Presenters: Marlene MacCallum and David Morrish
Location: Open Studio

This demonstration will cover the procedures used in creating a precisely registered and colour-balanced four-colour photogravure. This process is unique within intaglio printing due to the registration challenge of printing on wet paper and the colour challenge of the layering of the ink. The method developed by MacCallum and Morrish allows the printer to achieve dot-on-dot registration. The demo will include a brief overview of photogravure plate preparation, a review of the methods used in generating four-colour separations for photogravure and the establishment of the registration system. MacCallum and Morrish will demonstrate printing of the four-colour image, ink mixing specific to this process, paper preparation and the printing process. This demo is relevant to any print artists creating digital positives and for anyone that creates multiple-plate intaglio prints that require precise registration.

Marlene MacCallum is an artist and teacher and has lived and worked in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, since 1990. She is currently the Head of the Division of Fine Arts at Sir Wilfred Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Marlene has been making photogravure prints since 1994. Her most recent research project is The Visual Book, an integration of the divergent technologies of photogravure and digital processes funded by a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada Research/Creation Grant Program.

David Morrish, an artist and educator from Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, is a full Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Sir Wilfred Grenfell Campus. Morrish received his BFA (1981) from the University of Manitoba and MFA (1985) from the University of Calgary. He has produced prints and artist’s book works, GAZE and DIED, using photogravure and letterpress under his imprint, DeadCat Press. Morrish’s research centers around mortality, faux biography and provenance.

Marlene MacCallum and David Morrish are co-authors of Copper Plate Photogravure: Demystifying the Process (Focal Press, 2003).

Presenters: Elizabeth Forrest and April Vollmer
Location: The Japanese Paper Place

This demonstration goes beyond the basics of mokuhanga and offers the unique perspectives of two experienced practitioners. Vollmer will demonstrate the use of kento registration notches cut directly in the block and how to repeatedly print multiple blocks to illustrate the process of creating an image that is larger and more complex than can be made from straightforward printing from a single set of blocks. Forrest will demonstrate pigment layering and bokashi—the blending of colours and values—recommending various approaches to overcome printing challenges, such as accurate registration and use of binders to permit crisp, separated colour superimposition. This demo is relevant to printmakers with some previous knowledge of mokuhanga.

Elizabeth Forrest is a Canadian artist who lived and studied art in Japan for eleven years. She has a B.Ed from the University of Toronto and AOCA from the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) with a major in printmaking. She taught printmaking for seven years at OCAD and continues to teach mokuhanga workshops. Elizabeth has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally including Japan, Ireland, Australia and Peru. In 2007-08, she organized an international exhibition of mokuhanga artists at the Japan Foundation, Toronto. She has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and her work is represented in private and public collections internationally.

April Vollmer has an MFA in printmaking from Hunter College, NYC. She visited Japan in 2004 to work with the Nagasawa Art Park woodcut program, and to visit artist-printmakers in Kyoto and Tokyo. She has presented lecture demonstrations and workshops at numerous institutions including Pyramid Atlantic, Women’s Studio Workshop, Union College and Lower East Side Printshop. Her work has been published in the periodicals Printmaking Today, Contemporary Impressions and Science. She has been awarded residencies in the USA, Japan, Bosnia and Serbia and has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the USA and internationally including Japan, Canada, France and Austria.

Presenter: Jennifer Anderson
Location: Open Studio

Silk Aquatint is a versatile alternative to traditional printmaking techniques, uniting painting and printmaking. Silk Aquatint is a low tech and inexpensive non-acid technique that offers the richness of mezzotint, the beauty of watercolor washes and the durability of a metal plate. Thin,finely woven fabric is glued to a stiff backing plate. The image is created by applying acrylic paint in varying amounts, filling the weave of the fabric and resulting in a variety of tonal values. The plate is then inked and wiped as an intaglio and printed on an etching press. This demonstration will include the entire process from making the plates, to developing images to printing with non-toxic water-based etching inks. This demo is suitable for artists wishing to explore less toxic techniques and alternatives to traditional etching.

Jennifer L. Anderson is a book artist and printmaker working in many of the printmaking disciplines, primarily stone lithography, etching and relief printing. She has exhibited throughout New England and Central California and her work is in private collections nationwide. Anderson is currently a member of the Monterey Peninsula College Fine Art Print Club, Monterey, CA, and most recently was awarded a residency at the KALA Art Institute in Berkeley, CA. Anderson has been an Artist Member of Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction, VT, since 2001 where she also taught book arts and printmaking and served on the Board of Directors. In 2007, Anderson was a resident artist at the Vermont Studio Center. She is a current member of the California Society of Printmakers. Anderson has a BFA in Printmaking from the University of Connecticut and continued with graduate course work in printmaking and education from Central Connecticut State University and the University of Connecticut.