By Shelisa Melendez

A dog is working the printing presses in Louisville.

A hound dog that is.

It was about eight years ago when Nick Baute, founder of Hound Dog Press, thought it was time to start his own business in the printmaking industry with former classmate Robert Ronk.

Both Baute and Ronk graduated UK in the art department with a focus on printmaking. Baute said it was a professor who inspired him to begin the company.

“Our professor, Ross Zirkle, encouraged us to think about all the ways of making prints,” he said.

Zirkle, who recently died due to cancer “was a very good man,” Baute said. “He was doing his part to develop non-toxic forms of printing … the bad part is he died of cancer while doing it.”

When working in New York after graduation, Baute soon got tired of working for others and wanted to do more.

“I had been working for other people for three years and I wanted to do this— and the only way to do this making a living was to do it yourself,” he said.

On Thursday evening the printmaking duo will speak about the history of the printmaking process and what it takes to start up a business after college.

The program is in collaboration with the Student Activities Board gallery of printmaking exhibits entitled “Print’s Not Dead: An Exhibit of Letterpress work.”

“This is a great opportunity for students who are in art and out to see how people like themselves can go on to have a successful business after school,” Shannon Ruhl,  SAB director of cultural arts, said.

Artwork from Hound Dog Press will feature fine art prints, linoleum cuts, wood engravings and posters.

Living within a highly technological society, Ruhl said she believes Hound Dog Press offers something different.

“Their messages are traditional, which is different in such a digital world,” she said.

Adding to its uniqueness is the company name, which is derived from a simple place.

“I wish I had a good story for that,” Baute said. “I had a hound dog at one point and no one in New York knew what a hound dog was … seemed like a homage to home.”

The lecture and showcase will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Rasdall Gallery in the Student Center. The Hound Dog Press Exhibit will be on display from Feb. 9 to March 1.