CAPTION:
Learn to make beautiful veggie prints like these during a Galveston Art League workshop from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, at 2119A Postoffice St. in Galveston. Register at www.GalvestonArtLeague.com.
CAPTION:
Participants in a Galveston Art League workshop will complete printing projects similar to these. Register at www.GalvestonArtLeague.com for this fun class, which will be 1-4 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the Art League’s newly expanded gallery, 2119A Postoffice St. in Galveston.
Learn veggie printing at a May 4 Galveston Art League workshop
by Mary Vinnedge
Printing with vegetables, fruits, and herbs is an art form that anyone can master after just a little instruction. A Galveston Art League workshop will get participants started, and they’ll finish some pretty projects to keep. The workshop will interest beginners and experienced stampers because instructor Suzanne Becker will share tips and techniques developed after years of experience. The workshop will be 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at 2119A Postoffice St. in Galveston. Register at GalvestonArtLeague.com; click on “Workshops” to complete the easy process of registration and payment.
The class costs $30 and is limited to 10 people. “I keep my classes small so I can make sure every participant is successful and has a good time,” says Becker, a Galveston resident and member of the Galveston Art League. “Printing with produce is a simple technique that can be enjoyed by anyone willing to give it a try. The plants are the inspiration and the art. Where you take it from there is up to you and how much you want to play with the process. I’ve been printing with botanicals seriously for about six years, but printing with anything that looks interesting for much longer.”
Becker started using nature in artwork as a child. “Growing up in New England, I would press fall leaves and make leaf rubbings with crayons. Nature printing was a nature extension of that process. I started looking at plants and wondering what type of print it will make.
“Then I found the Nature Printing Society and a group of fish – gyotaku – and plant printers who make nature printing their art. For several years, I have been attending their annual weeklong workshop and learning new techniques and making new nature-printing friends. Somehow that led to asking myself, ‘What kind of print will that make?’, about vegetables and fruit in the kitchen.”
At the workshop, Becker will begin by discussing the produce she has brought and why it makes an attractive print. She’ll also demonstrate how to prepare the vegetables, fruit, and herbs for printing. Then participants will experiment with shapes and textures to get a feel for the process.
They will brush acrylic paint onto broccoli, mushrooms, romaine lettuce, lemons, and apples to make colorful prints. Certain robust flowers – chrysanthemums and gerbera daisies are examples – also work well with acrylic paint. With delicate herbs such as sage and rosemary, a brayer (a firm roller) with an application of block-printing ink will be used.
Workshop attendees will try out various papers, including vintage cookbook and dictionary pages, tea bag paper, parchment paper, kraft paper, deli paper, some Asian papers, manila tags, and cardstock. They’ll also apply fabric ink to muslin.
Becker occasionally exhibits and sells her artwork in the Galveston area. She sometimes shares a booth at the Island Market held on the third Saturday of most months in downtown Galveston. Becker also has a table displaying and selling botanical prints at the spring Herb Fair held at Moody Gardens in Galveston.
Recently Becker has demonstrated kitchen-printing at the Galveston Art League table at Galveston’s Own Farmers Market. She also has taught summer workshops at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in Galveston for several years, and she has taught at gatherings of Texas Master Naturalists, Environmental Institute of Houston at University of Houston – Clear Lake, and the League City Garden Club.
For anyone who wants to get more serious about printing, Becker recommends Laura Bethman’s books “Nature Printing with Herbs, Fruits & Flowers” and “Hand Printing from Nature – Create Unique Prints for Fabric, Paper, and Other Surfaces Using Natural and Found Materials.”
To learn more about the nonprofit Galveston Art League, which is hosting the workshop as part of its mission to promote visual arts, please visit www.GalvestonArtLeague.com or call 409-938-1671 or email gallery2117@gmail.com. Tax-deductible Art League memberships start at $35 a year (the cost will go up June 1, so act now to get the lower rate; sign up at www.GalvestonArtLeague.com – click on “Join”). Memberships are crucial to the support of the Galveston Art League, which is an all-volunteer organization – it has no paid staff.
