‘Kirkstall Neighbours’ workshops – Mono Screen printing

‘Kirkstall Neighbours’ are workshops led by skilled artists, held before the Art Trail. They aim to give members of our community the opportunity to learn new skills and create artwork for the summer event.

Artist Sarah Harris led the Mono Screen Printing workshop, and tells us more about it below.

“With this workshop, I wanted to give people the opportunity to create expressive mono screen prints based on the Kirkstall environment.

We started the day by creating quick studies outside, looking at colour and shape, using this time to look at the world around us. The idea of the sketches was to either have a reference for our prints or just to appreciate the real-life colours, as we get so used to looking at screens.

Participants were then talked through the equipment and process with examples. I then demonstrated the technique for this method of screen printing. We explored both painting directly onto the screens and also the use of paper stencils. Everyone was then given the chance to use their chosen inspiration to produce a series of prints, each being a one-of-a-kind artwork.

This is a very immediate and intuitive process; there is a time pressure to print before the screens dry out, especially when printing on one of the hottest days of the year like we were. The positive aspect of having to work so quickly is the use of expressive marks, and it allows for experimentation. We then coupled this with the paper stencils, which do require more thought and time, as well as structure. Finally we looked at printing a second layer over the work we had produced.

The wonderful thing about doing this workshop was seeing all the individual outcomes; there was such variety and a range in what was created. Some people were realistic, others impressionistic, and there were very experimental pieces. I’m looking forward to seeing them all exhibited during the art trail.”

The final pieces will be on display at Venue 19.

Highlights from the workshop