Printmaking has been around since the 15th century. It has seen many rises and declines in interest and processes, but it is still alive and well in Hawai'i.

The Honolulu Printmakers are all abuzz about the upcoming installation of their 74th yearly exhibition, with visiting artist Brendan Hansbro as juror. They have included print talks, demonstrations and workshops. The annual Gift Print, a mysterious tradition since 1933, can be purchased in advance but will not be unveiled until opening night. In a new development, two print fellowships financed by a grant from the Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund of the Hawai'i Community Foundation will be awarded.

This year's Gift Print was crafted by Joseph Singer. It is a photogravure, the first of its type offered as a Gift Print, in an edition of 75. Titled "heiau, O'ahu," it focuses on the power of spirit-centered spaces in nature and refers to the 1992 preservation of a sacred Native Hawaiian cultural site through the realignment of the H-3 Freeway. Sales from the Gift Print support Honolulu Printmakers' activities such as the annual exhibition, classes and workshops, visiting artists and a community-access print studio.

Hansbro, born in Leeds, England, teaches at the Winchester School of Art, where he was instrumental in developing a master's course in printmaking. His engravings feature imaginative draftsmanship and biomorphic architectural images. Passionate about printmaking, Hansbro has been quoted in Printmaking Today magazine as saying "The magic of an image evolving — not knowing what it will look like until it is finished — proved to be a wonderful addiction."

Recognition for Hansbro's work is increasing as he continues to exhibit his prints, drawings and artists' books in the United States, China, Italy and Britain. He plans to bring a proof of a print (the gallery has the edition) along with other engravings for examination at the exhibition, along with other pieces of his work.

This will be Hansbro's first trip to Hawai'i and first time as a juror. In selecting work for the Honolulu Printmakers, he said he will "look for the best realization of imagination through the making of the print."

Hansbro's slide lecture on Friday is open to the public.

The Honolulu Printmakers have encouraged teachers to bring their classes to the exhibition at the Academy Art Center and view demonstrations of printmaking in the studio in the same building. The demonstrations are available only on Thursdays and Fridays; to schedule a visit, call the executive director, Laura Smith, at 536-5507.

A series of weekend demonstrations and print talks are noteworthy for anyone interested in printmaking.

• Rob Noland demonstrates multiplate color intaglio at 1 p.m. March 23.

• Ryan Higa shares his knowledge from graduate studies in Japan in a demonstration of traditional Japanese-style wood-block printing at 1 p.m. March 24. Laura Smith says that "very few people in the Islands know how to print with this particular water-based technique."

• A demonstration on the development and etching of a photogravure plate by Ann Beeson with Dotie Warren and other artists, at

1 p.m. April 6, will bring to light the same process that was used in Singer's 2002 Gift Print. Photogravure is a photo-based printmaking process that, Singer says, "captures the extreme spectrum of darkness to light chiaroscuro tonality that exists in a landscape. (It) accents singular landscape particulars not usually noted visually and provides unusual separation of foreground and background space."

• Nancy Morris, curator of the Jean Charlot Collection, was scheduled to show prints from this excellent but not well-known collection at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's Hamilton Library. Because building repairs are under way, the tour has been postponed.