Calling for Studio Partners: Letterpress Book Arts Studio – Middletown, CT

Are you a skilled book artist, letterpress printer, bookbinder, graphic designer, or printmaker looking for a collaborative, well-equipped shared studio space?

Seeking book/print/graphic artists to share my letterpress book arts studio. Studio partners would contribute to studio upkeep and overhead costs.* Open to bartering/work trade.

When & where: Starting Jan 2026 / Middletown CT, long-term studio location of Robin Price, Publisher

My goal is to co-create a financially sustainable model that supports the long-term future of the studio, developing it in new directions. There are incredible resources on hand here to nourish established and growing artists. I would love to contribute towards future generations of creatives, and fostering community access.

Studio Snapshot

  • 1500 sq ft letterpress book arts studio, with loading dock, in a historic textile mill

  • Quiet, secluded neighborhood with a waterfall/old dam, pond with frog chorus, and paths along the gentle Coginchaug river behind the mill. Yoga studio adjacent.

  • Ten minutes from a bustling historic New England main street and a park alongside the Connecticut River

  • Located two miles from Wesleyan University, and halfway between Boston and NYC: about 100 miles from both

Key Equipment Includes:

  • Vandercooks (219; Uni-I electric; No. 2 proof press), Potter pedestal press

  • 25 cabinets of metal type, Hammond saw

  • Etching press, polymer platemaker

  • Jacques board shear, guillotine cutter, bookbinding & dry mount presses

Ideal collaborators have:

  • Several years of experience in book arts, printmaking, or similar design training

  • Competence and experience in at least one of the following:

    Bookbinding (with varied structures/materials)

    Printing with Vandercook cylinder presses (with a variety of matrices, papers, and other substrates)

    Printmaking with etching press

  • Commitment to approaching art-making with compassion, inclusiveness, and social justice in mind

  • Interest in developing a community-access studio

Bonus skills (appreciated, not required):

  • Studio management

  • Writing, editing, admin support

  • Social media & outreach

  • Community engagement / teaching experience

  • Experience working/operating small business; business savvy

What’s Possible

This is an open, evolving concept. We might explore, among other opportunities:

  • Short-term trial experience

  • Development of classes / workshops

  • Project-based arrangements, with percentage-of-sales agreements

  • Collaboration on artists’ books and/or prints & broadsides

  • Selective commission work

  • Plans for a non-profit book arts center

  • Creative partnership models not yet envisioned/mentioned above

I’m eager to share, mentor (if desired), collaborate, and provide access for team members to pursue individual projects. This is a place for mutual inspiration and invention. We emphasize maintaining the studio as a safe, sanctuary-type space.

Contact

robinpricepublisher@mac.com | 860-759-2658 | https://www.robinpricepublisher.com/

*Rent total $1200/mo; utilities average $150/mo.

Photos and more info coming next week, by Dec 17th!