As artistic hobbies go, printmaking has to be one of the hardest to take up. It's much easier to, say, buy a cheap canvas and some oil paints, and even creating a home darkroom is simpler than assembling your own lithographic presses, ferric etching tanks, and everything else you need for printmaking. That makes having a community center for the beautiful but often complex art form so crucial. Highpoint is a professional facility with the presses and printing equipment that serious artists need to execute their ideas. But the center also emphasizes teaching the community about printmaking, with instruction on classic methods such as screen-printing, etching, and the cutting-edge technique of Solarplate. For those who want to try printmaking for the first time, Highpoint opens its doors for "Free Ink Days" several times a year—a wonderful opportunity for curious people, especially children, to explore printmaking without having to pay for materials or classes.