Workshops

Expand your scale in this 5-week big woodcut bonanza!
Learn how to transfer an image and properly tint and seal a 24” x 48” piece of plywood. Wood chips will fly as you chisel a variety of marks into the wood's surface. We will discuss proper ink consistencies and show examples of different types of oversize printing papers. Then get down and dirty with press and hand printing techniques using a baren, burnisher, and a variety of homemade tools. Become a large woodcut impresario and impress your friends with knowledge of all things BIG!  Every skill level is welcome.

This is a unique workshop that will combine outdoor photography with indoor printmaking. You will spend an afternoon outside in nature and in town taking photographs that will translate well to photo-etching. Time will be spent initially discussing what qualities of light and tone might work best for this particular printmaking process, and how best to achieve those qualities by learning what to look for in nature and how to set your camera to capture them.  You’ll then set out to explore the world around you and return to the studio with a range of photographs to build your prints from.

This workshop will teach you the steps for transforming and enhancing your photographs in Photoshop, and then how to take those transformed photos and create photopolymer plates that yield prints with delicate tones and rich blacks. You’ll appreciate the power of transforming a photograph into a unique and visually compelling print.

The workshop is open to beginners as well as experienced printmakers and photographers. The only requirement is that you have a digital camera, and an interest in photographing in nature.

What a wonderful way to spend four summer evenings... learning etching with Zea Mays director Liz Chalfin.  This series will introduce students to the basics of etching on copper using the new grounds we've mastered at Zea Mays.  Each week will introduce a new technique followed up by practice with support from the teacher.  You'll learn how to use the wonderful BIG etching ground for line, texture and tone as well as an airbrush for aquatint.   This is a great introduction to etching for beginners, or a way to brush up on the use of this new, versatile ground for more experienced etchers.  This workshop includes 8 hours of studio time outside of class.

In this workshop we will explore the basics of water-based screen printing with a few simple techniques. Screen printing is a stencil process, and we will start by creating stencils on an open screen with waxed paper, tape, and found objects. We will also use drawing fluid and screen filler to create painterly fixed imagery to incorporate into our prints. During the workshop we will learn how to modify these processes to experiment with printing on fabrics. Screen printing is a great way to create mulitiples quickly, and participants will have the option to create single prints or small editions. The workshop is open to all levels.

Painters!   If you have been curious about how your imagery would translate into hand pulled prints, this workshop is for you. 
We'll begin with monotype marks and color layers using water-based inks and add in drawn marks by inscribing on plastic and printing in a variety of ways. Monotype, known as a painterly printmaking because it is so direct, employs familiar tools, like brushes and materials to wipe with. It readily addresses familar issues, such as the easy use of multiple colors and modulation, hard and soft edges, positive and negative gestures, layering and glazing.  Individualized and group instruction with demonstrations offer students an opportunity to expand on what they do, experiment with new techniques and approaches and come away from the workshop with new ideas, finished prints, and lots to think about. Prior experience with printmaking is not required.

This workshop is a great introduction to the world of relief printmaking.  As in the tradition of woodcut printmaking, we will explore the direct, graphic and fun aspects of relief printmaking using linoleum. A relief print is created by inking the raised surface of the linoleum after other areas of the block have been carved away. The ease of working with linoleum offers opportunities for bold, decorative designs as seen in the linocut prints of artists like Picasso and Matisse. In this workshop, we will start with a simple drawing that will then be transferred onto the linoleum block. Using this line drawing as a guide, students will then prepare the block for printing by carving away areas of linoleum using the cutting tools. Each student will create multiple prints on specialty papers and card stock.

Going for a Walk with a Line...  Do you love the direct fluidity of drawing? This very simple method of transferring ink through the touch of a tool to the surface of the paper is full of expressive possibilities. Subtle, immediate, mark-making is the pleasure of this printing technique. Students will learn how to create a home registration system that makes it simple to use multiple color plates and to create prints without a press. You don't have to know how to "draw", just bring a willingness to see what a line feels like. Students will explore several simple printing techniques, and receive guided instruction. All levels of printing experience are welcome. 

