Linocut 101 with Joseph Vorgity
Linocut 101 with Joseph Vorgity
Linocut printmaking is a simple process, and therein lies its beauty.
A linocut is a relief print which is cut and printed from soft material. Each print has a primitive hand-crafted quality that can't be achieved with modern machinery. Linocuts make wonderful notecards, book illustrations, and decorative art.
Each student will prepare a simple 4" x 6" graphic black-and-white drawing in advance, then use it to make a linocut print in the workshop.
No previous experience is necessary as this workshop is suitable for all levels of printmaking from beginner to advanced.
(Beginners should opt for a simple motif. Search Etsy or Google for linocut or block printings to find examples to use as guidelines for your drawing, or click here.)
Scroll down for more information about the workshop, and to learn more about Joseph Vorgity.
Saturday, March 8, 2014 (10:30-4:30) - $95
In this workshop students will learn the basics of linocut printmaking:
- Preparing the block and transferring the image
- Proper cutting technique - cutting patterns and texture
- Using a brayer or brush to apply ink
- Printing by hand and with a press
- Advance techniques include multiple color printing, gradations, stencils, and masks
Please bring the following supplies...they will not be available for purchase at the workshop. Everything is available at Dick Blick stores. All other materials will be supplied:
- Unmounted linoleum block - 4" x 6"
- Speedball or Blick lino cutter set
- Economy hard brayer roller
- X-acto knife (X2000) with comfort grip is best)
- Paper:
- 8 1/2" x 11" printer paper (good)
- 9" x 12" Speedball Printmaster (better)
- 5" x 7" pad white Utrecht American Master Printmaking Paper (best)
Joseph Vorgity is a contemporary realist watercolorist and printmaker. His still life, landscape, and figurative subject matter are recognized by strong flat areas of color with sharp lines to delineate shapes. Some themes are narrative, others have a surreal quality while many are created primarily for their beauty and visual impact. Some of the figurative pieces are modeled after traditional religious pictures of saints and deities while others are related to figures in Japanese woodblock prints of the early 20th century. His strongest influences come from the American Precisionist Movement, the Arts and Craft Movement, and from Japonisme.
Having first studied advertising and illustration in his home town of Philadelphia, Vorgity moved to New York City in 1978 to attend the painting program at the School of Visual Arts. Don Nice, Don Eddy, and Elizabeth Murray were influential teachers. He holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and later received a Master's Degree from Fordham University. Joseph was an educator on the elementary and secondary levels for 18 years. He has also worked for the wardrobe departments of broadway and opera productions. He was featured in an article about his woodblock prints in the October 1999 issue of American Artist Magazine.
Vorgity maintains a studio in Los Angeles and is a member of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. His hand-carved, individually pressed notecards are sold at the Craft & Folk Museum and are also available through Hyacinth Press, and in September, 2006, ten of Joseph's white line prints were exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art sales and rental gallery. Visit his website to see more of his work.