Conference Demonstrations
A Demo showcases a printmaking technique, material, tool or process by an SGCI Member, utilizing the presses, equipment, spaces, and/or materials available at the local conference venues.
Individuals submit an application during the Round 1 Call for Participation. Often, they may need to bring their own specialty supplies or tools. Based on the space, equipment, and press availability for the conference venues, the local steering committee makes selections that showcase as much novelty, breadth, beauty, and innovation as possible. See demonstration descriptions below.
Printmaking Applications For Handmade Paper
Demonstrators: Lars Roeder & Jesse Taylor
Date, Time & Location: April 5, 9:30-11:30am & 2:30-4:30pm, TBA
Let the PULPATEERS guide you through a paper pulp printmaking power hour in their pressure-packed presentation of frenetic fiber flinging and maniacal matrix mayhem. These pulpy printers will demonstrate 1000 ways to combine handmade paper with all manner of printmaking techniques in this rapid-fire session of soggy substrates and inky innovation. So get up off the couch (pronounced “cooch”), hold on to your deckles, and step into the splash zone, it’s a pulp printing party in Puerto Rico.
Intaglio Chine Collé
Demonstrator: Mizin Shin
Date, Time & Location: April 5, 9:30-11:30am & 2:30-4:30pm, TBA
This intaglio Chine-Collé technique allows incorporating multiple colors and/or different image designs—e.g., digitally printed images—on a single matrix, eliminating the need for printing multiple layers. The demonstration will explore Chine-collé within the intaglio printmaking process by using metal and acrylic plates as matrices. The demonstration will share (1) a process of preparing printing paper and adhesive for a Chine-collé technique, (2) methods for dyeing and preparing colored paper, and (3) incorporating multiple colors or images in a design requiring tight registration.
Atomic Reductions
Demonstrator: Nathan Meltz
Date, Time & Location: April 5, 12:00-2:00pm & 2:30-4:30pm, TBA
Atomic Reductions is a technical demonstration showing the use of the traditional ceramicist’s tool of the ceramic atomizer to create screenprint reductions. Demonstrator Nathan Meltz will show how the atomizer can be used to create unique textures and painterly visual effects. This analog and carbon-neutral technique is a great addition to the toolbox of any screenprint shop frustrated by clogged airbrushes and the waste of spray paint cans.
Between Grease and Wood: Graphic Experimentation with Mokulito
Demonstrator: Vanessa Nieto Romero
Date, Time & Location: April 5, TBA, Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto, Río Piedras (UPRRP), Art Building, Room 205
This demonstration aims to explore the expressive, gestural and graphic possibilities offered by wood lithography (mokulito). This is a less toxic printmaking technique based on the principles of lithography, using greasy drawing materials and hybridizing woodcut principles to generate highlights; thus creating images of broad qualities of textures and atmospheres typical of wood.
Print Animations
Demonstrator: Poli Marichal
Date, Time & Location: April 5, 12-2pm, Hilton Caribe, Flamingo Room, C/D
Contemporary digital technology has expanded opportunities for artistic experimentation, particularly in printmaking. Poli Marichal, who trained as an animator in the 70s and explored experimental animation in the 80s and 90s while actively working as a printmaker, integrated printmaking techniques into early experimental films. Upon discovering the digital animation program MOHO Pro, they began adapting their prints into short films, which they have showcased widely.
This demonstration aims to teach SGCI attendees how to animate prints using digital programs. As digital animation becomes more accessible, it opens new avenues for expression. The session will cover importing JPEGs of prints into Photoshop, layering the images, and then transferring these layers to MOHO Pro to create a digital skeleton for animation. The speaker will animate a print and export it as an MP4 file, along with showcasing a selection of completed prints.
Printing with Dyes on Textiles
Demonstrator: Rachelle Hill
Date, Time & Location: April 4, 12-2pm, La Liga de Arte
This demonstration will show the possibilities of using vibrant, transparent dyes on plant (cotton, linen) and protein (wool, silk) based fabric using silk-screen printing methods. The resulting work produced can take the form of fabric for fine art, yardage, wearables, or sculptural forms.
Painted Woodcut: Ink and Gouache
Demonstrator: Topher Alexander
Date, Time & Location: April 4, 9:30-11:30am, 12-2pm, & 2:30-4:30pm, La Liga de Arte
During this demonstration the artist will show each step of the process as well as examples of finished works. They will demonstrate a variety of techniques for applying the gouache onto paper, coating the image with india ink as well as the wash off process. They also plan on setting up a station which will be open for participants to create their own small format pieces. This process is relatively quick, so participants will be able to have their own ‘painted print’ finished within an hour.
