The first project of the year at OG was a highly energized workshop with four wonderful women and artists: Nancy Van Deren, Holly Hughes, Renee Iacone, all from New York, and local Diane Cionni. The focus of the workshop was everything monotype/monoprint, and the variety in their work demonstrates the vastness of possibility that the process enables. The artists experimented with collagraph plates, stenciling, carborundum, watercolors, Akua inks, plexi plates, and all that these mediums have to offer. Along with a beautiful collection of prints of their own creation, they got to take home new techniques and concepts for their artwork.
Making a collagraph plate out of pieces of cut up cardboard and acrylic gel medium.
Diane is arranging shapes of vellum she has painted that her collagraph plate will be layered on top of.
Holly working hard at her artist station
Renee made a series of mysterious prints using the collagraph technique; in this picture she is wiping one of her plates. The photo below is a group of her prints drying on the wall.
One of the great things about using vellum to print is that you can easily bring shapes to the foreground or background. In these pictures Holly is carefully placing the shapes in particular orientations to get the piece composed to her liking.
She matches her print!
This was a very complicated print to accomplish–and Sue used her very masterful master printer skills to pull this one off! The shapes were carefully painted and cut out by Diane, and then a map was made on the underside of the plexi to show where to place her stencils. In the picture Diane and Sue are using the light table in order to better see the lines and where to correctly place the composition.
Voila! It worked!
One of the great things about the workshop was the uniqueness of each student’s prints. Under Sue’s guidance, everyone experimented to find processes that best complimented their work. It was so fun having these ladies in the shop for the week; their energy and enthusiasm for printing was invigorating!
If you are interested in participating in a workshop at Oehme Graphics, please contact the shop at 970.870.6609 or email Sue at sue@oehmegraphics.com.
We just began our first project of 2012 with New York artist Richard Bosman. Check back soon to see the first week’s progress!