, ranging from interactive puzzles that must be assembled to accordion folded books to books made with a variety of mixed media.

The Artists' Book Collection

References

Further reading