To learn printmaking, students at the Kansas City Art Institute hop into a 3,000-pound...

The traditional art of printmaking is a process that hasn’t changed much since the 15th century, when Johannes Gutenberg's first printed Bible changed the world. Last week, students at the Kansas City Art Institute used a more modern tool to make prints.
A festive crowd gathered in front of Vanderslice Hall last week on the campus of the Kansas City Art Institute. Students there had spent the week carving images into 4-foot by 4-foot print blocks made from fiberboard.

Miguel Rivera, head of the KCAI printmaking department, climbed into the seat of a rented road roller and started up the engine. It was time to make some big prints.

“It's a pressure machine," Rivera explained. "It's a steamroller, and what it does (is) it pounds the pavement, the gravel. And that's how they pave the highways.”