Duration 

6 July – 8 July / 3 days

or

6 July - 10 July / 1 week

Monday - Friday 10am – 4.30pm

Course leader(s) 

David Dobson

Level - Varying levels of experience

Course Description

Wood engraving is in many ways the ideal print medium for the home artist – Its small scale and limited requirements in terms of tools and materials mean that many engravers work at home on a table-top.

 

For almost 2 centuries wood engraving was the way to illustrate printed matter – books and newspapers.  Combining the subtlety of copperplate engraving with the convenience of wood cut printing, it was only superseded with the development of half-tone and photo-etching techniques at the end of the 19th Century.  As photo-realism became the goal of the printed media in the 20th century, wood engraving was freed form the largely reprographic hole it had and developed as an artistic medium in its own right.  Practitioners such as John Farley, Agnes Miller Parker, Robert Gibbings, Eric Ravillious, and many others developed distinctive modern styles and the medium blossomed throughout the mid-20th Century.  There is currently another resurgence of wood engraving, led by the Society of Wood Engravers, with a flourishing of artistic expression and many opportunities for those new to the medium to develop the skills.

The tutor has requested that the wood engraving week is divided into two parts, which work either separately or together.  The first three days are an introduction to wood engraving – teaching you everything you need to know to carry on the practice at home.  The last 2 days will look at ways of getting the most from your engraving – composition for monochrome printing, troubleshooting, and printing with the platen press.  At the end of these two days, you should be ready to make the most of your skills with the graver to develop your own distinctive style and have background knowledge to set-up and use open studio presses. The course can be taken as a whole week, or if you would like to book for one part only, please contact the Slade and we will arrange this.

David Dobson is a geologist, mountaineer, and a member of the Society of Wood engravers.  He is professor at UCL Earth Sciences and was the first Slade Scientist in Residence 2017-2018.

 

Please Read Slade’s Terms & Conditions: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/shortcourses/evening-courses#general-information