Kate Gorringe-Smith: Eco printmaking workshop

This workshop is free to watch and can be viewed anytime via the MPRG website, from 11am Monday 26 April.
Image (right): Eco printing (detail) 

In this online workshop Kate Gorringe-Smith will guide you through three examples of Eco printing using gathered leaves and plant material from your garden and home. Follow the step-by-step process to make an eco-printed concertina book and two eco printed panels using cotton wrap paper, string, a garden stick, and a tin can. You may purchase an MPRG Art box that has many of the required items or feel free to gather your own from the materials listed in the box. Prior to printing, you will need to prepare yourself with an old pot to boil your paper, scissors, a plastic tub for rinsing and a small amount of vinegar.

“Eco-printing” is a technique where plants, leaves and flowers leave their shapes, colour and marks on paper.  Plant material is wrapped inside paper and then steamed or boiled to release the dye found naturally inside the plant, creating a contact print in the shape of the leaf or flower used. The colours are revealed as the plant material is unwrapped and lifted off the paper. These contact prints are referred to as “eco-prints.”

Kate Gorringe-Smith works in contemporary and traditional print media in 2D and 3D form and is the Project Creator of the MPRG’s current exhibition, The Overwintering Project: Westernport. While working as a scientific editor for BirdLife Australia in the 1990s, Kate studied printmaking at RMIT. Kate has taken part in eight solo and numerous group exhibitions in Australia and overseas. Her work is held in national collections and has featured in awards such as the 2015 Silk Cut Award for Linocut, the 2017 Manly Artists' Book Prize and the 2021 Burnie Print Prize. Kate is Vice President of the Print Council of Australia.

The MPRG Art Box can be purchased for $55 (includes postage) and includes:

- 100% cotton Fabriano Tiepolo cotton rag paper prepared for printing e.g. concertina book pre-folded
- a rusted tin can
- string for tying printing bundles
- 4 large bulldog clips
- plastic printing plates
- large stick to roll paper around
- sample bag of plant material

When

Location

Civic Reserve, 3931, View Map