Printing the EcoGothic: Intaglio Landscapes 2

Join printmaker and researcher Robyn Maclennan in this continuation of the previously popular ecoGothic course. The ecoGothic is a way of reinterpreting the relationship between humans and nature focusing on ideas of agency, darkness and time. By looking into both the fear of nature and fear for nature ever present in our lives it tries to re-enchant the landscape at a time of great peril through climate change.

Over six weeks participants will have the opportunity to work experimentally with the landscape whilst learning multiple different Intaglio techniques. This course will cover the use of traditional hard grounds and aquatinting, solar plate, a la poupée and chine collé to produce multi-layered and exciting prints. Hard ground is a method of acid resist, used to produce both drawn images and natural marks, whilst aquatint allows artists to add tone. Solar plate or photopolymer is an acid free way of reproducing photographs, drawn images and found objects onto printable plates. This course is great for those already familiar with intaglio who wish to further develop their ideas and work more experimentally. No prior knowledge of ecoGothic research or theory is required.

Course Structure

Week 1 – Photographic printing with photopolymer
Week 2 – Capturing nature with photopolymer
Week 3 – Hard ground etching
Week 4 – Aquatinting
Week 5 – Monoprinting and learning to layer plates
Week 6 – Free printing time to revisit a technique, be experimental and print a small edition

About the Tutor

Robyn Maclennan joined Leicester Print Workshop as part of the technician team at the end of 2021, specialising in etching and photographic techniques. She uses multiple printmaking and photography processes to explore the landscape and our connections to it. Robyn holds an MA in Fine Art and is currently undertaking a PhD at London College of Communication where she is researching how ecoGothic theory can be used to re-examine our relationship with nature and how fear has permeated our perceptions of the non-human world. She is particularly interested in the links between the darkness found in the ecoGothic and the necessity of darkness to her photography and printmaking practice as well as how understanding the agency of both the natural world and the works she produces can grant us a better understanding of the world around us. She has exhibited across the UK with highlights including the ‘Withheld’ exhibition in London (2022), the Derby Print Open (2023) and being featured in Somewhere in Between’s 2021 zine ‘Hmmm…Photography and Printmaking'.

You can find more of Robyn’s work at www.robynmaclennan.com