The instructions given are the methods that are practiced at Warren Editions. The techniques that will be covered are hard ground, soft ground and aquatint. In addition the participant will learn how to hand wipe and print their plates and how to prepare paper for printing. Each participant will be given thorough notes that cover all the aspects taught during the workshop. Hard ground is a way of making fine line work, whereas soft ground lines look different from hard ground lines in that they are crumbly-looking rather than wiry and aren’t even from end to end. Moreover, tonal areas resembling pencil shading can be made and impressions from flat objects such as fabric, paper and foil can be achieved through the medium. Aquatint is a way of making tones.

The dates, times and techniques are as follows:

4 May 2010 / 8:30 - 12:30 > Hard ground

11 May 2010 / 8:30 - 12:30 > Soft ground

18 May 2010 / 8:30 - 12:30 > Aquatint

25 May 2010 / 8:30 - 12:30 > Combination of hard ground, soft ground and aquatint

Cost: R 1,350.00 > This amount covers all 4 days and all materials are included.

What is needed > Your energy and ideas.

At the end of the workshop each participant would have made 4 different etchings, representing 3 techniques explored separately and 1 etching where 2 - 3 of the taught techniques are explored.

TO BOOK YOUR PLACE FOR THE WORKSHOP PLEASE EMAIL WE@WARRENEDITIONS.COM

PAYMENT PRIOR TO THE WORKSHOP WILL BE NEEDED TO SECURE YOUR PLACE

The techniques that will be covered are water-based and oil-based monotype, reductive, additive, layering, masking and stencil applications.

The dates and times are as follows:

10 October 2009 / 9:00 - 13:00 > Introduction, Demonstration and Making

17 October 2009 / 9:00 - 13:00 > Making

Cost: R 700.00 > This amount covers both days and all the materials.

What is needed > Your energy and ideas.

• No printmaking experience is required.

• To enquire or reserve your spot in the workshop email we@warreneditions.com or contact Zhané Warren at 084 725 6628.

THE WORKSHOP IS FULL

May 2009 marks Warren Editions’ 20th month in existence.

To celebrate this, Warren Editions will host an ‘Open Doors’ event for three days; 21 and 22 May from 10am to 7pm and, 23 May from 10am to 5pm. All are invited to visit and view Warren Editions studio in operation, explore prints on site and possibly purchase a few of these prints and engage with the studio practice as prints are pulled.

During May Warren Editions collaborates with Cape Town based painter Tom Cullberg. The editioning of his etchings will take place during the period of the Open Doors event. Moreover, Tom Cullberg along with master printmaker and director of Warren Editions, Zhané Warren will each present a talk on Saturday 23 May 2009 at 10:30. Tom Cullberg will talk about his work and the collaborative experience, and how the etchings that he made at Warren Editions in 2008 and in May 2009, operate within his body of work. Zhané Warren will describe how Warren Editions functions, what a print-collaboration is and the role it plays in contemporary South African art.

Warren Editions was established by Zhané Warren in October 2007 and came into operation in January 2008. Warren spent 5 years in Belgium where she attended the University of Antwerpen in Antwerpen, Belgium, to further her specialisation in printmaking on a scholarship affiliated to the Erasmus Programme. Thereafter, she worked on print-collaborations with artists from Europe and South Africa, also alongside printmakers from Europe, U.K and U.S and her own art practice at the Frans Masereel Centrum for Printmaking in Belgium. Warren Editions as a professional printmaking studio, prints and/or publishes fine art prints by emerging and established South African artists who are not primarily printmakers; the focus primarily on the etching and monotype techniques. A collaborative working method is used in the development of the artists’ images. Thus far Warren Editions has worked with the following South African artists: Hentie van der Merwe, Tom Cullberg, Michael Taylor, Anton Kannemeyer, Liza Grobler, Georgina Gratrix, Brett Murray, Justin Fiske, Ruan Hoffmann, Sanell Aggenbach and Amicollective Illustration Studio.

Fine art prints are multiple originals, not reproductions. A testament to fine art prints being originals - forming part of an edition - is that each varies slightly; being darker or lighter due to the fact that the matrix (metal plate) is hand wiped. In fine art or original printmaking, the matrix is made by an artist, or under an artist’s direction, without the intention of reproducing a previously existing work of art. What is avoided at Warren Editions is technique for its own sake. Instead, there is an endeavour for a balance between content and technique. Meaningful content, skill and technique are used as a vehicle to communicate deep convictions and serious play.

Many artists have made some of their most significant works through the medium of print. Fine art prints fall into the middle market bracket, which is important to the art market as a whole and in the end benefits many artists. Many collectors have begun collecting with a fine art print by a known artist. This suggests that if you want to discover contemporary works of art you need to look to the printmaking medium first.

For further information and to reserve your seat for Saturday’s talk at 10:30 please contact we@warreneditions.com by Wednesday 20 May 2009. Likewise, join Warren Editions on Facebook.

Focus on schools

Students and instructors benefit from the Open Doors event in that they experience first-hand, a working printmaking studio. Additionally, awareness of printmaking as a contemporary medium rather than an outdated technique is emphasized in that the medium has experienced a revival. As such, its role is vital in current visual art practice and communication in that it offers artists the freedom to realise and originate ideas in multiple form. Warren Editions hopes to host scheduled workshops with student-groups so as to foster a rich and renewed South African print tradition.

The printmaking process embraces a wide and varied scope of media and methods that enable visual arts practitioners to participate in the dialogue of contemporary art and culture. The aim of future workshops is to encourage students to explore the multiple possibilities of print to develop an individual and sustained pathway as an artist, whether printmaking is the core practice or the support for other processes.

Warren Editions’ Open Doors event offers the opportunity to discuss further skills-development in the form of workshops to be hosted at Warren Editions.

Georgina made the monotypes during a studio visit in January & February 2009.

Ruan made the etchings during a week’s studio visit in October 2008

Warren Editions is proud to announce the latest prints by Michael Taylor.

Michael made the aquatint mezzotints during a week visit at WE at the beginning of January 2009.