DIY Cameras for Printmakers
Demonstrator: Neal Cox
Date, Time & Location: April 5, 9:30-11:30am, 12-2pm, & 2:30-4:30pm, TBA
Combining low-tech photography with photomechanical printmaking processes provides an intriguing avenue for the artist/printmaker who either do not naturally gravitate towards traditionally drawn images or who would like to supplement such imagery with the syntax of rudimentary photography. Alternativesto the sharp quality of a digital camera include homemade pinhole cameras, the likes of which have been made for centuries, as well as single-element lens cameras. This demonstration will showcase possibilities in designing and constructing high quality, low tech DIY cameras using materials and processes common to book arts and printmaking for the purposes of generating photographic negatives to be used in the printmakers workflow. Participants will gain a general understanding of the process of designing, building, and using a well-crafted, aesthetically pleasing DIY camera. Examples of the various phases of construction will be displayed. The demonstration will focus on the fundamental considerations of design, including both optimal function as well as aesthetic value of the camera as a tool and as an object. Instruction will be given regarding the use of the camera to generate negatives to be used in photomechanical processes such as collotype and serigraphy in addition to alternative processes such as cyanotype and gum printing. Examples of such work will be provided.
3 in 1 Uses for Photo-Litho Plates
Demonstrator: Stacy Friedman & Carolyn Muskat
Date, Time & Location: April 5, TBA, Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto, Río Piedras (UPRRP), Art Building, Room 210
From commercial reproduction applications to hand-drawn graphics and original fine art, photographic printing plates have been an integral part of printmaking for over 100 years. For artists, these possibilities open wide vistas of image possibilities, either as stand-alone imagery or in combination with hand-drawn elements. Treating Photo-Litho plates as a hybrid between traditional aluminum plates.
Collagraph and Transfer Pressure Printing
Demonstrator: Sok Song
Date, Time & Location: April 4, TBA, TBA
This demonstration will explore collagraphy and pressure printing, focusing on techniques using graphite transfer papers and inked plexi plates. Sok will showcase samples of his work and demonstrate how he creates loose and fixed collagraph plates using various materials and textiles. He will cover inking techniques and transfer printing methods to enhance composition, texture, and detail. Sok will also explain his graphite transfer printing process, including the use of different pressure levels and the creation of colored and custom transfer plates using plexi and Duralar. The objective is to introduce these methods, inspire experimentation, and foster a collaborative environment for sharing artistic ideas.
All of the Books-None of the Glue!
Demonstrator: Claire White
Date, Time & Location: April 4, 9:30-11:30 & 12-2pm, Hilton Caribe, Flamigo Room, C/D
This is a bookmaking demonstration on multiple book forms: a zoetrope, an accordion book, a flipbook, and others if time allows. A zoetrope is a cylinder with slits cut into and a sequential image inside the cylinder on a sheet of paper. As the zoetrope spins, the image appears to move when the viewer looks through the cut slits. An accordion-style book is a folded sheet of paper. The folds create multiple pages. It lends itself well to sequential images as all the pages are connected. Finally, a flipbook is a booklet bound together with changing images on each page. When flipped through, the image appears to move. Participants will make their own books and draw sequential images. I have created templates for these forms the participants can use. We will discuss the best ways to create flow and the impact of “moving” images.
Tonality in Letterpress Photopolymer and Creating an Affordable Simple DIY Exposure Unit
Demonstrators: Jennifer Scheuer & Francille Zhuang
Date, Time & Location: April 4, 12-2pm, & 2:30-4:30pm, TBA
In this demonstration, Jennifer Scheuer and Francille Zhuang will showcase an affordable, DIY exposure system utilizing readily available equipment for photo-polymer letterpress, along with strategies for achieving optimal exposures. Many studios do not have access to a polymer-exposure unit, and this system allows an artist to pack the supplies, and create plates while traveling or at artist residencies.
Scheuer utilizes letterpress photo-polymer to create paper sculptures and artist books; her interest in this technique allows her to produce large quantities of prints quickly for these intricate works. Scheuer and Zhuang are researching strategies for translating drawings and washes into tonal plates for letterpress for a current research project and will present examples and strategies to create these works.
New Ways in Algraphy-From Kitchen Litho to Temporary Laminated Matrices
Demonstrator: Tomasz Matczak
Date, Time & Location: April 4, 9:30-11:30am, 12-2pm, & 2:30-4:30pm, TBA
Algraphy is a technique using aluminium and fosforic acid to create the matrix. Kitchen Lithography is a planographic printing technique (printing from a flat surface) based on the principle of water and oil repelling each other. To simplify the algraphy process I will show the participants how to use simple kitchen aluminium foils, pencils, ballpens, permanent markers, wax pastels, bar of soap, and a common non-alcoholic drink to create a printing matrix that can be printed in a regular edition of several copies. As a base to hold the foil we will use grained aluminum plates, textured wallpapers, canvas, e.t.c . The images created this way have an interesting graphic quality. My workshop’s aim is to popularise printmaking techniques which can be created by both advanced and beginning artists both at home and in the studio. I will share the results of my experiments with the frottage technique incorporated in the process of creating the matrix.