I make prints and books to tell stories about the body that I live in and to awaken a sense of beauty and strength from unexpected places. The work is about fragility and imperfection. I make images seen through the lens of disability, and as such hope to re-name what can be beautiful and what strength looks like from here.
This is how I plant seeds.

Terry Schupbach-Gordon makes work from a deeply personal narrative about who we are and how we claim grace. A printmaker and book artist working with images and language seen through the lens of disability, Schupbach-Gordon uses images exploring concepts of water and buoyancy to describe and re-frame our understanding of frailty and resilience. While the work is not "about" disability, disability is the lens through which she sees the world. Her prints are a
combination of intaglio, woodcut, collage, and letterpress. Originally from Kentucky, Terry earned both her BFA and MFA from Indiana University and taught Printmaking and Book Arts at Kenyon College from 1979- 1983, and at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design from 1983- 1988. In 1988 she and her husband, Toby Gordon, opened Catbird (on-the-Yadkin) Press in Tobaccoville, NC, where she lives and works.
Terry Schupbach-Gordon
Co-Director Catbird (on the Yadkin) Press 1988-present
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Education
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MFA Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 1979
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BFA Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 1974
Teaching
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Assistant Professor Printmaking, Kenyon College 1979-1983
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Professor of Printmaking, Minneapolis College of Art and Design 1983-1988
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Selected Exhibitions
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2010-2025 Spacemakers: Arists with Disabilites in NC, Cameron Art Museum Wilmington, NC, Print Austin, Contemporary Print 2025, Print Houston: NEXT, Ellios Fine Arts 2024, The Contemporary Print, Print Austin 2023, 76th Annual International Competition, The Print Center Philadelphia 2023, Boston Printmakers 2023 North American Print Biennial, 97th Annual International Competition IPCNY New Prints 2022, Turner Print Show 2021, Chico CA, Stand Up Prints, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis MN 2020, Print Austin 2020, Austin, TX, Printmaking Plus, Denver Com 2020, Buckham Gallery, Flint MI, 2019, 36th Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibit; Wheaton Biennial Printmaking Reimagined; Art Now(printmaking) Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI; Woven Heritage, International Miniature Print Exhibit, Zayed University, Dubai, UAE; Printed Image 6: Todays printmakers on Exhibit, Alice Sabatini Gallery, Topeka, Kansas Beyond Words: Contemporary Book Arts, Foothills Art Center, Golden CO 2015, Southern Graphics Council Traveling Exhibition, 2015, Bent Liked the River, prints and books at the Lincoln Center Gallery, Ft. Collins Co., Rosalux Gallery, Open Door Eight Exhibition, Minneapolis MN., The House that We Built, WARM Gallery 40 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Minneapolis, MN.
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2007-2010 Artist Books and Drawings From Catbird (on the Yadkin) Press, Mclean Project for the Arts, Mclean Va. 2010. Prints Drawings and Affirmations by Terry Schupbach-Gordon, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge, Ma. 2009.
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2004-2006 NCAE fellowship Exhibit, Asheville Museum of Art; Blurring the Racial Barriers, Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem State University, Salem College, and Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC.
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1999-2003 One Woman Exhibit, Chadron State College, Chadron Nebraska, Related Works, Related Lives, Salem Fine Arts Center, Salem College, Winston-Salem, NC, River Rising, University of MN, Morris, MN, Reclaiming Grace, Berkley Springs, WVA.
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1996-1999 Rivers Rising, New Work, Spring Creek Art Gallery, Plano, TX; Three Person Show, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL, 1998; Triad Artists Exhibit, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, 1997; North Carolina Artists Exhibit Program North Carolina Museum of Art, 1996; Print Invitational, Kreft Center for the Arts, Ann Arbor MI, 1996; Printworks 95, Barrett House gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY Prints and the Paper, San Diego Art Institute, CA, Dallas Women’s Caucus for Art Exhibit; Prints and Books Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY, 1995
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1992-1994 Three Person Show, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI,1994; Two Person Show Kansas City Artist Coalition, Kansas City, DA, 1994; Maryland Federation of Art Print exhibit, Annapolis, MD, 1993; Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival, Alexandria, Louisiana, 1993; Works on Paper McNeese State University, Shreveport, LA, 1993; 65th National Print Exhibit SAGA, New York City; Third Annual Print Show San Diego Art Institute, CA; University of Texas Invitational Print Show, El Paso, TX; Women Artist Show Matrix Gallery, Sacramento, CA, 1992; International Print Exhibit, Somerstown NY; Three Person Show, Sarratt Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 1992; Artlink 12th Annual Print Show, Ft. Wayne, IN; Ties that Bind two person show, Spirit Square, Charlotte, NC 1992; 17th National Print Show, Hays Kansas; Prints International, Silvermine Guild Center, New Canaan, CT; Two person Show, Hartnett Hall Gallery, Minot ND.
