Printmaking provides an ideal method of creating new and visually exciting images and offers the artist fresh and often unexpected creative outcomes. This one-year course provides the advantage of a sustained engagement with the medium and an opportunity for students to develop their work fully through a sustained and intensive period of study.
Aims:
The course aims to provide an in-depth engagement with printmaking within a friendly, informed and supportive environment. Through this, we aim to extend individual creative potential and facilitate the development of skills necessary for further creative and professional progression or as a means towards ongoing study.
Content:
The course is suitable for individuals who are self-motivated and who wish to find ways to expand their visual language through printmaking. Participants are taught processes which include relief, drypoint, screenprinting, monotype, collagraph and carborundum methods. This is supported by tutorials, workshops, group seminars and visiting lecturers. Emphasis is placed on exploring innovative ways to develop the language of printmaking both as an end in itself and as a vehicle for extending work in other disciplines and contexts.
An initial school-wide theme provides the starting point for the development of a self-directed body of work. Throughout the course, participants have one-to-one discussions with the tutor, reflecting on creative goals and outcomes. Working in an open studio, students learn from each other’s work and find solutions to technical and aesthetic issues. They also have opportunities to assess their own technical and artistic development through presentations and supportive group exchanges with colleagues, helping to develop ideas and gain confidence in the development of their practice.
Outcome:
On completion of the course, the student will have developed a major portfolio of new work and gained experience across a range of printmaking processes. They will have also developed critical and professional skills necessary for continuation as a visual practitioner, or towards further academic study. The final Summer Exhibition provides an ideal platform for exhibiting work completed on this course.
