T.B.P.S. | Tugboat Printshop
Tugboat Printshop / T.B.P.S. (Pittsburgh, PA) is an internationally recognized artist press specializing in finely-crafted, original woodcut prints. Tugboat was established & began publishing its 1st editions in Pennsylvania in 2006.
The woodcuts produced at T.B.P.S. are traditionally hand-crafted, quality artworks on paper. Prints are published directly from hand-drawn, hand-carved woodblock(s) to archival papers using top-shelf, oil-based inks.
Various knives & gouges are used to carve blocks in low relief. Finished blocks are inked using brayers/rollers, registered (aligned to paper) and cranked through a manual etching press one-at-a-time to create each printed impression. (Color prints often hold multiple layers of ink from multiple woodblocks, each lending different information to the printed image.)
T.B.P.S. woodcuts are created in limited editions.
Prints are clearly numbered, titled, and signed by the artist when complete.
Consistency & uniformity are valued in the production of each edition. Subtle variations between prints are inevitable, considering the hand-inked nature of each woodblock & the nature of the wood itself.
Every print created is in some way a unique original!
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View available woodcut editions in the ONLINE SHOP!
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Valerie Lueth (Artist/Printmaker/Owner) runs operations & draws/carves/prints the woodcuts at Tugboat Printshop. A dedicated & multi-faceted artist/operator for 19 years and counting, Valerie’s grassroots approach to making & sharing is hands-on and upbeat. A reverence for technique and steadfast patience for puzzling out the challenges of the woodblock medium pairs with her experimental and playful, yet exactingly fine-tuned approach to guiding her whimsical drawings into woodcut multiples.
Valerie Lueth | Bio
Valerie Lueth was raised on rural South Dakota prairie, self-motivated to draw, build, tinker & explore—active in the arts from her earliest years. Art & drama performances, set painting/building, darkroom photography, photojournalism, impromptu installations, costume fabrication, art clubs, forts, constant sketching—a strong compulsion to create and contribute fueled Valerie into adulthood.
In 1998, Valerie moved to Vermillion, SD, to study art and quickly became involved with the University of South Dakota Printmaking Department. Over the following 6 years, she took every USD class that struck interest (in a broad range of topics/skillsets in addition to the arts), assisted & attended countless summer printmaking workshops at Frogman’s Press & Workshop (an intensive printmaking workshop in operation since the 70’s), attended annual regional/national print conferences, participated in folio exchanges, assisted visiting artist projects, immersed in her studio practice, and began to exhibit her artworks with success.
After receiving her BFA in Printmaking in 2004, Valerie moved to Nashville, TN, working remotely as a full time video game concept/texture artist while continuing to create, produce and exhibit her prints (then etchings) and drawings as a working artist.
In 2006, Valerie bought a house & press, moved to Pittsburgh and co-founded Tugboat Printshop.
Valerie has been actively producing woodcut prints as Tugboat Printshop since ‘06—in collaboration with fellow printmakers and independently. In 2016, she became sole owner/operator of T.B.P.S. and continues the steady practice of creating her unique brand of intricate woodblock prints in Pittsburgh into the present.
Valerie is additionally a proud mother of 2, Ayla and Rudy.
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Valerie’s artworks have been exhibited, featured and collected widely by patrons, cultural institutions, and museums in the U.S. and abroad. Her drawings & prints have been featured in the Library of Congress (where her woodcut of “THE MOON” is part of the permanent collection), E/AB Fair NYC, Pressing Matters, New American Paintings, Illustrator’s Unlimited, People of Print, PUSHPrint, Low Tech Print, Mohawk Maker Quarterly, Uppercase Magazine, American Craft Magazine, This is Colossal, It’s Nice That, Boing Boing, Patagonia, Anthropologie, Reyn Spooner, Martha Stewart Crafts Dept., Yen Magazine & more!
Valerie has instructed woodcut workshops at the Women’s Studio Workshop, Society for Contemporary Craft, Montgomery College and Temple University/Tyler School of Art and regularly makes visits to colleges and universities as a visiting artist, sharing artwork, process & the story of Tugboat Printshop.