Penland School of Crafts Print and Letterpress Summer 2010

Classes are open to serious students of all levels unless specified in course description; beginners welcome.

Thomas Lucas, Habitat No. 2, intaglio,

monoprint, 15 x 22 in.

We will explore how lithography, relief, and screen printing techniques themselves can be used as drawing and plate-making tools in printmaking. For example, lithography can be used as a starting point for a photo etching; the screen printing process can be used as a device to make a collagraph. This unique approach to printmaking will use the latest in nontoxic methods as we realize our ideas, print editions, or create one-of-a-kind prints in black and white and color. We will continuously connect feeling and craft, concept and medium. All levels. Code 01x

Professor at North Park University (Chicago); director of printmaking at Lillstreet Art Center (Chicago); representation: Lusenhop Fine Art (Chicago), Nicole Gallery (Chicago).

Steve Miller, The Dogs of Havana by Cade Collum,

linocuts by Julio Cesar Peña Peralta, letterpress printed,

5-1/4 x 7-3/4 in.

Letterpress-printed chapbooks traditionally involve hand-set metal types. Now they may mean digital typefaces, scanned images, and printing from photopolymer plates. We will cover basic book design with metal types plus InDesign software, scanning, platemaking, operating the Vandercook press, and applying digital concepts in a letterpress environment. Authors and artists hungering to create a chapbook will be intrigued. All levels welcome, but some computer experience will be helpful. Code 01l

Professor and coordinator of the book arts MFA program at University of Alabama, where he teaches letterpress printing and papermaking; proprietor of Red Hydra Press.

Erika Adams, Wrestlers (lace), three color lithograph,

15 x 15 in.

Lithographic limestone provides an unparalleled surface for developing an image; whether your drawing is delicate or heavily worked, it’s hard not to fall in love with the feel of this traditional medium. Working in a collaborative environment, this class will cover all the basics of stone lithography—from preparing the stone, to using various drawing materials, to processing and printing. We will also cover other techniques, including manier noir, classic line engraving, and chine collé. All levels. Code 02x

Visiting faculty at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Tamarind master printer; exhibitions at Danforth Museum of Art (MA), Wellesley College (MA), Noyes Cultural Center (IL); work in 14 university and fine press collections.

Inge Bruggman, One of a Thousand Fires,

letterpress printed on handmade paper,

Roma cover paper, poems by Cissy Ross,

13-3/4 x 10 x 3/4 in.

This class will explore printed matter—books, prints, and multiples—as a vehicle for conveying ideas. It will also examine the dynamic relationships that can be created between text and image. Through historic samples and contemporary situations, you will develop your own personal manifesto. We will explore our ideas through print media including letterpress printing with hand-set type, photopolymer plates, linoleum block printing, and other alternative methods for printmaking on the Vandercook presses. All levels. Code 03x

Teacher at Oregon College of Art and Craft; proprietor of Textura, a letterpress printing and book arts master studio; proprietor of INK-A! Press.

Lynne Avadenka & Roni Gross - Make an Impression: Experiment, Explore, Collaborate

In the printmaking studio, we will explore relief printing, monoprints, collagraph, drypoint, stencils, chine collé, and more. In the letterpress shop, we will work with photopolymer plates, wood type, pressure printing, and other nontraditional techniques. Students will move between the studios, making collaborative prints and working on individual projects with the option of turning their prints into books. All levels. Code 04x

Lynne: studio artist; teaching: Dartmouth College (NH), Center for Book Arts (NYC); collections: Library of Congress (DC), Detroit Institute of Arts.
Roni: studio artist; teaching: Center for Book Arts (NYC), The New School (NYC), Pratt Institute (NYC); collections: Library of Congress (DC), New York Public Library (NYC).

Lynne Avadenka, Sudden Heart, hand colored lithography,

letterpress, 11 x 22 in.

Roni Gross, 14 Positions, letterpress

printed broadside with hand watercolorl,

9-1/4 x 13-3/4 in.

Vitreography is a printmaking technique using thick sheet glass as a matrix. Daily demonstrations in the print studio and the glass studio’s cold-working shop will introduce students to a myriad of options for applying vitreography to their own work. Demonstrations will include chine collé, multiple-plate registration, working reductively, monoprinting, editioning, carving, engraving, and sandblasting. From painterly to graphic, vitreography offers endless approaches to artists of all disciplines and levels of experience. All levels. Code 05x

Morgan: studio artist, pie baker, balloonist; founder of AS220 Community Printshop (Rhode Island).
Nicole: studio artist; UrbanGlass Award for New Talent; representation: Heller Gallery (NYC).

Morgan Calderini, Circles, drawing,

silkscreen on mylar, 20 x 30 in.

Nicole Chesney, Last, monoprint,

ink on paper, 22 x 15 in.

John Horn, Typographic Wallpaper (bookmarks),

letterpress printed, 7 x 2 in. each

You’ve heard about letterpress printing; here’s your chance to learn about the process and explore its possibilities. Students will learn all the basic terminology and the skills needed to work with hand-set type and print small- to medium-sized projects. Students will produce two projects under close supervision and in cooperation with the rest of the class. Drawing on this experience, they will plan and complete projects of their own. Beginning level. Code 06x

Printer for over 45 years; teaching: University of Arkansas/Fort Smith, University of Iowa Center for the Book, University of Alabama, and at his own shop, Shooting Star Press; his work is actively sought and collected.

Jenny Schmid, Bunny Girl, Mushroom Lover,

mezzotint, 4 x 8 in.

This class will introduce students to mezzo-tinting, an intaglio technique that was a hot new technology in the 17th century. The mezzotint process is labor-intensive but prized for its rich, velvety tonal range. Students will learn how to rock copper plates, transfer and burnish an image, and then proof and print the plate on the intaglio press. We will also cover color applications. Despite the laborious nature of mezzotinting, fun will be had by all. All levels. Code 07x

Assistant professor at the University of Minnesota; Bush Foundation and McKnight Foundation fellowships, Fulbright grant for travel to Slovakia; represented by Davidson Galleries; author of the monograph The Vistas of Gender Utopia.

Stephen Sidelinger, Cloths of Heaven, gouache

and mixed media on paper, 18 x18 in.

All crafts at some point are easier with an understanding of pattern structures and methods—being able to see and think in repeats. This class will provide hands-on methods for creating 15 kinds of patterns. We will start with basic patterns: from block, brick, diamond, and step to geometric structures and free-form repeats. Then we will draw from the past: primitive ornament, Egyptian, Greek, and Asian patterns, manuscript illumination, William Morris, and Art Deco. No previous knowledge of pattern design needed. All levels.
Code 05ta
Third-floor textiles studio.

Faculty at Ringling College of Art (FL); author of Visual Language: A Guide to Finding Personal Style, and A Color Manual. stephensidelinger.com The second-floor textiles studio will be used this session for an exploratory workshop for artists in any media, titled All About the Why.

Christina Shmigel, Bamboo Window, bamboo,

plastic string, the city of Shangai, 24 x 28 in.

This is a workshop for makers in any medium who want to deepen their understanding of the wellsprings of their work. Through a series of riddles and explorations, using images, 3D sketching, book- and model-making, and materials different from, but parallel to, our customary ones, we will investigate what makes our work uniquely ours. With play and curiosity, we will explore ways of opening up our future work. All levels. Code 05tb
Second-floor textiles studio.

Studio artist in sculptural installation; former professor of sculpture at Webster University (St. Louis); solo exhibitions: St. Louis Art Museum, Laumeier Sculpture Park (St. Louis), Duolun Museum of Art (Shanghai).