Creative ImagOn
Workshop with Neal Smith
ImagOn: The Creative Photopolymer
July 14-18, 2025
Limited to 8 students
Learn to make your own plates using ImagOn film, save a ton of $$s, and be free to go beyond the limitations of factory-made plates.
Uncertainty in the availability of manufactured polymer plates has reignited an interest in ImagOn – the plate material for making your own plates, any size, any shape, nearly any substrate. Because you make the plate the creative opportunities are expansive.
You will learn plate preparation, laminating, layered laminating, multi imaging, hand work, digital work, and so much more with ImagOn. Hand and digital, direct or with transparencies or objects, exposure, development, inking, re-inking , selective inking… and printing. “Let’s dive into real art making and break the rules.” It will be grand!
Neal Ambrose-Smith, descendent of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation of Montana, is a contemporary Native American painter, sculptor, and printmaker. He has also developed an app Artist Ideas with 100 ideas for making art, available for Android and Apple phones. His work is included in the collections of many national and international museums and institutions, including the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Galerie municipale d’art contemporain in Chamalières, France, and Hongik University in Seoul, Korea. He received his BA from the University of Northern Colorado and MFA from the University of New Mexico.
What’s Included
Enough ImagOn and plate substrates to make all the plates you will need in the workshop.
Paper and ink.
Transparency material
Well stocked studio, multiple etching presses
See “What to Bring” for additional suggestions of materials.
What to Bring
- Digital images on a thumb drive, laptop, or smartphone
- Ideas for source materials such as your drawings and photographs
- Drawing tools (assorted pencils, erasers)
- A notebook and pen
- Brushes for a variety of material – a variety of sizes to suit your working style. Bring the good the bad and ugly brushes (note: the studio has some communal brushes)
- Large enough luggage to prints and plates, and stiff protector such as cardboard or a mat board. You may end up choosing to ship work home.
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 Wednesday when we go out Dutch for a late lunch