“All of your ancestors were creative — You and I and everybody we know were descended from tens of thousands of years of makers. The entire world, for better or for worse, has been altered by the human hand, by human beings doing this weird and irrational thing that only we do, amongst all our peers in the animal world, which is to waste our time making things that nobody needs, making things a little more beautiful than they have to be, altering things, changing things, building things, composing things, shaping things. This is what we do. We’re the making ape. And no one is left out of the inheritance of that — that’s our shared human inheritance.”
Over the last few weeks I have been working with some fab spirited teens at a community centre in Salisbury. For the latest linocut workshop I brought along some celebrities. Ed Sheeran and Camilla Cabeo were the favourites. The teens got stuck in and made some brilliant prints. Here’s a snapshot of their hard work!
Ed Sheeran and Teen Team Spirit
Team effort is involved in the creation of Ed Sheeran. Together they carve and roll out the ink while one holds the paper the other prints. A wonderful collaborative process.
An Independent Camila Cabeo
A very focused and reflective individual enjoys the independence of carving and printing Camila Cabeo by herself.
Support from The Rock
The Rock created with an abundance of animated energy shows in these boldly carved lines.
The Greatest Showman
Celebrities pop art pics are left to one side for she already has something in mind.
Usually to print text from a lino block, the text needs to be carved back-to-front. This way the text will print the right way round. But today a different approach is needed in order for a thoughtful teen to give the actual lino as a gift to a friend. She carves the words directly into the lino the right way round and inks up the lino to reveal the carved letters. The ink is left on the lino to dry.
Thank you to all the teens for your openess to explore printmaking and your commitment and effort throughout the whole process.
Eightfivepress delivers rubber-stamp, linocut and letterpress printing workshops.
If you would like to book Mog for a printmaking workshop at your community centre or school please click on the link below.