This one-day workshop will concentrate on the basics of line etching on copper. The focus will be on drawing with traditional tools, such as needles and roulettes, to produce etched plates with nuanced line and tone. Students will also be introduced to the use of improvised tools, including steel wool and plastic pot scrubbers, to create a variety of more spontaneous marks and textures. Thorough instruction in plate preparation, ground application, etching with ferric chloride, ink mixing, plate wiping and printing skills will be emphasized through demonstrations followed by individual attention.  This workshop is a great introduction to hard ground for new etchers as well as an opportunity for experienced printmakers to try the wonderful BIG ground. 

This one-day immersion in Polyester Plate Lithography (Pronto Plates) is a wonderful way to meet this versatile and engaging printmaking process. There are many ways to develop your imagery on the surface of these plates. You can draw directly on the vellum-like plates; you can photocopy any kind of imagery onto the surface of the plates; and you can even transfer digital images onto the plates to print. You can cut the plates into shapes with scissors, and you can also easily combine them with other printmaking processes in your finished print. We’ll spend the day exploring and combining these many exciting approaches to working with Pronto Plates. 

This workshop is full.  Call to put your name on the waiting list.
In this team-taught workshop, you’ll be approaching Pronto Plate printmaking with a monotype attitude, combining lithography with a selection of painting, drawing, photography, or collage in creating your prints. Pronto Plates are one of the simplest, most direct, and versatile methods of making lithographic prints in combination with other print techniques. For this workshop, we’ll focus on drawing directly on the plates and creating tonal washes by hand, as well as learning how to transfer drawn or photographic imagery onto the plate with a laser printer. We will offer ways to push the use of these plates into surprising directions toward collage, monoprint, ink painting and layering with color. This workshop encourages those who love to draw and paint to use a material traditionally associated with photographic imagery, to try working with these plates in a creative and supportive environment. This workshop is open to both the beginner and the experienced printmaker.

Relief prints made from linoleum or wood tend to be bold and graphic, but the Japanese method with its waterbased pigments, brushes and hand printing allows for softer and more painterly relief prints. This workshop will touch on all aspects of the process: transferring images to woodblocks, carving with Japanese tools, using the kento registration system, and printing with brushes and a baren. Having three days will allow time to focus on a few of the printing techniques particular to the Japanese method. You will learn to create a bokashi (gradation), control textures using varying amounts of water or rice paste, overprint two colors to create a third color, and soften carved edges. The workshop is open to beginners as well as students who want to expand their relief printing practice.

This is a two-day guided exploration of combining and creating relief and monotype plates. We will carve and incise a plastic substrate, first working small and spontaneous with mix and match sizes that can be rolled for relief printing and altered with monotype inking techniques.  This is a playful method of introducing carved and incised lines and forms into the painterly print, creating a rich vocabulary of mark making.

With a carved plate and a monotype plate layered together with stencils, the possibilities are endless. Students will bring home several small test plates and one or two larger plates to continue the exploration of inking and combining plates after the workshop. This workshop is open to both the beginning and the experienced printmaker.

This workshop will cover the traditional method of creating a color intaglio print through the development of multiple plates in drypoint. Drypoint is a non-etch intaglio process whereby all of the marks on the plate are made directly by hand using a variety of tools. These prints exhibit a distinctive velvety, luscious drypoint line, used be artists such as Whistler, Durer and Rembrandt. We’ll begin with a “key” plate, and make new plates for each color as we learn traditional and experimental applications of drypoint -- line variation and different textural and tonal applications. Participants will be introduced to various tools including burins, rockers, roulettes and needles, and will learn about offsetting the image to create color plates, registration techniques, inking variations, wiping skills, printing techniques and printing multiple plates.  The ins and outs of color mixing, color modifying and color printing will also be covered.  This workshop is suitable for beginners as well as more advanced printmakers.

