News and Events

Celebrating Our Printing Journey: 2025 Highlights

Happy Solstice! We wrapped up 2025 in style with the last of our community workshops at the studio on December 13. It was a grand event full of laughter and joy. We saw repeat faces and many new ones. It was an afternoon of printing rainbow rolled snowflakes, creating Plasticine stamps, and printing golden wishes for 2026 with metal type on a vintage CP Pilot press.

We began hosting free public workshops in different rural communities in July. We hadn’t expected so many folks would get involved. We are thrilled seeing your creativity and passion for printmaking. Thank you everyone for sharing your time, and interest.

We are grateful to Arts Nova Scotia for supporting our pilot project, Living Histories, Storied Places, through its Artists in Communities grant. We are particularly grateful to the EGPS Board and members. They went above and beyond as the project organizers and instructors.

Now in the duller, colder days of winter, EGPS will take a short break from workshops. There will be no open studio days. This allows members to have personal work time in the studio or just recharge.

The studio continues to be open for members and welcomes new members for 2026. If you caught the printmaking bug, and you wish to take up the roller, get in touch about the various levels of membership offered. You can also visit the Membership page on our website for details.

Printmaking at the Market

Curious about the art of hand printing but unsure where to begin? Wrap up your summer and join Elephant Grass Printmakers for a morning of hands-on printmaking demonstrations on September 13, 9am-1pm at Annapolis Royal Farmers Market in Annapolis Royal. We will be there to help you ink and print your own mini relief print.

And if you are looking for raffle tickets for our upcoming draw for 6 fabulous pieces made by Nova Scotian artists, here is another chance before the draw in October. We are holding the raffle to help us upgrade some of our equipment. Prizes generously donated by Nova Scotian artists, Deb Kuzyk, Wayne Boucher, Julie Rosvall, Marianne Brown and David Silverberg.

Happy Printer at Mapannapolis event
Getting a little help from EGPS member.
Stencil Printing on a rock. Paper is not the only surface you can print on.
From one of our Market Day events in 2025
Raffle Draw to help EGPS upgrade our equipment.

Living Histories, Storied Places Full Schedule

Our first workshop in the Living Histories & Storied Places project took place last weekend at a local cafe and community hotspot in the village of Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia. It was a huge success with plenty of folks of all ages participating! Many created their own simple relief prints and then expressed themselves with personally chosen words in letterpress. As each visual story was revealed at the press, people, sometimes complete strangers, traded personal stories with one another in a relaxed, fun space. Lorna Mulligan and Katie Prescott, EGPS instructors, guided this casual workshop and had a blast helping everyone discover the joys of printmaking!

The full schedule of workshops is complete, with our next session on August 23, 2025. Free for all. No registration required. Just show up and tell your story.

August 23, 10am-1pm
Rosa M. Harvey Middleton and Area Library 45 Gates Street, Middleton, Nova Scotia

September 27, 10am-1pm
Bridgetown Area Library, 38 Queen Street, Bridgetown, Nova Scotia

October 25, 11am-2pm
Annapolis Royal Library, 143 Ritchie Street, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

November 23, 2-5pm
Oakdene Centre Bear River, 1913 Clementsvale Road, Bear River

Dec. 13, 1-4pm
EGPS Studio, 240 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia



Living Histories, Storied Places

Try something new! Elephant Grass Printmakers’ Society (EGPS) is hitting the road!  Bringing printmaking and its possibilities directly to neighbouring communities in Annapolis County with a project called Living Histories & Storied Places. Like many arts organizations, EGPS is re-imagining its role in the community beyond providing a space for artists to make their work. We want to find ways to bring members of diverse communities together, share our experiences, and shape these into art by offering free workshops and making new connections.  Our first two gatherings are already on the calendar, and stay tuned for dates leading up to our December event at the Elephant Grass Printmakers space in Annapolis Royal. 

Hands-On Printmaking Activities for Everyone

July 27th

Join Elephant Grass Printmakers for letterpress & simple printmaking at Bee’s Knees General Store and Bakery. Express yourself!

Time: 2-5 pm
Location: Bee’s Knees General Store and Bakery, 498 Main Street., Lawrencetown, NS

Instructors: Katie Prescott and Lorna Mulligan

August 23rd

Letterpress & textile relief printmaking, create art at the Middleton and Area library. Try something new!

Time: 10am to 1pm
Location: Middleton & Area Library, 45 Gates Avenue, Middleton, NS
Instructors: Julie Rosvall and Katie Prescott

More dates and locations are being added soon, so keep checking back. Visit us @egpcprintmakers on Instagram or Elephant Grass Printmakers on Facebook.

