The Inaugural York Wayzgoose
From 6th-8th August 2026, Thin Ice Press will host the first York Wayzgoose: a 3-day gathering celebrating the art of printmaking, traditional and contemporary practice, research and ideas.
Rooted in craft, shaped by scholarship, and offered as a meeting point for anyone with an interest in print and printmaking, York Wayzgoose aims to bring together practitioners, researchers, designers, students, volunteers, studio owners, and anyone who is keen to know more about the past and future of print.
Expect superb guest speakers, plenty of opportunities to get hands-on with workshops and demonstrations, a curated Suppliers’ Fair, exhibitions, excursions, a fun, free print auction, a drinks reception, and the Wayzgoose dinner. While here, you will also see plenty of actual geese along the Ouse and Foss rivers — one of them more than 500 years old!
With York’s 365 pubs, we will, of course, also be offering a print-your-own-beermat pub crawl!
Excursions & Exhibitions
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Demonstrations
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Wayzgoose Dinner
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Drinks Reception
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Print Auction
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Talks & Plenary Lectures
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Suppliers’ Fair
Excursions & Exhibitions • Demonstrations • Wayzgoose Dinner • Drinks Reception • Print Auction • Talks & Plenary Lectures • Suppliers’ Fair
Join us in York—the UK’s first UNESCO City of Media Arts—home to a world-renowned historic centre, a rich print heritage, and a thriving contemporary creative scene.
Full Registration Fee: £330 (deadline 1st August)
Suppliers’ Fair Table Fee: £60 (deadline 1st August)
Please be aware that the registration fee is designed to cover the cost of all activities. Any proceeds from the Wayzgoose will go directly to supporting the activities of Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print, creating new opportunities for talented printers and printmakers, and inspiring the next generation.
We have a limited number of travel bursaries available, to be distributed on a first come first serve basis.
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09.30–10.00
Tea and coffee available
Registration and welcome talk from Thin Ice Press Director, Helen Smith
10.00–11.00
Talk: Mat Lazenby, ‘City Folk, a New Model for Grass Roots Publishing’
Talk: David King, ‘Washi: an Artist Residency with a Small Japanese Papermaking Company’
11.00–11.30
Tea and coffee
11.30–13.00
Demonstration: Bob Wakefield (Chevington Press), ‘Printing Etchings with Colour’
Demonstration: Nick Gill (Effra Press), ‘Casting Type in a Hand Mould’
13.00–14.00
Lunch
Drop-in Demonstration: Jennifer Anne, ‘Wood Type Cutting’
14.00–15.30
Talk: Emily Rowe, ‘Printing Wrong: Error and Constraint in Letterpress Pedagogy’
Talk: Ben Weiner, ‘Scholarly and Hands-On Work’
Talk: Maria Zytaruk, ‘Gutenberg's Ghost Rises in Canada: A Cross-Disciplinary Project to Design a Wooden Screw Hand Press for a Book Arts Lab at the University of Calgary’
15.30–16.00
Tea and coffee
16.00–17.00
Workshop: Portfolio Making
17.00-18.00
Keynote: Jamie Murphy, ‘Contemplating Carbon, Type Paper & Ink’
Evening
Pub crawl led by Phil Treble
Meet at Thin Ice Press to print your own beermat
There will be a Printing History Walking Tour of York for attendees arriving the evening of Wednesday 5th August. The 20:20 Exhibition runs throughout.
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Keynote: Vera Evstafieva, ‘Letters Old and New: Growing Fresh Type Designs’
Demonstration: Brush Calligraphy
11.00–11.30
Tea and coffee
11.30–13.00
Talk: Vega Brennan, ‘Printing Fast and Printing Badly: How Fluxus Might Help us Think Differently about Printing’
Talk: Chiara Betti, ‘Under the Surface: 3D Imaging and the Materiality of Print’
Talk: Patti Harper, ‘From Press to Process: What Building a Printing Press Taught Me About Learning’
13.00–14.00
Lunch
Drop-in Demonstration: Printing on a Columbian
14.00–15.30
Workshop: Phil Treble, Printing on an SP15
Workshop: Mike Ainsworth (North or Nowt), Riso Magic
15.30–16.00
Tea and coffee
16.00–17.00
Keynote: Laura Boswell, ‘Crossing Boundaries: Mokuhanga, Linocut and the Creative Process’
Evening
Drinks Reception
Wayzgoose Dinner
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10.00–11.00
Keynote: Belinda Ugalde, ‘Lucha Libre and Letterpress. A glimpse of the Christian Cymet Collection’
11.00–11.30
Tea and coffee
Suppliers’ Fair
11.30–13.00
Suppliers’ Fair
Printing History Walking Tour
Option to view Making Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print at York Art Gallery
13.00–14.00
Lunch
Print Auction
14.00–15.30
Suppliers’ Fair
Talk: Nathalie Rennhack, ‘Materiality and Periodical Space in Isaiah Thomas’ Massachusetts Spy Around 1800’
Talk: Peter Soemers, ‘A Man and his Albion: Maurice Laudy and his Renildis Handpers (1953-1995)’
Talk: Anne Wittrick, ‘Giorgio Marescotti, Printer in Sixteenth Century Florence’
15.30–16.00
Tea and coffee
16.00–17.00
Demonstration (or join in!): Speed Typesetting Contest
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The Suppliers' Fair will run from 11.00-16.00 on Saturday 8th August. A full list of suppliers will be announced soon.