This a chance to play with the process of making marks, from big, energetic gestures to nuanced lines.  We'll explore the rich overlap between drawing and printing, and experiment with drypoint, monotype and relief plates quick-carved with a Dremel. These techniques are wonderfully direct and immediate, opening up the interplay between intentional and unexpected mark-making. We'll use guided exercises and drawing prompts as a way to create a series of print matrices-and also bypass any fear of drawing!  You will learn layering and printing methods, in order to create a series of unique prints.  No experience necessary; newcomers will discover what's exciting about making prints, while experienced printers can loosen up their approach to developing imagery.

Monotype printmaking is a versatile way of making one of a kind prints that can be painterly, graphic, spontaneous, and/or constructed in layers.  The workshop will cover the basics of composition, color, transfer drawing and layering, along with the fundamentals of ink, paper, and press use. Instruction will include how to work with water based Akua Kolor Intaglio Inks and modifiers. 

This workshop will be structured with guided experiences, demonstrations, individual and group critiques and plenty of time for working with the techniques and concepts of this wonderful medium. With two instructors, there will be time for individual support for technical issues and image development.   All levels of printmaking experience are welcome. Any student from the beginner to experienced printmakers will discover fresh new ways to approach making a monotype.

This is an introduction to the art and craft of woodcut designed to be open-ended and exploratory. We will begin by exploring cutting techniques on a series of small wood blocks, Next, we will experiment with printing the blocks on a range of papers and fabrics, playing with transparency and layered imagery. Working with collage, we will further explore possibilities for working with carved and printed images.

Intaglio is a wonderfully expressive medium that yields some of the richest tonal ranges.  At times, however, it can be daunting with its complexity of processes and materials yet it can also be one of the most graphically direct of printmaking techniques.  This workshop is for every level of etcher who wants to explore the possibilities of working with dry techniques directly onto copper.  Some methods covered will be drypoint, sandpaper tones, carborundum aquatints, non-traditional mezzotint rocker use, as well as the Dremel tool and anything else that can possibly make a drawn mark.  Through scraping and burnishing, special attention will be given to the additive and reductive nature of drawing onto the plate without acid and to investigating the malleable nature of the metal.  Additionally, selective wiping and inking will serve to enhance the plate work.  By the end of the workshop participants should have a renewed appreciation for the direct drawing quality of this medium.  No prior etching or drypoint experience required.

This workshop is an introduction to working with Toyobo Printight plates, a photopolymer plate that is sensitive to photo-based imagery as well as direct drawing. In fact, the process is so versatile that it can accommodate nearly any type of imagery or visual approach you’re interested in bringing to it. The plates can yield prints with rich, luscious blacks, delicate tones, or lines that sensitively translate the texture of the drawing tool. Through the use of colored inks, multi-plate printing, and chine colle, the plates can also yield beautiful color prints.

The workshop is open to beginners with no printmaking experience as well as experienced printmakers. It can also be used as an introduction or a re-fresher course for those familiar with the process.

Reductive Linocut is a process where the artist uses a single linoleum block to create a multi-colored edition of prints.  This workshop will cover the process of making a Reductive Linocut and introduce many creative inking methods such as the use of masks and stencils, roller blends, the use of small brayers, brush and finger techniques.  These methods enable the artist to both increase the number of colors used to make a print while reducing the number of states it takes to create a color reduction print. Learn some invaluable tricks of the trade!   Open to all levels, no prior printmaking experience needed.

Barry Moser will return to Zea Mays Printmaking to offer his annual workshop on relief engraving.  Relief Engraving is medium that ranks with mezzotint and fresco in its degree of difficulty, yet Moser presents the process clear and simple terms. We will discuss, explore, and learn the rudiments of how to draw for the engraving process, how to prepare a block, how to transfer images, how to hold and sharpen the tools, how to engrave an image, ink a block and finally how to pull a proof by hand. You’ll also have the opportunity to see Mr. Moser’s original prints and blocks and enjoy his fascinating stories.  We will be using Resingrave, a material that Moser has used exclusively since 1995.