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1987-1991 Three Person Show Artspace, Raleigh, NC; Spirit and Ancestors Books, Prints and drawings two person show, University of WI, La Crosse, WI 1991; 7th National Artists with disabilities, NYU, 1991; 21st Works on Paper, Harnett Hall Gallery, Minot ND; Under Cover Artists Books, Torpedo Factory Art Association, VA; 5th Parkside Small Print Show, University of Wisconsin, Parkside; 43rd North American Print Exhibit, De Cordova Museum, Boston, MA; 3rd International Print Exhibit Somerstown gallery, Somerstown, NY; 11th National Exhibit of the LA Printmaking Society Los Angeles, CA; All on Paper, Clary Miner Gallery, Buffalo, NY 1990; Women in the Visual Arts, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven CT, 1990; 20th National Works on Paper, Hartnett Hall Gallery, Minot, ND; Paper in Particular, Columbia, MO, 1990; 14th National Exhibit, Harper College, Palatine, IL; Yellow Banks Celebration, Owensboro Art Museum, Owensboro, KY; 34th National Print Exhibit, Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, NJ; Graphic Art of Printmaking Wichita Art Association, Wichita, KS; Halpert Biennial, Boone NC, 1990.
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1979-1986 Forecast Exhibit, Pillsbury Center, Minneapolis, MN 1986; Prints and Drawings St. Olaf College, Northfield MN; A Celebration of Making two person show WARM Art Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 1985; Invitational Exhibit, The Gallery, Bloomington, IN, 1985; WARM, the Landmark Exhibit Minnesota Museum of Art and the Tweed Museum, Duluth, MN, 1884; 9th Miniature Print Show, Pratt Graphic Center, NYC; Schohaire National Small Print, Cobleskill, NY,1983; Cabo Frio International Print Biennial, Cabo Frio, Brazil, 1983; Works on Paper College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio; Two Person Print Show, Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, OH, 1983; One Person Show, Brusher Gallery of Art, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY 1983; Space Group Miniature Print show, Seoul, South Korea, 1982; Indiana University Southeast, one-person exhibit 1982; 7th and 6th National Print and Drawing Show, Fort Hays, KS; 16th National Potsdam Print Show Potsdam, NY; 10th Annual Works on Paper 2nd Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA; Works on Paper FAVA Gallery, Oberlin, OH 1982; 6th National Print and Drawing Exhibit, Charlotte, NC; Wesleyan International Print Show, Macon, GA 1980; Dulin Print Show, Knoxville, TN, 1979, One Person Show, Virginia Intermont College, Bristol VA 1979.
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Grants and Awards
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Southern Graphics Council Award at Print Austin 2025, Awagami Paper Award, The Print Center, 97th Annual Exhibition.Semifinalist, 2023 76th Annual International Competition, The Print Center Philadelphia, North Carolina Visual Artists Fellowship Grant, NC Arts Council, 2005 Arts in Education Grant, Winston-Salem Arts Council 1989-91, 1998-99, 2000-2001; Women’s Studio Workshop, Book Grant, 1994; Purchase or Jurors Award in the following exhibits: Artlink 12th National Print Exhibit 1992; 20th Works on Paper, Minot, ND; Art Center of MN, 1987; 6th National Print Show, Fort Hays, KS; Wesleyan Print show, Macon Ga. 1980; Mellon Faculty Development Grant, 1980 and 1983, Kenyon College; and 1984 at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Forecast Studio Projects Grant Minneapolis, MN 1986.​
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Disability Advocacy
1970-present Workshops and lectures that promote understanding of equal rights and
Justice issues as they relate to disability. Programs are geared to a wide range of
audiences that have included the Winston-Salem Police Department, Bowman
Gray School of Medicine, and The National Spina Bifida Association National
Conference, 1998.
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Artist Book Collections
Newberry Library at Brown University; Wake Forest University; Messiah College;
New York Public Library; Yale University Haas Arts Library; Bucknell College
Library; Hobart and William Smith College Library; Oberlin College Library;
Wesleyan University Olin Library, Special Collections; Dodd Research Center at
the University of Connecticut; Boston Athenaeum; Lafayette College, Skillman
Library; Toronto Public Library, Special Collections; Duke University Perkins
Library Special Collections, Kenyon College Library, Vanderbilt University
Heard Library, Special Collections.