January 14, 2009

UAB Associate Professor of Printmaking Derek Cracco, M.F.A., will demonstrate collagraph printmaking techniques to a group of 16 advanced photography Spain Park High School students. Spain Park teachers Erik Myers and Joy Childers will accompany the students.

The group will visit the UAB Department of Art and Art History's printmaking studio to create prints on the department's intaglio presses. The field trip will give students hands-on experience in making collagraph prints. Students also will be given demonstrations on Xerox transfers, chincolet and mono printing techniques.

The students have been working on creating plates that they will use to create prints in the studio. The plates are made by gluing objects to a cardboard surface. Those objects create textures that hold inks, Cracco said. They are then inked, wiped and run through a press to create an image on paper. High school student don't usually have the opportunity to make prints because their schools lack the equipment, Cracco said, or because some printmaking processes require harsh chemicals. This process is a way to make prints without chemicals, he said.

The workshop is scheduled 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16 at the UAB Department of Art and Art History, UAB Arts and Humanities Building, 900 13th St. S., first floor, Room 111.