Etching Masterclass with Clare Jackson from Megalo

When: Two day intensive held Saturday 24 August and Sunday 25 August, 10am-4pm
Cost: $140
Where: Wagga Wagga TAFE Printmaking studios
Who: This Masterclass is best suited to intermediate and established printmakers ready to extend their skills

Wagga Wagga Art Gallery in partnership with Megalo and with support of TAFE NSW is pleased to present an intensive, two-day etching workshop for printmakers. This workshop will give printmakers a chance to build their skills and expand their knowledge.  The masterclass will be taught by artist Clare Jackson, acting CEO and Artistic director of Megalo. The workshop will be held at Wagga TAFE printmaking studios on 24 and 25 August from 10am – 4pm.

Participants will explore experimental etching techniques, such as aquatint, sugar lift, and marbling, to create rich and textured prints. Clare will demonstrate how to transfer an image from one plate to another, so you will have the option of creating multi-plate prints in rich colour.

ABOUT CLARE JACKSON

Clare Jackson is an artist and printmaker living and working on Ngunawal Ngambri Country. She graduated with First Class Honours in Printmedia and Drawing at the Australian National University of School of Art in 2013. Her work has been featured in shows around Australia, including Watch this Space in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Brunswick Street Gallery in Naarm (Melbourne), and as a finalist in both the Fremantle Print Prize and Peebles Print Prize. In 2017 Jackson was selected as an artist in residence for the Vermont Studio Center USA, for which she received an ArtsACT grant; and her other notable awards include the Early Career Printmaker Award at Inkmasters Cairns 2018, and Second Place in the M16 Drawing Prize in 2015 and 2021. Jackson has undertaken residencies at BigCi in the Wollemi National Park, The Estonian Printing Museum, and Lancaster Press, Fiji. Jackson is currently the acting CEO/Artistic Director and a collaborative printer at Megalo Print Studio. Through these roles she teaches classes in etching, relief printing, screen printing, and lithography, and has printed for artists such as Omar Musa, April Phillips, Kieren Karritpul, and Dean Cross.

ABOUT MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

Megalo was founded in 1980 as Megalo International Screen Collective: a workshop cooperative of Canberra-based artists focussed on generating employment opportunities, and social and political engagement, through creative design and production. Megalo developed a reputation throughout Canberra’s growing arts community, and beyond, as a creative venue where creative excellence and community access flourish in unison.

Megalo’s peer organisation, Studio One, specialised in press-based printmaking – lithography, relief and intaglio and operated from 1983 until 2000; when the Studio One and Megalo’s combined their facilities. This enabled Megalo to provide combined access to the full range of print activity for members, residents, and the community at large.

Since 2013, Megalo has been located in heritage premises at Kingston, offering year-round studio access alongside a diverse program of workshops, residencies, exhibitions and professional development opportunities.

ABOUT THIS INTENSIVE 

WHS requirement: Wear covered shoes and have long hair tied back

What to bring:

• An apron or old shirt to protect your clothes, we will be using oil-based ink which does not come out of clothing
• Optional: Sketches, photos, objects or other inspiration for your image
• Optional: If you have any old etching plates you are welcome to bring them along and we can experiment with applying new techniques (if they are zinc), or layering them in the printing process.
• Timeline – please note that while there will be a variety of techniques demonstrated, you may not have time to use all of them yourself, rather you will have the option to decide which might work best with your image.

Day 1

Morning
Introductions, health + safety briefing, intro to process, drawing on plates

Lunch

Afternoon
Demonstrate sugar-lift and marbling, continue working on plates, etch, proof plate 1

Day 2:

Morning 
Demonstrate plate transfer, apply chosen techniques to plate 2, etch.

Lunch

Afternoon
Printing, experiment with mixing colours and printing with multiple plates