The art of letterpress combines the beauty of the word and the beauty of the way it’s printed. As a form of mass production, it’s all but dead, but it lives on in the art of hobbyists like Marshall McClure.

Her first job was as a proofreader at Norfolk’s B.F. Martin Typesetting, where she also rode a bicycle to deliver proofs to customers.

“I just thought it was fascinating,” she said.

Letterpress refers to the printing technique using raised letters and shapes cast or carved from materials like wood and metal. The raised surface is inked and pressed against paper or other material, transferring the image to the paper.

Now a book designer, a profession taking obvious influence from her first job, McClure helped curate an exhibit opening today at the Shooting Star Gallery from 4 to 6 p.m.

“It’s become sort of a hobby art now that it’s not economical to do for mass production,” she said.

Many of the works in the show come from Old Dominion University and ODU students working in the medium. Others come from Hatch Show Print, a working letterpress print shop located in Nashville, Tenn., and from collector Ken Daley.

The oldest piece in the show — though it’s not for sale — is an original page from the Nuremberg Chronicle, an early European history book published in Germany in the late 1400s, shortly after Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press.

Also on display are a sign press and many various letters and shapes used in the process.

Commercial applications for the process of letterpress remain today but mostly include custom items such as stationery and invitations.

The show at the gallery, 118 N. Main St., will run through March 10. Today’s opening reception follows a reception at the Suffolk Art Gallery, 118 Bosley Ave., for the closing of “Faces of Suffolk,” a photography show by Marshall McClure’s husband, Glen McClure. Also at the Suffolk Art Gallery today is a craft expo from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.