Stacks of handcrafted and carved woodblocks take the place of books on the shelves. Little wooden baskets sway in the hands of small children and adults, who eagerly fill them with the woodblocks and begin painting them to life with the guidance of Kim Villard.

“The technique of white-line woodblock printing we brought to Maine to further the historic preservation of the technique. We felt as if the rugged and rustic technique fit the state of Maine well. It has the ability to express the environment in an appropriate medium,” Kim shares while seated outside at one of her tutorial painting tables. “We want to keep the technique alive all across the world.”

Kim and Phillipe Villard reside in France most of the year. There, they continue to create art and further their understanding of the technique. During the summer, they share their skills in their gallery at 57 Campbell Street on the east side of Boothbay Harbor.

“We created a book series of our work and that project began 12 years ago. We needed to bring in interns to help run the operation while we were focusing on the production side of things,” Kim explains. “Bringing in interns was very helpful and it gave us the opportunity to do the teaching segment and the ‘lending library.’”

The Villards noticed early on that there was an interest from their interns and apprentice in learning how to do the technique properly. With the influence of their interns at the time, they eventually created what is now known as the lending library.

“We realized that after the production of the book was complete that the interns wouldn’t be here anymore and we would have to adapt to a different pace,” Kim says.

The idea behind these limited teaching tutorials is to further the historic preservation of the technique. While adapting to this new pace, Kim is inspired by the different generations of people who partake in the lending library.

“What my goal is now, is to get other people to develop their own libraries on islands or in other communities. We are trying to get people to develop their own block series,” Kim explains.

An important aspect to furthering this technique is to foster knowledge through the work. “Having an educational component to the technique I think is really curious for developing other libraries,” Kim says.

The Villards seek to include a cultural and academic response for their learners, by creating blocks that allow for exploration of nature and self-discovery.

“We have fruit and vegetable blocks, which teaches their natural progression. We lay them out on the tables and we will tell people to go and pick what they gravitate towards. They then print the flower, the leaf and the fully developed fruit and it actually imprints in their mind,” Kim explains.

It is a great opportunity for each generation to approach the technique with childlike curiosity. Learning new things from the art or allowing the work to bring communities together is something that Kim yearns to inspire.

To make an appointment for one of these sessions, visit www.villardstudios.com.