Introduction to Fine Art Printmaking
A series of workshops held at The Rodd
Tutor: Mike Clements
Spring 2012, each workshop runs 10.00-16.00
Sunday 26 February: Intaglio Printmaking - participants get to grips with traditional and contemporary methods of making fine art prints. An opportunity to try fine art printmaking at affordable cost.
Saturday 3 March: Intaglio Colour Inking - follow-on session to find out how to make intaglio prints in colour, using techniques with wonderful names “à la poupée”, “chine collé” & “jigsaw”.
Saturday 24 March: Collagraph Printmaking - collagraph is a modern printmaking technique that is wonderfully flexible and almost infinitely expressive. Those with little or no printmaking training can create, in a few hours, effects similar to those which printmakers traditionally slaved for weeks or months to achieve. Many of today’s top printmakers use collagraph extensively in their work.
Sunday 1 April: Embossed Prints - Printmaking tutor Mike Clements will show participants how to make stunning three-dimensional prints using little or no ink. Mike has spent 15 years perfecting techniques, some of which are his own invention. Embossing can be used to make stunning prints and is also well suited for making artist’s books.
Course fees: £120 for all four days, or £36 for one day / £68 for two days / £96 for three days. Advance booking is essential - click here to download a booking form. Course fees are payable on booking (cheques payable to 'Sidney Nolan Trust'). Post to SNT, The Rodd, Presteigne, LD8 2LL.
These workshops are aimed at adults and are suitable for artists and non-artists alike. You do not need previous printmaking experience. The workshops will also appeal to people who want to refresh a rusty knowledge of intaglio printmaking or simply develop existing skills. By the end of each workshop participants will have had hands-on experience of using an etching press safely and will have made and printed their own prints.
Newcomers will get most benefit by attending all four sessions. This is strongly recommended for anyone who hopes eventually to become a regular user of the Sidney Nolan Trust's print studio. But newcomers who simply want to have a go at printmaking are welcome at any of these workshops. In 2012, the Trust has a comprehensive programme of opportunities for newcomers, to enable them to progress to competent printmakers able to hold their own in our printmakers’ group. We aim to have you exhibiting with us by September 2012.
Tutor Mike Clements is a printmaker and book artist who exhibits regularly, both at the Trust and elsewhere. His work is in public and private collections, including the Tate Gallery, the Minnesota Centre for the Book and Glasgow University. Mike has been the Trust's printmaking tutor for the past ten years. He has run many scores of workshops for the Trust, including the Trust's regular introductory printmaking series each spring. The latter are aimed both at newcomers to printmaking and at those with a rusty knowledge who need refresher printmaking training as preparation for using the Trust's press or joining a print studio elsewhere. Mike also runs the open studio days, where newcomers can gain experience of using the Trust's print facilities and undergo the Trust's health & safety briefing, essential for those intending to become regular users of the Trust's printmaking facilities.
Mike runs specialist printmaking workshops for the Trust on:
Solar Plate: Mike has been using and teaching solar (or photoplymer) plate printmaking for the past decade and has run many workshops on it for the Trust and elsewhere.
Cork Printmaking: Mike began exploring cork as a medium for relief and intaglio prints nearly 20 years ago and has developed many innovations, some of which have been published in "Printmaking Today", the professional journal for UK printmakers.
Embossing: using the power of the etching press to create three-dimensional images on paper. Again, Mike has developed over many years special techniques that expand the range of possibilities for using embossing in printmaking.
Images from top: Collagraph print by workshop participant; Mike Clements: Nose for narrative eye for episode; Etching press; Drypoint print by workshop participant; portable etching press. 
