Because printmaking is one of the most hands-on, direct, and satisfying ways of making art. You can be an absolute beginner, and within a couple of hours you can create a print, and join a tradition that goes back centuries.
You can have some previous experience of art or printmaking, or you can have NO prior experience. How is this possible? The techniques that I teach in the class can be learned by everyone and applied to whatever your level. When I taught this class in rural Illinois, more than half of the people were absolute beginners. If you see the prints that they eventually created, I can guarantee that you will produce something similarly satisfying.
You can make a print of whatever you want: trees, lakes, people, objects, images from magazines. I will encourage you to try at least one image that you develop from your own imagination, but I don’t impose subject-matter.
We will have four days to try some techniques, work on getting some quick prints done, and then working on creating at least one more developed print. At the end of the session, you will have printed a small edition of at least one of your images.
You will have access to a table-top printing press, and it’s a great feeling to put your inked plate on the bed of the press, place paper over it, and then turn the wheel of the press to make your very first print. And the techniques that you learn – contact monoprint, direct monoprint, linocut – are all things you can do later at home, on your kitchen table, without a printing press.
The costs of the course ($450 tuition, with housing and meals on top of that), might look high, but in addition to learning such great stuff, you also get to learn it in one of the most beautiful places in northern Michigan. Interlochen sits in the middle of thick woods, right next to a lake. It is surrounded by trees, water, trails for running and hiking. Patty and I have spent many days and nights there, and it is simply one of the most beautiful places you will ever visit. And I’ve been to a few places in the world, let me tell you.
Have another look at the slideshow above, showing the beginner’s class from 2009. Think about what fun it could be to try this out for yourself. Feeing tempted yet? Then go to the Interlochen College of Creative Arts page and consider signing up. The deadline for the Introduction to Printmaking class is June 1st. If you come, you won’t regret it.
On the Interlochen Printmaking Class: Chine Colle
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