Extra Virgin Press

Extra Virgin Press has been printing “old school” in Little Haiti since 2017. We have worked with neighborhood kids at Edison Branch Public Library, and also remotely at Perez Art Museum Miami’s Kids Jamm@PAMM, Bookleggers Library,  Wolfsonian Museum’s Print Fest, and even on a sidewalk outside of a Walgreens Window. Count on us printing during Fountainhead Artists Open each year, the day before Mothers Day. In and around those public printing events, we host visits at the studio, ldemonstrating letterpress printing, book arts, and printmaking. As a retired Art teacher, any chance to share letterpress printing and its history to the next generation is welcomed.

Tom Virgin earned a MFA in Printmaking in 1994 at the University of Miami and started teaching in Title I Public Schools in 1995, “retired” in 2020, and has been printing ever since. Before Extra Virgin Press, Virgin worked with in-school and after-school programs created by MDC Cultural Affairs’ Art in Public Places (Path Project), Arts4Learning, MDCPS Summer Youth Employment and Training Programs (SYETP) in Miami Beach and Allapattah, and other youth programs with MDCPS. Starting in 2004 Virgin started studying printing and book arts every summer in classes at artists residencies around the United States.  Appropriately, now Virgin’s teaching and continuing education is also being brought to nice kids his age (55 and over) in PAMM’s Creative Aging Program.

Our mission has been enhanced by the recognition and support of the Knight Foundation, Oolite Arts, The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, The Miami Foundation,  Emerson Dorsch Gallery, O, Miami Poetry Festival, the Wolfsonian Museum and the engagement & support of former students, artists, writers, and organizations across Miami.