Screen Printing on Textiles

All registrants are required to follow the COVID safety precautions put in place by Oolite Arts and agree to all the terms in the waiver.

In this 4-week class, you will dive head first into the art of screenprinting as applied to textiles, including natural and organic fabrics. Uses include printed tapestries, collage-based artwork, as well as printed fabric applicable to fashion and interior design uses.

This course explores both easy-to-use water-based inks as well as the more painterly side of screenprinting by utilizing dye mixtures and freehand painting techniques. These designs can then be transferred onto fabric sources for unique prints resembling watercolor, acrylic painting and other fine art processes.

We will be using all water-based inks, which are easy to clean and can be used at home in order to continue developing this skill after this introductory class. This is the ideal course for the novice designer and artist looking to understand the basics of screenprinting.

You will learn the basics of the silkscreening process, how to design and burn your own screens, and how to print those designs in multiple colors on a variety of fabric substrates. You will produce multiple sample swatches with your own print designs as well as finished printed artwork.

At the end of the 4 classes, class will collectively look at the work produced and discuss technical and conceptual successes, skills learned, and future goals.

** Some basic cotton muslin will be provided, but we encourage you to bring your own fabric swatches to class to experiment with the effects achieved by printing on other types of material.

The class meets on Thursdays for four consecutive weeks for a total of 10 hours.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Originally from Pensacola, Florida, Matthew Forehand has based his art career out of the city of Miami. He began his art school studies at Pensacola State College where he received his Associate’s degree in Visual Arts. Matthew continued his education at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking. During his time at SAIC, he enrolled in Ox-Bow School of the Arts, an artist residency in Saugatuck, Michigan. He taught visual arts at Miami Arts Charter School (MAC). His courses at MAC included Foundational Elements of Art, Material Based Art, and Printmaking. He’s the current Printmaking resident at Oolite Arts.