Photopolymer Crash Course 2021
Event Info
This workshop takes place across two sessions:
- Sat, July 24th, 11am–5pm ET
- Sun, July 25th, 11am–5pm ET
This class will take place in-person at Center for Book Arts. There are only five spots open in this workshop due to our limited capacity in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. All staff, artists, students, and guests are required to wear a mask during the entirety of the class. If you do not have a mask when you arrive, one will be provided for you. Please call ahead at 212-481-0295 if you have questions or needs.
During this two-day workshop, students will learn to create photopolymer plates by hand. We will talk about image prep for analog (hand drawn) or digital images (using photoshop or illustrator), as well as film output from home. We will cover making plates using the in-house exposure unit, developing the plates by hand, and press set up and printing.
Required Materials
- An image on a flash drive or cloud storage that they’d like to work with.
- X-acto blade
- Pencil and eraser
- Optional: opaque black drawing materials such as paint markers, micron pens, rapidograph pens or materials to experiment with for making transparencies
All other materials and tools will be provided by the Center. The price of tuition includes a $20 materials fee.
About the Instructor
Elizabeth Castaldo is an artist, printmaker, and bookbinder living and working in Peekskill, NY and New York City. She received her MFA from SCAD Atlanta where she was a Dean’s Fellow in Printmaking and her BFA from the School of Visual Arts. Elizabeth works with printmaking, drawing, and collage to make works on paper and artists books that explore nature and the body. She has completed residencies at the Center for Book Arts, NYC and Printmaker’s Open Forum. In 2019 Elizabeth’s work was included in the traveling exhibition, “Freed Formats: The Book Reconsidered”. She organized the exchange portfolio “Earth/Mother” for the SGCI 2020 conference “Puertografico”. She teaches printmaking and book arts at Parsons, Nassau Community College and the Center for Book Arts NYC. Elizabeth’s work is held in many private and institutional collections including at Savannah College of Art and Design, Carnegie Melon University, Yale University.
All images courtesy of the instructor.
If you cannot comfortably pay tuition but are interested in taking this class, please consider filling out our financial assistance application here. We will notify you of your scholarship status before the start date of the class.