The most sculptural of all printmaking techniques, woodblock printing and linocut printing are ideal for creating bold images made up of patterns and textures. Relying on your hands, from carving the image to pressing it, woodblock and linocut are the most direct ways to create images because they don’t rely on mechanical processes.
This eight-session course is an introduction to the relief print, from techniques of design and transfer through cutting and printing the block. After an introductory lecture featuring the wood cuts and wood engravings of noted twentieth century artists from the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection such as Leonard Baskin, Wanda Gag, Rockwell Kent, Lynd Ward, and William H. Johnson, students learn to design and produce their own editions, using nontoxic materials and employing both one-color and two-color techniques.
Instructor Max-Karl Winkler is an artist and teacher with more than 30 years of experience in woodcut and wood engraving. His work can be seen at the Washington Printmakers Gallery.
Download the supply list for this class
8 sessions, 2 1/2 hours each
About the Instructor
Max-Karl Winkler has been teaching studio art courses since 1968, and began teaching part-time in the Studio Arts Program of The Smithsonian Associates in 1987. Along with teaching, he has worked as an illustrator and graphic designer. His clients have included The Washington Post, National Geographic Traveler magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and various publications of the National Science Teachers Association. His works have been accepted into a number of national and regional juried exhibitions since 2004; they are in the permanent collections of The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Georgetown University, The National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian Institution, and The Library of Congress. More..
Smithsonian Connections
For further study, students may view the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s online exhibit of William H. Johnson’s World on Paper, featuring German expressionist-inspired woodcuts.
