Workshops
BOTANICALS: PRINT + STITCH
Contemporary Textile Studio Cooperative (401 Richmond Street West, Toronto)
October 5, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
In this one-day workshop students will explore the essence of a plant by creating a botanical artwork using screen printing and embroidery techniques. In the morning, we will walk through the basics of screen printing to create a design on fabric for further image-making. Students are encouraged to bring their own leaf or flower specimens for this purpose but there will also be a selection of items to choose from. The afternoon will be spent working with this image to create details and embellishments using simple embroidery stitches and other hand work, like beading. This workshop is designed for all skill levels.
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PRINTING WITH PLANTS
ARTiculations Art Supply Studio (2802 Dundas Street West, Toronto)
October 19, 10:30 am - 3:30 pm
Plants are an abundant source of inspiration for art-making and in this workshop you’ll learn techniques for using plant materials to create and print images. A selection of small frameless screens and gel plates will be provided to experiment with screen and mono printing on paper and fabric using foraged and pressed botanical specimens.
You’ll also learn some simple ways to make your own colour using accessible plants and get a chance to try plant-based inks for printing. Finally, you’ll get to make your own organic cotton bandana to wear this Fall and show off your new skills!
Participants are encouraged to bring their own botanicals to use in this workshop and can also bring additional material or pre-made garments to print on.
TAROT TEA PARTY
ARTiculations Art Supply Studio (2802 Dundas Street West, Toronto)
October 25, 2:00 - 5:00 pm
Are you curious about tarot cards but don’t know how to start using them? Do you already have a deck but want to deepen your understanding? Do you like tea and magic gatherings? This is the class for you!
Join Erin MacKeen for a an afternoon of collective card readings, casual art, and knowledge sharing designed to build and enrich your practice. Bring your sketching materials and a favourite deck and we’ll share the tea over some tea.
Tea will be provided.
OAK HERBARIUM: AN ARTIST’S RECORD
Contemporary Textile Studio Cooperative (401 Richmond Street West, Toronto)
October 26, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
If you’ve ever collected autumn leaves or tucked acorns into your pocket, this workshop reimagines herbarium collection as a dynamic creative practice.
This is an opportunity to build your own artistic record of the iconic oaks. We’ll observe and explore how these trees inspire and provide materials for creative practice in the urban landscape during late October.
We’ll begin outdoors with a short guided forest bathing walk, meeting neighbourhood trees more intimately through our senses. Along the way, we’ll consider ethical foraging for dye materials and practices that people across times and cultures have used to deepen relationships with oak trees and document their presence.
Returning to the studio, we’ll experiment with making colour from acorns for painting, printing on fabric, and ink. With the curiosity of an amateur naturalist, we’ll record what we notice in sketches, colour swatches, monoprints, and notes. For context, we’ll also demonstrate traditional herbarium documentation — pressing, storing, and labeling plant material — and share a few simple naturalist skills before returning to our creative focus.
As foraging can be unpredictable, plant matter will be provided by the instructors. Please bring a sketchbook and any materials you like to use. Dress to go outside and keep dry in the event of rain.
PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS
SCREEN PRINTING FUNDAMENTALS
Contemporary Textile Studio Cooperative (401 Richmond Street West, Toronto)
This workshop covers the basics of screen printing including various techniques for designing a screen and approaches to printing on textiles. We will explore both digital designs (using printed acetates to create images) as well as handmade approaches such as paper cutting, stencils, drawing, and found objects to create your own set of screens.
Students will be given lots of time to practice printing and use their screens to work on a project of their choosing from start to finish.
All materials will be provided to get you started and then
additional yardage or pre-made fabric items must be obtained by each student depending on their interests.
Petite Prints: DIY Frameless Screen Printing
ARTiculations Art Supply Studio (2802 Dundas Street West, Toronto)
TBD
Learn how to make your own frameless screens for printing small-scale images on textiles and paper. You will use many of the same techniques for creating traditional framed screens but modified to make printing, portability, and storage easier. Students will explore handmade approaches using tape and stencils and will also have the opportunity to design and shoot their own screens using accessible equipment. There will be time to explore the printing process from start to finish in the studio. No previous experience with screen printing is required.
Making Tarot: Creating Cards for Your Personal Magic
ARTiculations Art Supply Studio (2802 Dundas Street West, Toronto)
TBD
In this workshop, you will be encouraged to choose an “anchor card” from the deck of your choice and work on your own artistic interpretation of this card. This method can be a way to build your relationship with the cards and develop your own understanding of how they operate in your life as guides. We will explore archetypal and mystical symbols so you can develop your own set of resonant visual elements through sketching and exploratory exercises. Books and tarot decks will be provided as a reference and you are welcome to bring your own deck(s) as inspiration. Materials will be available for sketching and watercolour. Please bring a sketch book if it is something you use.
Tarot: Print + Stitch
Contemporary Textile Studio (401 Richmond Street West, Toronto)
TBD
In this workshop, we will explore classical, archetypal, and mystical symbols from tarot to build your own set of resonant visual elements that we will transfer to small frameless screens for printing your own tarot cards. Materials and instruction will be provided for screen printing, appliqué, embroidery, and beading. Engaging with tarot artistically can be a powerful way to build your relationship with a card and develop an understanding of how it operates in your life and art practice, as a guide. Decks and reference books will be provided by the Instructor and you are welcome to bring your own decks or reference materials as inspiration.
Screenprinting with Plants
Noble Space (103 - 46 Noble Street)
Nature is endlessly inspiring and offers many easily accessible materials to use for creating images. In this full-day workshop, artist Erin MacKeen will show students how to use live or pressed leaves and flowers to make screens for printing on textiles.
Bring your own foraged specimens and design a screen with these elements to embellish clothing, make quilting pieces, customize your tote bag, or sew into your next project.
You will also learn a DIY method that will allow you to continue printing at home.
Practice fabric will be provided but students should bring their own additional pre-washed, natural fibre (cotton and linen) items for further printing.
No previous screen printing experience required. Beginners welcome!
