We had the good fortune of connecting with Tom Virgin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tom, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Speaking as a late bloomer (BFA at 37, MFA at 40) my thought process was less a factor in starting a business, than my continued research in book arts and letterpress printing. My teaching career began at 41 as a Title I Public High School Art teacher in Miami, Florida. Parallel to my teaching, I continued creating and exhibiting art, while applying for grants and workshops in my field. After a couple summers taking workshops, I was awarded artists residencies each summer for over a decade. My work evolved from relief printmaking, to book arts, and collaborative projects as a result of spending each summer with artists and writers. As a teacher, I encouraged my students to do more or less the same thing, applying for summer internships and scholarships. In 2015, I received a Knight Arts Challenge Grant to establish Extra Virgin Press, this $25,000 matching grant enabled me to buy a press and find a studio space to print in. My twenty five years of teaching made beginning another business an extension of both teaching and art practices. Now that I am “retired,” I collaborate with artists and writers, printing and binding books, and teach printing skills in workshops. Teaching my students taught me to teach myself.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Books and prints pass from hand to hand in a community, as well as from generation to generation. In addition to keeping letterpress alive in Miami, I am printing for writers, artists, events, organizations and museums. I love printing for kids. Kids respond to the magic of printing. This year I printed illustrations with wood type from one word prompts for elementary school kids’ poetry. Part of O, Miami’s Poetry Festival programming, the illustrations went on postcards that were sent to the entire neighborhood around that local elementary school. This may have been my most far reaching and life affirming print assignment I have undertaken. It was definitely the most fun.

Being in artists residencies with writers and artists who practice other disciplines has also enriched my practice. aside from learning new skills, the opportunity to collaborate with others had grown. the community I work with and helped me to access more expansive points of view. My audience grows as I communicate with other arts professionals.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Miami, West Coconut Grove. The original Bahamian settlers who came to the Grove in the early 1900’s built my neighborhood. This is a walking part of the city very close to Biscayne Bay, parks and restaurants. I would probably start with a traditional Cuban breakfast at Chug’s Diner and walk over to the Bay.

Next I would throw a couple of bikes in the back of the pickup and head over to Key Biscayne. There is a bike path that goes through mangroves and Miami-Dade’s Crandon Park along the Atlantic Ocean almost all the way to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. It is a fairly leisurely ride that goes all the way to the Cape Florida Lighthouse overlooking Stiltsville in Biscayne Bay. From there I can wave at Coconut Grove across the Bay and finish the twenty mile loop back to the truck.

Riding is good for the appetite and I would probably go straight to Garcia’s Seafood Grill for a Grouper sandwich and some tostones. The view down the Miami River from the balcony upstairs ranges from million dollar yachts to freighters hauling goods around the Caribbean basin. It is not unusual to see the decks piled high with hundreds of bicycles stacked impossibly high.

Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is just a short distance away and it offers a view of the City that includes Stiltsville from the East side this time. I print at this Museum every year for the Kids Jamm@PAMM with student volunteers to help raise money for kids’ programs at the Museum. I even have a piece in the collection. The museum has a global focus, and looking out in every direction shows Miami’s Downtown.

Next stop is Little Haiti, just north of Downtown. Extra Virgin Press is on NW 2nd Avenue surrounded by Clive’s Cafe (Jamaican food), Sur (Argentinian empanada) and Panther Coffee. Might need the coffee because I would have to print for a while on my two mid 19th Century cylinder letterpresses. The Little Haiti Cultural Center and Market Place are just a few blocks away on NE 2nd Avenue. Another pocket of galleries there would offer another slice of Miami. Remarkably this agenda could be repeated daily around the city without repeating any of the above. Miami has some of everything from everywhere, with private museums that rival those of many big cities around the country. I know them all.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As a life long student and teacher, I have to offer up most of the credit for my successes to my students, at every level. Whether teaching as an adjunct professor, workshop coordinator, or teacher in a public school the students let you know how you are doing. They also teach as they process what I am teaching them. Of course all of my teachers, especially in book arts, printmaking and letterpress printing, have prepared me to pass along what they have taught me.

Website: www.extravirginpress.com

Instagram: @extravirginpress

Other: https://mcbaprize.org/tom-virgin-denise-duhamel-maureen-seaton-mary-malm-questionnaire-for-two-pussies/ Collaborative Book Arts, MCBA, Semi-finalist for MCBA International Book Award https://vizcaya.org/posts/creativevizcaya/ scroll to Extra Virgin Press 2022 #Vizcaya #VizcayaMuseum #HistoricHome Tom Virgin | Creative Vizcaya 2022, Artist Interviews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiX5NPvLprw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dA-FDjKoYA Tom Virgin, Proprietor of Extra Virgin Press, printing a poster at Yummy Zine Fair. https://knightfoundation.org/articles/extra-virgin-press-letterpress-printing-miami/ Knight Arts Challenge Grant, 2015

Image Credits
Jessica Artiles

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