FROM SURFACE TO INTERIOR

Inspired by birch and fir, rocks and cattails, pond and sky a small group of participants will learn and share in a variety of methods to alter the surface of fabric and paper. We will be attentive to the basics: color, line, composition, and the potential of the materials. Working outdoors as well as inside, we will start with collagraph printmaking using the studio press, making our own plates and printing with water based inks on paper and fabric. Dyeing silk with an environmentally friendly liquid dye will increase our fiber vocabulary. An introduction to fabric paints, permanent enough for garments, will add to our surface design abilities.

Discharge, a method of removing color from cloth will be a counterpoint to the additive processes already mentioned. Drawing with scissors, painting with thread, applying ink and paints to paper, cotton and silk will all come into play during the week. Participants may create a personal catalogue of the methods and materials explored, bound in a simple book as a memory aid and a memoir of a luminous week of creativity. Osprey Cove Studio is off the beaten path of Freeport.

WOODCUT PRINTMAKING
5 day workshop 9am-3pm July 5-9, 2010
Under the auspices of Maine College of Art Continuing Studies. www.meca.edu/cs

Hands-on introduction to this relief printmaking process will commence with the first class. The oldest form of printmaking with it's roots in ancient China, woodcut printmaking is a reductive process. The board is carved away and the surface remaining is rolled with ink and printed. Come prepared with sketches to start carving. (The instructor has a press.) Students should expect to pull their first proof by the end of the first day and produce one or more complete sets of prints in this one week workshop, suitable for experienced or new artists. This printmaking method is suitable for cloth, as well as paper and could be accomplished without a printing press, although not as quickly or easily. The woodcut process might inspire or transform imagery for the painter or fiber artist and add to the visual vocabulary of a seasoned printmaker.

Osprey Cove Studio will provide the first board and sheet of fine print paper, oil based printing ink and supplemental tools. Composition, mark making, and color will come into play as the week unfolds in this studio in the woods off the beaten path of Freeport.

Supply List - each participant should bring:

• carving tools (Speedball has a plastic handled linocut tool. You can switch out blades, if you don't want to invest in two. But, you will need two blades -- a small V and a small U (those are descriptions of the blades.
• sketch book with your ideas, pencils, scissors, eraser etc.
• glass scrapper with single edged razor blade
• fabric cotton or silk (white), washed and ironed, at least 12" square
• several 2 or 3 inch SOFT rubber brayers
• papers of your choice
• lunch

Studio will provide: protective gloves, oil based printing ink and supplemental materials and tools, the first board to carve and additional paper and birch veneer plywood boards for purchase.

SURFACE DESIGN -  Mark Making and Pattern– a weekend workshop

During this workshop we will transform blank paper and cloth to be used for a painting, a print, a collage, or a small quilt.  

Cognizant of the emerging patterns made more visible by the change of seasons, falling leaves and crisp air and inspired by birch and fir, pond and sky a small group of participants will create stamps and printing plates from simple basic materials to be used as tools to create repetitive patterns.

We will begin with an exercise in mark making in participant- provided sketchbooks to shake out mental and physical muscles. Textile paint, a permanent water soluble media lends itself to work on both fabric and paper and will be our printing and painting medium. Everything we will explore this weekend can be duplicated in the home studio without complicated equipment.

Methods and materials explored, imbedded in your sketchbook, will serve as a memory aid and a memoir  of a luminous week end of creativity. Osprey Cove Studio is off the beaten path in Freeport.

MECA FIBERS SURFACE DESIGN II

Surface Design: altering fibers and fabrics mindful of the basics of art making: color, line, composition, value and materials. Come to the first class with sketches and be prepared to transfer your images to cloth and paper. During this 5 day workshop, we will experiment with techniques to quicken our heart, our hands, and our minds. Inspired by birch and fir, rocks and cattails, pond and sky a small group of participants will learn and share in a variety of methods to alter the surface of fabric and paper. We will start with collagraph printmaking using the studio press, making our own plates and printing with water based inks on paper and fabric. An introduction to fabric paints, permanent enough for garments, will add to our surface design abilities. Using fabric paint, we will make silk screen images on paper and cloth. Positive and negative images will be created using freezer paper and fabric paint. Discharge, a method of removing color from cloth will be a counterpoint to the additive processes already mentioned. Drawing with scissors, painting with thread, ink, paints on paper, cotton and silk will all come into play during the week, working outdoors as well as inside. Osprey Cove Studio is off the beaten path of Freeport, a place in the Maine woods where creativity is teased out in memory, observation and joy. The week's work could become a catalogue of technique bound in a simple book – a memory aid – a memoir of a week of creativity.

SURFACE DESIGN III: Paint, Print, Stitch, Subtract

Altering Fibers: Mindful of the basics of art making, color, line, composition, value and materials, come to the first class with sketches and be prepared to transfer your images to cloth and paper.

During this 5 day workshop, we will experiment with techniques to quicken our heart, our hands, and our minds. An introduction to water based fabric paints, permanent enough for garments, will add to our surface design abilities. We will make silk screen images on paper and cloth, after constructing our own small silk screens. Intentional imagery and spontaneous investigation will happen as positive and negative images are created . Discharge, a method of removing color from cloth will be a counterpoint to the additive processes already mentioned. Dyeing silk with an environmentally-friendly liquid dye will increase our fiber vocabulary. Drawing with scissors, painting with thread, ink, and paints on paper, cotton and silk will all come into play during the week, working outdoors as well as inside. Simple hand stitching, as well as spontaneous machine stitching will be demonstrated, simple enough for the novice and enticing for the more experienced needle worker.

Osprey Cove Studio is off the beaten path of Freeport, a place in the Maine woods where creativity is teased out in memory, observation and joy. You will leave the work shop with a silk screen you have made, and fabrics and paper for further creative investigation. The week's work could become a catalogue of technique bound in a simple book – a memory aid – a memoir of this week of creativity. to register : www.meca.edu/cs

GELATIN PLATE PRINTMAKING

Gelatin Plate Printmaking is a process that requires no press and uses water-based inks. Participants will create their own plates from commercial gelatin and explore design, color, texture, value, and imagery using stencils, direct painting on the gelatin, and transfer techniques. This simple and spontaneous method of printmaking can produce imagery that resembles screen, relief, intaglio and monotype prints. All prints are one of a kind but the method lends itself to working in a series. Prints can be produced on both paper and fabric.