Last month the Philbrook Museum of Art invited me to spend the Memorial Day weekend as a guest artist. At the Museum’s request, I hosted a Master’s Workshop and an Artist’s Lecture.
The workshop was well attended; the participants included a number of educators and artists from the local community. The focus was non-toxic print making. We utilized graphic elements inspired by pieces of the Philbrook’s permanent collection. Back in the workshop, we carved these elements into rubber printing block, layering multiple materials and images to create monoprints. There was genuine excitement about the new block printing materials–such as Staedtler brand rubber block–and the methods of reproducing geometric patterns found in Native artwork.
I hoped to incorporate historic images and more mixed media elements in the workshop, however the participants and I were so caught up in the printing we couldn’t drag ourselves away. The educators planned on taking the printing methods back into their classrooms; the artists learned how to use Native geometric patterns in their work.
More about my trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma to come…
