Printmaking Practice 1: Developing Techniques (10 credit points)

Special Information

This course requires you to bring your own art and design materials. Most of these can be sourced and purchased in advance from any good art material supplier such as the Art Shop at ECA Lauriston Place Campus. Essential items not readily available will be provided during classes and you will be invoiced at the end of the course for items used. Listed below are the materials and equipment requirements for this course and an estimated cost. You are advised not to purchase any materials until you have received confirmation the course is running – usually 7 days before the start of the course.  You will be guided by the tutor as to which materials you need to bring to classes each week.

 

Essential materials you will need to bring to the first class:

* An apron or old shirt.

* Pencil.

* Sketchbooks or visual resource material - Images as reference material.

* Disposable gloves for working with oil based water soluble printing inks.

* Wood or linocutting tools.

Materials and equipment provided for students as part of the course and included in course fee:

*Access to printmaking workshop and presses.

Materials and equipment available for purchase during the course:

* Lino.

* Zinc etching plates cut to individual required dimensions.

* Proofing paper and newsprint.

* Tissue paper.

* Paper suitable for printing an etching available on individual request.

Essentials materials and equipment students will need to provide themselves:

* Sketchbooks.

* A pair of inexpensive rubber gloves.

* An apron or old shirt to protect clothes.

* A sheet of Somerset or Fabriano paper suitable for printing an etching.

* Scalpel.

* Pencil.

* Glue brush and other old brushes.

* Wood or lino cutting tools (Please note: Linocut tools are not suitable for cutting wood).

* Basic etching needle.

Additional recommended materials and equipment students can provide:

* Students are welcome to bring their own materials that they may consider suitable for printmaking. This may include off-cuts of mountboard and wood such as MDF, pine and chipboard. The student may also like to consider collecting different materials to print on to. This could include handmade papers, old posters, newspapers, textiles and colour magazines.

Content of Course

Over the class sessions the course will cover:

Revisiting and developing relief printmaking techniques. This includes learning different ways of cutting, inking and printing a lino or woodblock. Learn how to use stencils and registration techniques to introduce colour in a controlled and expressive manner.

Revisiting and developing intaglio techniques. This includes monotype printing and etching with aquatint on zinc plate and introduces non-etch photopolymer prepared acrylic plate printing.

Develop new strategies for producing printed images through etching. This includes examining the potential of Chine collé, multiple plate printing, manipulation of plate tone and the addition of colour “á la poupeé” and by painterly application.

Revisiting and developing collagraphic techniques to print collagraphs.

The student will be encouraged to experiment with monochrome, tone, colour, composition, format and scale.

Students will be encouraged to consider and investigate a range of artists and illustrators who have used printmaking as a powerful means of expression and develop visual ideas suitable for print from their own visual research and sketchbooks.

Teaching method(s)

The teaching will be based and delivered in specialist art and design studios or workshops and will typically include a range of practical exercises, introductions to techniques, processes and concepts, and set projects which lead to more focused and personal exploration. Over the course, students’ progress will be monitored and supported by the tutor.  Teaching will include practical demonstrations, one to one tuition, group discussions and critiques.

For work required to be undertaken after the class hours are complete, the course tutor will set students a ‘directed study plan’ which can be undertaken without the need for specialist workshops or access to models.

Directed study will include research into a range of suggested artists and their associated movements to engender a contextual awareness. Students are expected to demonstrate how their research has informed their work through annotated sketchbooks, a visual digital journal and practical outcomes. 

The Directed Study Plan will include preparing evidence of research and practical work to form an appropriate presentation for assessment.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this course, the student will be able to:

Research, context and ideas (33.3%) Demonstrate a range of working practices and strategies for recording and developing visual information, generating a range of visual ideas suitable to translate into artists’ prints and supported by contextual references.

Practice, skills and techniques (33.3%) Show a confident and enquiring use of materials and processes to explore printmaking practices and techniques to create a range of visual studies and resolved artworks.

Selection, presentation and reflection (33.3%) Demonstrate an appropriate judgment to document select, edit and present a body of prints, considering the use of drawing, composition and colour to reveal its value.

Sources

Core Readings

Suggested Reading

Grabowski, B. and Fick, B., 2009. Printmaking: a complete guide to materials and processes. London: Laurence King.

Adam, R. and Robertson, C., 2007. Intaglio: The Complete Safety-First System for Creative Printmaking: Acrylic-Resist Etching, Collagraphy, Engraving, Drypoint, Mezzotint , London: Thames and Hudson.

Journal and periodicals

Printmaking Today

Web Sources

www.printmakingtoday.com

Assessment

Details of the Art and Design assessment requirements can be found on the short course website. Please click on the following link for more information: Submission and Assessment Information

Studying for Credit

If you choose to study for credit you will need to allocate significant time outwith classes for coursework and assessment preparation. Credit points gained from this course can count towards the Certificate of Higher Education.

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.