A compilation of colorful screen prints, constructed by Shippensburg University students and faculty during a screen printmaking workshop held last month, are currently on display at the Brindle Art Gallery.

Franklin and Marshall College Associate Art Professor John Holmgren instructed the screen print workshop.

To share his talent and techniques with aspiring SU artists, Holmgren took the framework of his art beyond the gallery and into the classroom. Holmgren’s own collaborative mixed media art exhibit, “River Relations: A Beholder’s Share of the Columbia River Dams,” was displayed in the Kauffman Gallery from Jan. 26 through Feb. 23. The exhibit included numerous screen printed pieces for viewing.

The two-day workshop was open to SU art and design students, and covered the broad skill of silkscreen printing. The process was broken down into three parts to ensure proper instruction, understanding and application of each skill. The three specific skills in the workshop included screen coating with photo emulsion, burning images onto the screen and printing tricolor prints with transparent inks.

The participants each constructed screen prints of the same preselected image, but were allowed the creative freedom in selecting the three colors that would make up their print.

In order to achieve the tricolored image, each screen print was printed three separate times using a different image for each color on the print.

While the workshop ultimately had a small turnout, the number of students and faculty who attended turned out to be just right given the intensity of the workshop, said SU Art and Design Professor William Whitely.

The small number of people allowed Holmgren to work with each individual and ensure they were confident in the work they were producing.

At the conclusion of the workshop, the six participating artists selected the image they believed represented their best effort of printing to be displayed in the Brindle Art Gallery alongside the works of their peers.

A new digital silk-screen printing class will be added to the art and design department during the fall 2017 semester.

“I had been thinking about silk-screen printing and combining it with digital fine art printing for sometime,” Whitely said. “As the department has progressed in the digital print field, I felt the time was right to explore a convergence of traditional printmaking methods with digital technology.”

Throughout the course of the class, Whitley plans for students to not only explore the art of screen printing, but to produce four digital silk-screen prints of their own as well.

However, the digital silkscreen printing class will have some prerequisites for students to enroll, including prior knowledge of digital printing, printmaking techniques and watercolor painting.

The screen print exhibit reminds individuals that creativity and art come in the form of many different mediums, and also gives SU art and design students a taste of what they could learn and produce next school-year.

The screen prints from Holmgren’s screen printmaking workshop will be on display at the Brindle Art Gallery through March 9 during gallery hours. For more information about the new silk-screen printing class, contact the SU Art and Design Department. 

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