Lithography June with Ron Netsky

In this intensive, two-day lithography workshop students will print a maximum of two images from prepared stones which will be provided. Students will draw black-and-white images with lithographic crayons and pencils, and learn the fascinating process of etching the stones and printing editions from them. Lithography has a long tradition in Woodstock. Beginning about 100 years ago, Woodstock became a center of activity for American lithography. Throughout the 20th century, artists like Rosella Hartman, Emil Ganso, John McClellan and many others created some of the finest lithographs produced anywhere. (At the Woodstock School of Art we print on the same Fuchs & Lang press that was used by many of these artists.) One of the Woodstock arts colony’s founders, Bolton Brown, was a major figure in the revival of fine art lithography in America. Brown printed the lithographs of another Woodstock resident, George Bellows, and taught dozens of artists the technique of lithography at his Woodstock studio. Margaret Lowengrund, Adolf Dehn and Grant Arnold, all major figures in lithography, also lived in Woodstock. Invented in Germany by Alois Senefelder in 1798, lithography involves drawing on a polished limestone and printing from the flat surface rendered printable through simple chemistry. In the 19th century, the medium was explored by artists like Eugéne Delacroix, Theodore Géricault, Francisco Goya, Honoré Daumier and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in Europe. Early in the 1800s American artists like Thomas Cole employed the medium. Most 19th-century American lithographs were printed commercially in large quantities by companies like Currier and Ives, but early in the 20th century artists like Bolton Brown and George Bellows revived interest in medium as a vehicle for fine artists. Woodstock played a major role in that revival and the tradition continues at the Woodstock School of Art. Suitable for all levels, no experience necessary! Ages 14+