Entry No. 19 — the Missoula file — filed under: hands-on
Zootown Arts Community Center (ZACC)
The ZACC is downtown Missoula's nonprofit creative hub, with a public printmaking studio (the Laura Grace Barrett Print Shop), ceramics, and glass-fusing programming under one roof. Alongside its classes it runs social make-and-take events like Printmaking Parties and Warhol + Wine, where over an evening you can pull a relief block print or burn an image into a silkscreen and walk out with it the same night. For a deeper dive, its five-week screen printing course takes you from prepping artwork to troubleshooting your own pulls.
The story
Inside a historic building at 216 W Main Street, downtown Missoula harbors a non-profit community engine powered by wet ink, squeegees, and burning screens. The Zootown Arts Community Center—the ZACC, if you want to sound like you live here—houses ceramics and glass-fusing setups, but the real draw for anyone who likes getting pigment under their fingernails is the Laura Grace Barrett Print Shop.
If you're tired of just admiring finished prints on gallery walls, this is where you go to pull your own. The beauty of the space is its range: you can drop in for an evening event like Warhol + Wine or a Printmaking Party to carve a relief block, burn an image onto a silkscreen, and walk back out onto Main Street holding a wet print before your buzz wears off. If you want to actually master the tool, their five-week screen printing intensive walks you through prepping artwork, burning screens, and troubleshooting messy pulls so you don't end up ruining your mesh.
What it's like
Head into 216 W Main St downtown and expect a low-pretense, active studio environment. Make-and-take evenings move quickly from instruction to hands-on pulling, so wear clothes you don't mind marking with ink. Because the class schedule shifts regularly between one-off social nights and multi-week technical workshops, always check the ZACC calendar in advance and confirm their operational hours before rolling up.
The move: Take a one-night make-and-take printmaking class and pull matching prints off the same screen to hang at home.
📍 Before you go Class roster rotates; one-night make-and-take options and multi-week courses are both offered. Check the ZACC calendar for current printmaking dates.
- 📍 Missoula
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 216 W Main St, Missoula, MT 59802
Hours: Added 2026-06-24 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- The Squashed Cat (Cattin' Around) — Walk one block down Main Street after your print workshop to check out Mike Hollern's 1.5-ton concrete flattened cat sculpture beside the parking garage.
- Flock Taxidermy — Trade ink squeegees for natural history by swinging past Kimberly Spence's museum-quality taxidermy studio nearby on Main.
- Unseen Missoula: Screams & Spirits — Pair an evening ink session with an after-dark heritage tour through downtown Missoula's creepier historic haunts.
Good to know
Do I need printmaking experience to join a workshop?
Not at all. Social events like Warhol + Wine and Printmaking Parties are designed so complete beginners can burn a screen or cut a relief block and take a finished print home the same night.
What media are offered at the ZACC besides printmaking?
Along with the Laura Grace Barrett Print Shop, the ZACC offers community ceramics and glass-fusing programming.
How long are the courses?
They range from single-evening make-and-take social workshops to comprehensive five-week courses that teach full print prep and screen troubleshooting.
Where is the ZACC located in Missoula?
It sits right in downtown Missoula at 216 W Main St.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · destinationmissoula.org
last checked: 2026-06-24