Using screen printing as a means of reproduction, the aim of the course is to show participants the main form of colour decomposition that exists in the graphic arts: four-colour process printing.
The course More than just colour: Screen printing of photographs in four-colour process will last five days (from 23 to 27 March) and will be taught by Urtzi Urkixo.
The registration deadline is 13 March.
This industrial process consists of separating an image into four channels (cyan, magenta, yellow and black), so that after printing with transparent colours, a huge colour spectrum is obtained.
During the course, participants will be encouraged to experiment freely and break down the barriers of the four-colour process, manually intervening on each of the layers to create unique images abstracted from any mechanical process.
The workshop will begin with an introduction to the technique using a computer (Adobe Photoshop software), before delving deeper into the process of printing and abstracting the images created.
There will be short breaks at regular intervals to review the different stages of the process, so that everything can be used as a learning experience for the future.
METHODOLOGY
Introduction: Introduction to four-colour printing and the process of image decomposition using a computer (Adobe Photoshop and similar programmes).
Materials and preparation: Printing photolithographs, developing screens and preparing inks. Tips and tricks for developing halftone photographs.
Printing and editing: After a printing demonstration for those with no experience, printing will begin. At the end of each workshop day, 40 minutes will be set aside to tidy up the workshop, and at the beginning of the next day there will be a round table discussion with the students. The works produced will be observed and analysed, and what has been learned will be shared.
PROGRAMME
The course is scheduled to take place over five 4-hour sessions.
Day1:
- Introduction: Introduction of participants and explanation of content.
- Introduction to four-colour printing with graphic examples.
- Materials: photolithographs, emulsion and transparent inks. What is special about them and why do we choose them over others?
- Analysis of the image decomposition process using a computer (Adobe Photoshop and similar programmes).
- Image preparation and start of project supervised by the teacher.
Day 2:
- Printing of photolithographs and monitoring to ensure they are done correctly.
- Emulsification, exposure and development of screens. Tips and tricks for developing halftone photographs. Types of screens according to thread count and mesh colour.
- Explanation of ink types and preparation of necessary materials.
- Demonstration of registration and printing system.
Days 3 and 4:
- Start of printing supervised by the teacher.
- Printing session.
- Continuation of personal work and individualised follow-up.
- Review of the previous day’s prints and sharing/evaluation.
Day 5:
- Printing session.
- Editing and signing of copies.
- Round table: sharing of what has been learned, requests and questions.
Required materials
All materials required for the course will be provided by BilbaoArte. Participants only need to bring ideas, sketches and notes.
COURSE DETAILS
Title: More than just colour: Four-colour screen printing of photographs
Taught by: Urtzi Urkixo
Location: BilbaoArte (Urazurrutia, 32). Grafika Workshop
Dates: 23-27 March
Timetable: 4-8 p.m.
Aimed at: visual artists, illustrators, people interested in learning about and practising the technique and its possibilities. The course is preferably aimed at people with previous knowledge of screen printing, but as it is an introductory course to the technique, people with no previous knowledge are also welcome to participate.
Places: 8 people
Price: The registration fee is €150. There is a 50% discount for current BilbaoArte users. It is free for artists currently in residence at BilbaoArte.
Registration deadline: until 13 March
How to register: bilbaoarte@bilbao.eus (indicating in the subject line: course ‘Algo más que color’ [More than just colour]). To register, please complete the registration form and attach a brief CV, a letter of motivation and three images of recent work. Selection will be based on artistic practice.
Voltaire Lab – Urtzi Urkixo
Voltaire Lab is the project of Urtzi Urkixo, born in 1993 in Bilbao, when the city and the entire region were experiencing the decline of a rich industrial past. He grew up alongside the major restructuring that soon arrived thanks to the Guggenheim effect. All these architectural and urban changes aroused a certain interest in his subconscious, making him more sensitive to the physical and material context that surrounded him at all times.
He studied Creation and Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Leioa and later spent a year on exchange at the HTW in Berlin, where he has lived for seven years. In that city, he learned and developed his work as a screen printer by attending numerous graphic arts markets and joining the Czentrifuga independent graphic arts collective. In 2019, he founded his Voltaire Lab project to give a name to all the small projects he was already doing around screen printing.
He has held numerous exhibitions and artistic residencies on the national and international scene, including Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin, 2016), the Bilbaoarte Foundation’s engraving and screen printing workshop (2013-present), the Bauhaus Museum in Berlin (2019), the José Rincon gallery-workshop (Madrid, solo exhibition, 2023) and the Portuguese Centre for Screen Printing (Lisbon, artist residency, 2023).
In 2023, he returned to his hometown of Bilbao and opened his own space dedicated to the production, exhibition and display of screen prints and printed art.
@voltaire.lab
