CARVED CONCOCTIONS: Garden-to-Studio Printmaking

Title: Carved Concoctions: Garden-to-Studio Printmaking Workshop w/ Vetiver
A workshop series centered on printmaking with natural pigments to preserve recipes, rituals, and remedies through imagery.

Dates: Wednesdays - October 1, 8, 15, 22

Time: 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Artist: Vetiver Napper

Cost: $175-275 Sliding Scale

Location: 209 McAllister Street, Studio A, Baltimore, MD 21202

Description: In this workshop, interdisciplinary artist Vetiver will guide you through the art of printmaking using natural pigments made from vegetables, herbs, and spices commonly found in family recipes, remedies, and rituals. Centered in preservation, the goal of this workshop is to provide participants with basic printmaking techniques through various methods (botanical printing, monotype, and linocut), enabling them to walk away with greater self-efficacy in recording their lived experiences, traditions, or those of their family and community.

The content of each workshop will incorporate plants cultivated at Blue Light Junction, as well as herbs, spices, and other natural materials, to which participants are welcome to contribute. By emphasizing the intention of preservation through communal and familial connections, we will learn the fundamentals and importance of first-person image-making for historical purposes, for present and future generations.

Participants will receive a complimentary 'Cultivate' or 'Seedlings' journal with the purchase of their ticket.

"Borrowing from Moku Hanga, a Japanese-style of printmaking (with Chinese origins) that uses woodblocks and water-based pigments to create intricately layered prints, and inspired by my archival work on Black queer and trans narratives, Carved Concoctions is an offering meant to provide you with the tools to preserve your recipes, rituals, and remedies." - Vetiver

• Wednesday, Oct 1st | Session 1: Botanical Printing - “The Marks We Leave Behind”

  • Focus: first impressions, presentation, and identity

  • Creating botanical prints inspired by one’s initial connection to plants and those cultivated at BLJ, while learning the history of printmaking and record-keeping in the African diaspora.

• Wednesday, Oct 8th | Session 2: Monotypes - “First-person Narrative”

  • Focus: lived experience and reflection

  • Utilizing written text and socially-engaged art as a reference to create imagery linked to one’s lived experience, and creating inks from natural pigments and plant material.

• Wednesday, Oct 15th | Session 3: Relief Prints Part I - “Carved into Existence”

  • Focus: recipes, rituals, and remedies

  • Day 1: Incorporating cookbooks, traditional and personal prayers, and historical texts written by authors of the African Diaspora, creating designs to be carved into linocut, and creating inks from plants, herbs, and spices.

• Wednesday, Oct 22nd | Session 4: Relief Prints Part II - “Carved into Existence”

  • Focus: recipes, rituals, and remedies

  • Day 2: Reviewing discoveries and what’s been learned throughout the workshop series, finishing linocuts, and creating prints.

Throughout the course, a variety of materials will be provided for experimentation and exploration. Participants will be encouraged to research and bring new materials for further exploration, although this is not required.