Alternative Techniques in Lithography Summer School

Learn experimental processes over five days in this Summer School.

Join artist and printmaker Kathryn Desforges for an immersive 5 days of hands-on printmaking.

This course will teach you the basics of plywood and photo-plate lithography with an experimental approach, and a focus on using hand-drawn imagery, (although there will be opportunity to incorporate photographic or digital imagery as well).

Once you have to got to grips with the techniques involved, you will have the time to practice, and develop your work using either or both of these processes to create hybrid prints.

Course Structure

AM

• Tutor and class introductions.
• Introduction to photo-litho with examples.
• Demo of exposing, developing and printing a photo-litho plate.
• Students use drafting film and black drawing materials to create quick hand-drawn images for test-plates, and print out digital images onto acetate.

PM

• Students expose, develop and print their own plates – 2 each, 11 x 15cm plates.
• 3pm clear up.
• Demo of preparing and drawing onto a plywood block. Students prepare 2 x 11 x 15cm plywood test blocks each, and leave somewhere safe to dry overnight.

Day 2 – Plywood Lithography ('Mokulito')

AM

• Students talc and gum their plywood blocks from previous day.
• Introduction to technique with examples.
• Demonstration of inking and printing a plywood block.

PM

• Students ink up and print their test plywood blocks.
• 4pm clean-up.

Day 3 – Combining techniques and registration

• Recap on techniques learned so-far with questions and review of prints made so far.
• Demonstration of printing a plywood block and a photo-litho plate in register, to create a two-colour print.
• Students start thinking about making larger images on A4 blocks. Each student will have 3 x A4 wood blocks and 3 x A4 photo-litho plates to work with. This could create 3 x 2-colour images or 2 x 3 colour images.
• Students start preparing plates and blocks.

Day 4 – Self-guided

• Students carry on with self-guided projects, with help, support, guidance and troubleshooting if needed.

Day 5 – Self-guided

• Students carry on with and finish their prints, working with colour inking and experimenting with different papers.
• If time there will be a demo of printing onto thin Japanese and using chine-colle –to collage this onto another print.
• 3pm clean up.
• 30 – 4pm – group discussion with presentation of prints.

About the Tutor

Kathryn Desforges is a freelance artist and printmaker based in Leeds, and also works as part time Print Studio Coordinator at West Yorkshire Print Workshop. In 2013 she undertook the second Stone Lithography Fellowship at LPW – an inspirational year which enabled her to create a new body of work and led to a solo exhibition. After the fellowship, without access to the specialist equipment needed to continue with stone lithography, she decided to develop her work using alternative lithographic techniques, which utilised the equipment she already had. Kathryn is particularly interested in the qualities of plywood as a medium for making prints, and has recently returned from an artist residency in Japan learning watercolour woodblock printing or 'Mokuhanga'.