Festival of Stuff: Alternative Stone Lithography
Thursday 25 June 2015 10:00am - 4:00pm
Institute of Making
Attempt stone lithographic printmaking using alternatives to traditional limestone.
Stone lithography is known as the chemical print method and is based on the principle that oil and water don’t mix. Prints are made using a lithographic sandstone treated with gum arabic and etched with acid on the parts of the stone not treated with a waxy medium. The process was used in late 19th century advertising and map reproduction and taken up by a number of artists, most notably Toulouse-Lautrec. A very specific sandstone is normally employed due to its chemical composition and porosity but this masterclass sets out to see if and why sand/cement mixes and other found stones on the UCL site might hold the potential for image making. The masterclass will be led by expert stone lithographic printmaker Katherine van Uyrecht who will be joined by a UCL geoarchaeologist and material scientist to get to grips with how and why some stones work and others don't.
This session is part of a wider project called Urban Alchemy and is the work of UCL Chemistry Leverhulme artist in residence Hilary Powell. She explores the material stories and processes of urban change through imaginative salvage and chemical print experiments. Roofing zinc becomes an etching plate from which portraits of those removing this zinc from the rooftops of London's ever changing skyline emerge. Slate and bricks become ink and plywood hoardings are transformed through woodcut.
A book of these stories and experiments will be launched in the UCL construction workers canteen with an associated exhibition of prints moving out onto the surrounding hoardings, opening on Wednesday 24th June, 5-9pm at UCL Construction Welfare Building canteen, (adjacent to Bloomsbury Theatre) Gordon Street, WC1A 0AH
Click here to book for the book launch.
Part of Festival of Stuff, Member Events, Public Events