Photopolymer Crash Course: Print Your Own Image or Design on Letterpress 2022
Event Info
This workshop takes place in-person at Center for Book Arts across a weekend intensive on Saturday & Sunday, March 26–27 from 11am–5pm ET.
- Sat, March 26, 11am–5pm
- Sun, March 27, 11am–5pm
About the Workshop:
In this in-person workshop with CBA Studio Manager and Instructor Elizabeth Castaldo, participants with some letterpress experience will get a crash course in how to create photopolymer plates to print their own custom designs on letterpress. Castaldo will walk students through how to prepare plates from hand-drawn illustrations and/or digital images using Photoshop or Illustrator. Then students will learn to make plates using CBA’s exposure unit. Finally, the class will set up the press and print!
Class size is limited to ensure an optimal student-to-teacher ratio. Register now before the remaining spots fill up!
Required Materials:
All staff, artists, students, and guests are required to show proof of vaccination upon entering CBA and must wear a mask covering the nose and mouth at all times. Please email info@centerforbookarts.org if you have any questions.
- An image you want to work with (saved on a flash drive or in the cloud)
- X-acto blade
- Pencil and eraser
- Access to Photoshop or Illustrator
- Please wear clothing you do not mind getting dirty and close-toed shoes
Optional Materials:
- Opaque black drawing materials such as paint markers, micron pens, rapidograph pens
- Materials to experiment with for making transparencies
Note: Please be aware that shipping is often delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. You can find the art supplies required for this class at Blick Art Materials and Talas as well as select items in CBA’s own shop!
All other materials and tools will be provided by CBA at no additional cost to the students.
About the Instructor
Elizabeth Castaldo (she/her) is the Studio Manager at Center for Book Arts. You can reach her at studio@centerforbookarts.org.
Castaldo is an artist, printmaker, and bookbinder living and working in Peekskill, NY and New York City.
Castaldo works with printmaking, drawing, and collage to make works on paper and artists books that explore nature and the body.
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.
Castaldo has completed residencies at Center for Book Arts and Printmaker’s Open Forum.
In November 2020, her solo exhibition, Proximate Magic, was presented at Saint Joseph’s College in Patchogue, NY and in 2019, her work was included in the traveling exhibition, Freed Formats: The Book Reconsidered.
Castaldo organized the exchange portfolio Earth/Mother for the SGCI 2020 conference Puertografico.
Castaldo’s work is held in many private and institutional collections including at Savannah College of Art and Design, Carnegie Melon University, Yale University.
She teaches printmaking and book arts at Parsons School of Design and Center for Book Arts in NYC.
elizabethcastaldo.com
@ecastaldo_artandbooks
Image 1. Artwork by Rhonda Khalifeh, Image 2. Artwork by Chang Yuchen
Class size is limited to ensure an optimal student-to-teacher ratio. Register now before the remaining spots fill up!