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Gel Plate Printmaking
October 18, 2025 @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
$215.00
Saturday, October 18, 10 AM-5 PM
Registration Deadline: October 4
with Amanda Barrow
All levels of participants are invited to explore the open-ended world of Gel Plate printing! This workshop is ideal for anyone who enjoys hands-on, process-based art, coupled with personal creative exploration and guidance. We’ll spend a relaxed day printing and playing on 8″x10″ Gel Plates that are flexible and receptive to all types of textures. We will cover how to ink the plate with Akua soy-based inks, create marks, print on paper, re-use leftover ink on plate, add other textures and ink, print again, and wipe off the plate when you’re ready to move on.
Participants are encouraged to bring in lace, wet leaves, cut up credit cards, doilies, etc., and employ those reusable objects into your compositions. We’ll be spontaneous and improvisational – controlling, changing, and accepting our images, as each of us creates our family of monotype prints together.
During the workshop, we’ll take time to gather occasionally as a group to witness what others are creating; immediate feedback and sharing of colors/textures is inevitable and fun! No printing press will be used in this process.
The emphasis will be on experimentation and personal discovery, and everyone will leave with a collection of unique prints, and a variety of techniques to continue exploring with at home, in the studio, or while traveling. You will also be able to bring your plates home with you. The prints that are produced during the workshop can stand alone as monotype prints, or can be collaged, layered, sewn, torn up, scrap booked, etc. with other prints or artwork. We will share inks, colors, ideas, and laughs together while promoting the concept of play in this safe and supportive workshop.
About the Instructor
Amanda Barrow began her career teaching printmaking techniques in the mid-80s in Jamaica Plain, MA, after learning the technique in a chance meeting and work session with the great Robert Blackburn in New York City. She went on to be painter/printmaker Michael Mazur’s studio assistant in Cambridge, MA off and on for four years. After receiving a Fulbright Research Grant to study printmaking and papermaking in South India in 1992, Amanda continued teaching in her various art studios as she moved around the East Coast in Groton, MA; Brooklyn, NY; and Easthampton, MA. She’s taught in Iceland, Germany, India, Amsterdam, New Jersey, New York City, Colorado, Maine, and Massachusetts, and loves to inspire her students to stretch out in their ideas and acceptance of using new products and tools in multiple ways.
This workshop is currently full. Fill out the form below to be placed on the waiting list.