Registration is open for exhibitors. Tables cost £60, and exhibitors are asked to provide their own tablecloths and signage. Exhibitors are warmly invited to join us for the Wayzgoose Dinner on the evening of Friday 7 August, at an anticipated cost of £40 per person.
You can book a table via this link. If you have any questions, please get in touch (thinicepress@york.ac.uk).
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The Call for Papers officially closed on Thursday 30th April.
However, if you were hoping to submit a paper or demonstration proposal, we’d still love to hear from you so please do get in touch. For more details, please click here: Call for Papers.
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Laura Boswell
Plenary Speaker
‘Crossing Boundaries: Mokuhanga, Linocut and the Creative Process’
Laura’s work explores light, space, and scale within wild landscapes. Her prints are built through multiple washes of transparent ink, using shading techniques inspired by traditional Japanese printmaking. Her aim is to capture the living landscape with its ephemeral light and atmosphere
Laura is a member of the Royal Society of Printmakers, with work held in public collections in the UK, USA, and Japan. She studied at Aberystwyth University and with the Nagasawa Art Programme in Japan, and has published books on Japanese woodblock and linocut techniques with The Crowood Press.
Hates: the random addition of chocolate to traditional recipes.
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Vera Evstafieva
Plenary Speaker
‘Letters Old and New: Growing Fresh Type Designs’
Vera Evstafieva is an independent type designer and calligrapher in Cambridge, UK, designing letters since the 2000s. She is a full member of the Letter Exchange Society and has served as a jury member for international type design competitions.Vera is passionate about exploring historical sources. She experiments with transparency, colour, and layered intersections created with a flat brush, and she takes advantage of the one and only optimal shape of a letter in type, thoroughly balancing black and white.
Her designs include Amalta, ALS Direct, Birra Lambic, Moscow University, Rossica, and Apriori, alongside Cyrillics for Literata, Postea, Futura 100, and other TypeTogether fonts. Amalta has recently been cut as wood type.
Vera avoids garlic at all costs.
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Jamie Murphy
Plenary Speaker
‘Contemplating Carbon, Type Paper & Ink’
Jamie Murphy is an artist, designer and educator based in Dublin. He operates under the imprint of The Salvage Press, making books with particular attention to concept, materials and fine letterpress printing. At The National College of Art & Design his focus with students is on book-making and typographic experimentation. Jamie has exhibited and spoken broadly about his work. His books reside in private, public and institutional collections across the globe.
Jamie hates Helvetica.
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Belinda Ugalde
Plenary Speaker
‘Lucha Libre and Letterpress. A glimpse of the Christian Cymet Collection’
Belinda Ugalde Mellado is a graphic designer and printer based in Xalapa, Mexico. She specializes in visual identity and editorial design, and her work in social and cultural posters has been exhibited both in Mexico and internationally. She also teaches at the School of Design at Universidad Anáhuac Veracruz. After working in a letterpress workshop, Belinda developed a passion for wood type and began conducting independent research on Mexican letterpress printing and its educational applications. She is the author of the book Imprenta Enlace: Carteles de tradición tipográfica mexicana, a project supported by the Ministry of Culture of Mexico.Belinda hates the loss of letterpress heritage and cold baths.
Frequently Asked Questions
Take a look at the FAQ, then register below to secure your place. Contact us at thinicepress@york.ac.uk for more information.
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Historically, a Wayzgoose marked the transition to candlelit winter working, celebrated with a late-summer feast given by a master printer for their journeymen.
Today it is a living tradition: a space to meet new and familiar faces, share and sell work, and celebrate the craft. Some great examples include the Stroud Wayzgoose, the St Bride Foundation Wayzgoose, the wonderful Shipley Wayzgoose, and our very own Christmas Frost Fair!
Beyond the UK, the term often describes events akin to conferences, where practitioners and researchers connect, reflect, and shape the field.
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York Wayzgoose welcomes printers, printmakers, designers, typographers, researchers, students, volunteers, curators, and anyone with a keen interest in the past, present, and future of print.
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We’re happy to offer tips on travel and budget-friendly stays. York’s central location puts it within a few hours by rail from London, Edinburgh, and nearby international airports, making it accessible to both UK and overseas visitors.
A small number of travel bursaries are available, and payment by instalment is supported. We are also happy to assist with grant applications.
Please contact thinicepress@york.ac.uk with any questions.
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Speakers are asked to pay the registration fee. This covers the costs of hosting the event — including catering, exhibition access, staffing, and venue hire — and helps to ensure the event is sustainable, allowing Thin Ice Press to host this ambitious gathering independently.
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The ticket price includes:
plenary lectures from four world-leading experts, visiting from England, Scotland, Ireland and Mexico
our inaugural Wayzgoose dinner
a drinks reception
workshops and demonstrations including wood engraving, casting metal type in a hand mould, printing with an SP15, printing on the Columbian press, wood type cutting, portfolio making, riso magic, and a speed typesetting contest
three lunches
tea and coffee throughout
a chance to view the Hotbed Press 20:20 exhibition
access to the brilliant Making Waves exhibition of Japanese printmaking at York Art Gallery
and souvenirs and a goody bag, with a retail value of more than £75.