After a brief discussion about the history and purpose of bookplates and bookmarks, students will create their own bookplate and bookmark designs on paper. The designs will then be transferred to a soft printmaking block (Safety Kut) and cut out using carving tools. The carved block will be inked and printed on paper and cardstock…
Request ProgramPrinting and Bookmaking
Stenciling and Stamping on Fabric
Want to make your own stamps and stencils for decorating fabric? In this workshop, participants will explore a variety of versatile and easy fabric applications using water-based textile pigments. After first experimenting with direct-application painting, students will then create their own contact paper stencils and stamps using a variety of materials. The pigments provided are…
Request ProgramScreen Printing Workshop
In this workshop, students will explore the expressive potential of screen-printing on fabric and discover ways to create unique patterns on cloth. Transparent textile pigments provide many color options for developing complex surfaces through layering simple shapes and textures. Participants will make crayon-rubbing silkscreen prints, produce simple contact paper stencils, and learn how to continue…
Request ProgramSketchbook: Constructing and Content
This workshop is a combination of bookbinding and idea generation. We begin with learning and preparing the basic parts of a sketchbook, as well as discussing the importance of keeping a sketchbook. Then, as we begin to bind the textblock, we will do several content-based exercises to “get those creative juices flowing.” At the end of the day, students will leave with a handmade sketchbook and new ideas to take back to their workspace and turn into masterpieces.
Request ProgramPicasso and the Fearless Print!
Picasso was not only a prolific artist, but also a fearless one! Throughout his long life, he was constantly trying new ideas and techniques. One of these fun techniques is the reduction print, which provides a quick introduction to relief printmaking and color layering. The print is designed in advance, and then slowly carved and printed in a succession that produces a final multi-colored print and a fully exhausted carving block. Since there is no “reverse,” reduction printing rewards both careful planning and spontaneous problem solving!
Request ProgramExploring the Mellon Collection: I Spy through Edgar Degas’ Eye
This workshop begins with a slide-and-poster-talk introduction to works by Edgar Degas from the VMFA Paul Mellon Collection. Students create Degas-inspired drawings that they transfer to print blocks. They make relief cuts from the transferred drawings using block printing gouges and produce hand-rubbed black ink prints on colored stock.
Request ProgramThe People’s Library
The People’s Library is a highly collaborative, sustainable and interactive public art project. Using books that would otherwise be thrown away, community members are coming together to design and build a library that can include all of our histories. During the workshop participants will make paper from the recycled books, silk screen title pages and bind the new paper to create blank books. Participants will then have the chance to author their own book which, when finished, will become part of the Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library’s permanent collection. Once finished, the books can be checked out by anyone in the community creating a real and symbolic meeting place for our diverse state. The workshop will begin with a twenty minute presentation about the project, its inspirations, and the permanent installation of the work.
Request ProgramWhat a Relief: How Prints are Made
Join artist and the Thomas C. Gordon Jr. Director of the VMFA Studio School Mary Holland as she shares examples of original relief prints from her extensive print collection. She will also show the step-by-step process of image design, transfer, carving the plate, inking the plate, and printing. The history of relief prints, the oldest method of the printmaking processes, will be covered. This is a great lecture/demonstration for students, artists, and people who want to learn more about how art is created.
Enrollment limit: 20
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