PRINT BOISE PRINTMAKING PROJECT

As part of the City of Boise's Department of Arts and History Boise 150  Sesquicentennial Celebration, Wingtip Press conducted a series of free community workshops for the City's residents and visitors to engage in creating a small edition of collagraph prints representing local residential architecture. Collagraph printmaking is a process that uses various textures to represent a selected image. Textures are glued to a rigid paper surface, inked and printed on a traditional etching press. Ten PRINT BOISE workshops took place during 2013 at various times and locations throughout the city.  

Each PRINT BOISE workshop served up to twenty participants. The city's residents and visitors were invited to participate at various locations  and times throughout the year. Participants ranged in age and artistic backgrounds. No drawing or printmaking experience was required. Workshops were conducted at the Collister Community Library, a community center, the print studio at Wingtip Press and the Boise Sesqui Shop. The Sesqui Shop is a temporary storefront in downtown Boise that serves as a community gathering place, event center and retail space for the Boise 150 Sesquicentennial celebration.  

The first two-hour session of the workshop was devoted to creating a collagraph plate based on photos of local residences and neighborhood businesses. The second two-hour session was devoted to printing a small edition of prints on a traditional etching press. Workshop participants created three prints from their collagraph plates. The city retained one print for their archives, one print was featured in group exhibitions located throughout the city, and each participant received the final print and textured collagraph plate as a souvenir of the event.

 

                             PART I - Creating the PRINT BOISE Collagraph Printing Plate

 Cutting up the photograph - at Collister Library

                               Cutting up the photograph -  at the Sesqui Shop

Selecting textures - at the Sesqui Shop

Gluing selected textures - at the Collister Library

Positioning the textures on the plate - at the Sesqui Shop

Assembling the printing plates - at Wingtip Press

                                   Sealing the plate - at the Collister Library

Sealed plates drying - at Collister Library

Completed collagraph plates - at the Sesqui Shop

                  PART II - Printing the PRINT BOISE Collagraph Printing Plates

Inking the plate - at the Sesqui Shop

The inked plate on the press bed - at the Collister Library

Steering the plate through the press - at the Collister Library

Pulling the print - at the Collister Library

Happy artist with final print - at the Collister Library

Busy printmakers - at the Sesqui Shop

Proud artist with final print - at the Sesqui Shop

Proud artist with final print - at the Sesqui Shop

Delighted artist - at the Sesqui Shop

Critiquing the prints - at the Collister Library

Print editions drying - at the Sesqui Shop

A clean plate after printing - at Wingtip Press

Proud printmakers! - at the Sesqui Shop

A clothesline strung with PRINT BOISE prints - at the Sesqui Shop

Stay tuned for more information about future workshops and exhibitions celebrating 
Boise 150 and PRINT BOISE