T.B.P.S. | Tugboat Printshop
Tugboat Printshop / T.B.P.S. (Pittsburgh) is an internationally recognized artist press specializing in finely-crafted, original woodcut prints. Tugboat was founded & began publishing its 1st print 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.
Maximum edition size of any T.B.P.S. woodcut image is 200. Each print is clearly numbered, titled, and signed by the artist. Prints are published in batches manageable to the artist; all woodblocks are hand-inked and cranked through an etching press one at a time. Once 200 prints have been pulled, the woodblocks for any given printed image are completely retired & the print is marked officially sold out.
To view the latest print editions & woodcuts-in-progress at Tugboat Printshop, visit the SHOP — to join the T.B.P.S. Newsletter, scroll down and enter select e-mail address (studio event updates, intro deals & latest woodcuts).
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Valerie Lueth (Artist/Printmaker/Owner) runs operations & draws/carves/produces the woodcuts at T.B.P.S. A dedicated & multi-faceted artist/operator for 17 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 the South Dakota prairie, self-motivated to draw, build, tinker & explore—very active in the arts from her earliest years. Art & drama performances, set building, darkroom photography, photojournalism, impromptu installations, constant sketching—a compulsion to create fueled Valerie into adulthood.
In 1998, Valerie moved to Vermillion, SD, as a student and became involved with the University of South Dakota Printmaking Department. Over the following 6 years, she assisted & attended countless printmaking workshops at Frogman’s Press & Workshop (an intensive printmaking workshop in operation since the 70’s), attended conferences, participated in folio exchanges, assisted visiting artist projects, immersed in her studio practice, and began to exhibit her artwork & prints with success.
After receiving her BFA in Printmaking in 2004, Valerie moved to Nashville, TN, working remotely as a full time video game concept artist & game texturer, while continuing to produce & exhibit prints and drawings as a working artist.
In 2006, Valerie moved to Pittsburgh and co-founded Tugboat Printshop with her then partner Paul Roden. Valerie has been actively producing woodcut prints at the press since that time (17 years), both in collaboration with fellow printmakers & independently. Valerie took the helm as sole operator of Tugboat Printshop in 2016 and has steadily continued to create & publish her unique brand of intricate woodblock prints into the present.
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/by 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., Belio Magazine, 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.