By Jennifer Covington/reporter
South Campus art students had an opportunity Thursday to learn printmaking from two working artists, Jennifer Caine and Lindsay McCulloch.
Joshua Goode, art instructor on South Campus, met the artists while living in Boston and has been looking for an opportunity to invite the artists to present a gallery show and demonstrate the printmaking process.
“A workshop of this nature provides our students the opportunity to work with nationally recognized artists one-on-one in a relaxed environment,” he said.
The two artists spent the afternoon demonstrating and teaching the art of printmaking.
Caine instructed students on an etching process known as intaglio. She etched a design from a previous handmade book of her own sketches onto a coated metallic plate.
As she demonstrated the process-driven technique, she discussed her most recent body of work based on Dante’s Divine Comedy. She described how after reading the trilogy, she fell in love with Dante’s original sketches and started layering the images and creating prints.
Once Caine finished her plate, she used acid to burn the exposed markings and cleaned off the coating on the plate.
The result was an etched plate that could then be coated with ink and used in a printing press.
McCulloch demonstrated the printmaking process monotype. Using oil paints and paint sticks, McCulloch sketched a design onto a piece of Plexiglas, which she then ran through a printing press. As she worked, she encouraged students to try mixing their own paints and attempting their first prints.
Several students participated in creating their own flat-color monotype prints. For many students, it was a new experience.
Goode wants the workshop to encourage students to experiment with new ways of making their own art.
“I hope that by being exposed to great artists such as Caine and McCulloch, they will feel more involved in the contemporary art world,” he said.
Caine and McCulloch’s artwork can be seen in their joint show Alternate Worlds through Feb. 19 in the Carillon Gallery on South Campus.
