Workshops

We offer a wide range of workshops for all levels, taught by experts in the field. Unless otherwise noted, workshops are for all levels. All workshop fees include materials. Lunch is delivered to the studio and we'll usually make a pot of espresso in the afternoons! Click on a title or scroll down for full descriptions.

Photo-based Printmaking

with Nancy Diessner
July 26-30, 10-5
$600

This workshop is full - call to put your name on the wait list.

Photography and Printmaking are not strangers to each other, and in fact can work together beautifully in several different processes. This workshop will introduce you to the magic of at least three distinct photo-based printmaking techniques: Gum Transfers using photocopied imagery, Pronto Plates using a lithographic process; and Photopolymer Intaglio, using a photo-sensitive polymer plate. All of these processes are much safer than traditional photo-etching, which relies on several hazardous chemicals. We’ll begin with the more direct processes of Gum Transfer and Pronto Plates, and work up to Photopolymer Intaglio, the process that has the potential to be the most refined of the three techniques. We’ll wrap up the workshop exploring ways to combine these processes together with other printmaking processes, to create startling and unique prints.

« Back to top | Workshop Registration Form [PDF]

August 2-6: Master Classes
A series of workshops for the experienced printmaker, designed to add new skills to your repertoire or give you a chance to hone the ones you already have!
take one, two or more…
$130 per day (or $575 for the whole series)

Essential Color

with Joyce Silverstone
Monday, August 2, 10-5
$130

This one day workshop will offer guided instruction in fundamental color theory principles applied to simple and direct printmaking techniques. The emphasis will be on spending time practicing mixing complimentary colors, using analogous colors, mixing gorgeous neutrals. There will be time to look into relative values and explore the space of color relationships. Feel more confident about choosing and using color in your work.

« Back to top | Workshop Registration Form [PDF]

Etching the Positive Mark - alternative sugar-lift ground

with Liz Chalfin
Tuesday, August 3, 10-5
$130

this workshop is full - call to put your name on the wait list

At Zea Mays Printmaking we have been researching alternatives to traditional sugar lift ground – a way to make positive, painterly marks in intaglio. We have finally discovered a simple method that is beautiful, easy to use and reliable. In this workshop students will learn our alternative sugar lift technique through demonstration and practice. You will make a plate, which can serve as a beginning for a complex image or as a finished print in itself.

« Back to top | Workshop Registration Form [PDF]

Carborundum Intaglio

with Anita Hunt
Wednesday, August 4, 10-5
$130

this workshop is full - call to put your name on the wait list

This non-etch method is a fast and easy way to create a tonal image. Participants will learn how to use carborundum grits to directly roughen up the surface of the plate to achieve a rich dark tone. The ground is quick to apply and easy to alter with steel wool, scraper or burnisher. It is an exciting alternative to aquatint and is especially effective when partnered together with linear techniques, such as drypoint or etching. We will explore the use of masks and stencils and introduce color and multiple plate printing to expand the range of possibilities.

« Back to top | Workshop Registration Form [PDF]

Wiping Skills Class

with Louise Kohrman
Thursday, August 5, 10-5
$130

In this one day class, artists are invited to bring plates (copper, photopolymer, etc) for a hands-on day of perfecting their wiping skills. Various techniques will be covered including proper tarlatan wiping, hand wiping, felt wiping and newsprint wiping. We will talk using ink modifiers, whiting, etc to aid in the wiping process. Techniques such as a la poupee using daubers and ink applicators will be shown, as will different ways of adding and subtracting tone from a plate using the retrosage technique. Prepare to spend the day wiping and printing!

« Back to top | Workshop Registration Form [PDF]

Working with Delicate Papers

with Louise Kohrman
Friday, August 6, 10-5
$130

In this one day workshop, artists would be invited to bring finished or in-progress plates to experiment with various methods of printing on delicate papers. We will spend the morning talking about different papers, various ways to handle, dampen, and dry delicate papers, how to print on these papers with and without mounting, and tricks of the trade. The afternoon will be spent on individual hands on experimenting with one-on-one instruction available for individual printing and trouble-shooting.

« Back to top | Workshop Registration Form [PDF]

Multiple Plate Color Intaglio

with Peter Pettengill and Liz Chalfin
August 9-12, 10-5
$475

This workshop will cover the traditional method of creating a color intaglio print using multiple plates. Under the guidance of Master Printer, Peter Pettengill we’ll begin with a “key” plate, and make new plates for each color, working with line (hardground, softground, lift ground, drypoint) and tone (aquatints and spit bite). Participants will learn about offsetting the image to create color plates, registration techniques, inking variations and printing multiple plates. As an added bonus, we’ll be doing all of this using acrylic resist etching techniques, and etching on copper in ferric chloride, making the whole process safer for the artists and less toxic for the environment. Liz Chalfin, Zea Mays Printmaking Director will demonstrate the studio's most recent research and discoveries in non-toxic intaglio printmaking. This workshop is designed for artists with some basic intaglio experience.

« Back to top | Workshop Registration Form [PDF]

 

Intuitive Prints

with Meredith Broberg
August 13-15, 10-5
$375

This workshop is a chance to play with color and mark-making to create rich and layered prints. We’ll use plastic plates in place of traditional materials and bypass some of the technical complexities that can slow down image development in traditional printmaking. Our emphasis will be on exploring the interplay between intention and intuitive response, and between control and serendipity. Each day we’ll cover a variety of approaches, starting with loose, immediate monotypes, moving to drypoint for linework and more focused imagery, then incorporating carborundum collographs to add texture and painterly marks. You’ll have a chance to experiment with different ways of combining these approaches, to best express your own sensibility. Exploring these techniques will help novice printmakers get a feel for the many possibilities of the medium, and provide experienced printers with some wonderfully versatile additions to their current repertoire. No prior printmaking experience is required.

« Back to top | Workshop Registration Form [PDF]

Photo-Based Intensive

with Nancy Diessner
October 9/10, 10-5
$300

Photography and Printmaking are not strangers to each other, and in fact can work together beautifully in several different processes. This workshop will introduce you to the magic of two distinct photo-based printmaking techniques: Gum Transfers using photocopied imagery and Photopolymer Intaglio, using a photo-sensitive polymer plate. These two processes are much safer than traditional photo-etching, which relies on several hazardous chemicals.

We’ll begin with the more direct process of Gum Transfer, appreciating the immediacy and relative unpredictability of the process. At the end of the first day and into the second day we’ll turn to Photopolymer Intaglio, a process that has the greatest potential to approximate the tonal richness of a photograph. At the end of the second day, we’ll see what can happen when we combine these two very different photo-based processes in a single print.

 

« Back to top | Workshop Registration Form [PDF]

 

 

CANCELLATION POLICY

If a workshop is cancelled because of low enrollment, your registration will be fully refunded.
If you cancel your registration at least two weeks prior to the workshop, you will receive a refund for the total fee minus 10%.
Cancellations within two weeks of the workshop will result in a refund only if someone is found to fill your space.