Fox Friday: Silkscreening

This workshop introduces participants to the skills and techniques needed to make your own screen-printed images in the form of recipe cards or recipe posters. Participants will learn the basics on screen printing and will print images on to cards and paper while also getting an understanding of how to print on any substrate. This technique is the same technique used in printing on fabric and therefore would allow you to create a ton of printed artworks on paper/fabric in the future. In the first hour you’ll be introduced to the materials in screen printing and learn how to expose an image to screen, the pitfalls to the process as well as the ways to succeed. Using the information discussed participants create your own image or prepare an image you already have for screenprinting. The last portion of the workshop, you will use your own exposed image to print recipes, recipe cards and/or food illustrations., For the best experience, participants should come prepared with an image drawn in black (pen, pencil or digital will suffice but image should avoid using continuous tone shading and rely on hatching, cross-hatching or stippling for tone). Participants can also come prepared by bringing a recipe or participants can focus on making blank recipe cards for use later. There will be time for drawing and positive-making during the workshop but we’ll save time for drying, registration and trimming. There will also be pre-exposed screens with a myriad of images for those who prefer improvisation or want to simply focus on the screen printing portion.

Instructor: Born and located in St. Louis, Mo., Brian Lathan is an artist and educator who explores printmaking, illustration and sculpture as his primary form of art creation. Though his specialization is printmaking, he examines the dynamics of print, print ephemera, digital illustration, and sculpture, persistently exploring these mediums as means to express personal and subjective commentary and narration.Alongside his personal practice, Brian simultaneously continues to build his collaborative printmaking practice (Free Press Project) where he works with other St. Louis artist to create and prints and print ephemera to provide these collaborators and their audience with an accessible variant of their artwork. Though a recipient of numerous grants, Brian recently received a grant from the Regional Arts Commission for a large mural. He is one of 28 artist that received this opportunity. His completed mural can be seen on Cherokee Street in STL, Mo.