Photo Collagraph
Workshop with Beth GrabowskiPhoto Collagraph
June 3-7, 2019
Limited to 10
Photo collagraph is a process that utilizes light-sensitive screen-printing emulsion (but no screens) to establish an image on a plate. Plates coated with photo emulsion are exposed to positive imagery. When washed out, the image exists as physical recesses in the plate. The process can stop there or can continue with additional collagraph plate-development work of any sort.
As with other collagraph approaches, the base plate material can contribute a textural component to the image. Smoother support materials print with an “open bite” look, while a base texture will be visible in open areas and, to a lesser degree, in the surface under the emulsion. Functionally, the surface must be able to bond with the emulsion. For this reason, wood or composite boards tend to work best. Minimal but sufficient thickness provides stability for the water-based emulsion and the absorbent quality aids the adhesion of the emulsion.
Plate substates can be any of a number of materials including Lauan, masonite, sealed board from mat board, chipboard and pretty much anything that the screen emulsion can adhere to and can take the pressure of printing.
The creative potential of this process makes exploring new territory in your work unavoidable.
Beth Grabowski, Beth Grabowski is an artist, educator, author. She is the co-author, with Bill Fick, of Printmaking, A Complete Guide to Materials and Processes, which is in its second printing. Her work has been represented widely in national and international venues, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC, the North Carolina Museum of Art, Art Helix in Brooklyn, NY, Racine Art Museum, and the Câmara Municipal de Alijo, Portugal. She has held several artist residencies including at Proyecto Ace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Sanbao Ceramics Institute in Jingdezhen, China, and the Frans Masereel Centrum in Kasterlee, Belgium. Beth is a three-time recipient of support from the North Carolina Arts Council (two Artist Fellowships and a Project Grant.) Beth is Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where she has taught printmaking and book arts since 1985. Since 1987 she has been involved with SGC International, the largest professional organization for print artists, educators, collectors, and enthusiasts, serving as its president of from 2012-2014.
What’s Included
Coming Soon
What to Bring
The studio comes with many needs and an awareness that TSA has strict rules. For instance, we have knives and scissors among other things. You should only concern yourself with the following if you have them.
General work tools: bring what you already have, don’t buy a lot of new stuff; bring familiar tools that you know you like to work with, including:
• Stabilio drawing pencils
• Drawing tools, assorted pencils, erasers, etc.
• Watercolor brushes, assortment, fine, medium, wide
• masking tape, clear +/or frosted mylar tape
• Permanent felt-tipped markers- “Sharpie” type (these are good for drawing on Plexiglas)
• notebook/sketchbook
• apron, if you have one
• Digital tools: Digital camera (cellphone is fine), laptop with Photoshop, and USB drive for transferring files for printing 2. Other materials: • small set of tube watercolors
• Stencil-making material: Mylar, paper, thin cardboard or similar thin material: could be just some newsprint. Plastics allow for extended use.
Resource Material: Drawings, photographs found information, text… Bring a bank of things to work with – we’ll be transforming them digitally to create transparencies. Or working from with directly-drawn positives to expose to plates. You are welcome to bring anything already in transparency form for potential use. This process tends to be more predictable with higher contrast images and photographs have to be in a halftone. (although folks always surprise me as to what can be done –you are welcome to push the boundaries)
That’s it! Any questions about supplies, please feel free to contact us.
Workshop Itinerary
- Monday morning begins with students arriving at the studio between 9:30-10 AM.
- Daily instruction is 10 AM to 4 PM with the studio open to students between 9:30 AM and 7 PM. Exception is Friday when the workshop ends at 4 PM.
- Bring a lunch everyday except Tuesday when we go out Dutch for a late lunch
- Thursday night we host a dinner in our courtyard. Companion welcome.