This relationship-building project gives us the opportunity to transform individual artist connections with nearby communities into deeper connections with the larger EGPS group. We believe a free printmaking workshop (with snacks!) is the perfect way. Each gathering, EGPS will come together in a community space, provide tea and snacks, two hours of printmaking instruction and play, and an hour for chatting and brainstorming future projects and prospects with participants. A final session on letterpress printing will be held at the EGPS studio in Annapolis Royal for anyone who wishes to participate, using less portable equipment, like metal type, antique advertising, and other images, and the platen press used to print from these materials.

This project is supported by Arts Nova Scotia’s Artists in Communities program.

Hands-On Printmaking Experience: May 17 at EGPS

The 2025 Saturday Open House season has begun! Join your EGPS printmakers for a day of inky fun and hands on demos on Saturday May 17, 11am -2pm at our studio, 240 St. George Str., 2nd floor, Annapolis Royal.

Sheri Jean Hancock will be showing the magical effects of a rainbow roll on a relief print. Or print your own mini letterpress takeaway plus on one of our letterpresses.

Bonnie Baker of Bonnie Baker Studio will be demonstrating how to do polaroid lifts in her adjourning studio.

Are you thinking about a printmaking activity or a project in the works in your future? You are welcome to come by, check out the different ways you can print at the studio or be involved as a member or just hang out for the conversation. So why not drop in after your market shopping and play with us?

Boots on the Ground

Rainbow roll with multiple colours on the same roller.

Visiting Artist Open House POP UP

Drop by Elephant Grass Printmakers on Sunday, April 27 between 6-8pm to see what Basma Kavanagh, April’s Visiting Artist, has been creating during her time in the studio.

Basma will be showing her new prints, stitch and collage experiments and  give us a peak at some projects-in-progress.

Refreshments, nibbles  and conversation on hand.

240 St. George Str, 2nd Floor, Annapolis Royal. 

INK, PAPER, POSSIBILITY

an introduction to relief printmaking

Sundays, 1-3pm, April 6, 13, 20, 27

This workshop is suitable for beginners and those with some printmaking experience. In this four-week class participants will learn the basics—and move beyond them—as we explore the possibilities of linocut, a versatile and accessible relief printmaking medium. Learn how to carve expressively, work with a range of papers and inking techniques, and get comfortable with the etching press. The possibilities are endless!

Basma is a Lebanese-Canadian artist whose multidisciplinary practice includes writing, drawing, printmaking, artist’s books, textiles, performance and land-based explorations. She lives in the Annapolis Valley, in the Sipekne’katik region of Mi’kma’ki.

$140 (members) $165 (non-members) Suitable for 18yrs. and up.

Register by contacting elephantgrassprint@gmail.com Payment via e-transfer, cash, or cheque. *Become an Associate Member ($50), get the workshop discount and future studio time for $20/day.

240 St. George Street, 2nd floor, Annapolis Royal

Follow us @egpcprintmakers or on Elephant Grass Printmakers Society FB page

2025 AGM and 1st Print Circle of the year.

Join us on Sunday March 2, 2025 from 1-2pm for our Annual General Meeting. If you are interested in renewing membership or knowing more about which type of membership may suit you, then come. Then hang out and chat with members at the following Print Circle 2-3:30pm.
There have be Doors Prizes but you have to come to win!

240 St. George Street, 2nd floor, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Print Circle Postponed until February 25, 1-3pm

Due to the horrific driving conditions this weekend, we have postponed Our first Print Circle of 2024 until Feburary 25, 1-3pm. What is a Print Circle? PC’s are casual gatherings of EGPS members, friend and anyone interested in sharing resources, and information about fine art printmaking and letterpress, held once a month at EGPS studio, 240 St George Str, 2nd floor, Annapolis Royal. 

There is no agenda or scheduled program except it is a time to come together, show each other what we are creating, whether it is work in progess or finished prints, ask questions or get inspired talking shop

Everyone is welcome from the experienced to the aspiring novice. If you love the smell of ink and don’t mind getting a little messy, you may be a budding printmaker. Why not come by and check us out?

Saturday Print Circle

You’re invited to join us on Saturday, April 22 1-4pm for our first monthly Saturday Print Circle in the studio
240 St. George Street, 2d Floor, Annapolis Royal.

Everyone is welcome. Members and the general public please bring a friend (does not need to be a printmaker) to see what we are doing and join in the creativity and conversation.

If you like, bring something printmaking related to work on, a work in progress (WIP), a show and tell and ideas you would like to explore with a group.

Visit with our fellow printmakers to cross pollinate ideas.
Show and tell what we’ve completed or what we are currently working on.
Get feedback if wanted.

Our first Print Circle will be an informal gathering with no theme or agenda other than to get the rusty wheels of momentum going again and for some of us gently nudge us out of our comfy homes and back into the studio. We will be holding a Print Circle one Saturday of the month. This is a work in progress, we will tweak it as we go.

Can’t wait to visit with you all again.