Masterclass Lino Block Workshop with Rew Hanks
Concurrent with his exhibition at Redcliffe Gallery - 7 May - 11 June

Impress Printmakers Studio is hosting this Workshop
2 Days - Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th May 2016  $280 / $260 (Members) plus material costs.
Booking Code: MLRH516

Maximum number of participants: 10 (12)-
Two more places have been added to this Workshop due to high demand
Please contact treasurer@impress.org.au if you wish to book one of these place.
WORKSHOP FULL  - SORRY

Book early to avoid disappointment.

Exhibition: Rew Hanks - A Touch of Home - Redcliffe Gallery

Hanks is a Sydney based printmaker whose intricate linocuts are a combination of dry wit, satire and hard hitting imagery which engage social, political and environmental issues.
Rew Hanks: A Touch of Home is a survey of fifteen years of his linocuts.
A Year of Print exhibition.

Rew Hanks

Rew has held 24 solo exhibitions and over 100 group exhibitions in Australia and internationally since 1990.
His work is represented in most major Australian state galleries and in the National Gallery of Australia.
Rew has lectured in Printmaking at the UNSW Art and Design University, National Art School and the Sydney Gallery School since 1986.
He has won eleven international print prizes and two major national print prizes since 2006.
He is represented by Watters Gallery www.wattersgallery.com in Sydney, Nicholas Thompson Gallery www.nicholasthompsongallery.com.au in Melbourne and Andrew Baker Art Dealer www.andrew-baker.com in Brisbane.       

REW HANKS WORKSHOP

During this workshop participants will be shown a variety of image transfer techniques.
Both oriental and European cutting tools and printing papers will be discussed.
A range of colour printing techniques and registration methods will be demonstrated using both press and baren.
Participants will be encouraged to experiment with both hand-colouring prints and painting lino blocks.
Caustic and Intaglio methods will also be discussed.
 

Materials List requested by Rew Hanks

Impress Printmakers Studio will supply for each participant:

Workshop Materials Kit
2 x 150 x 150mm Silkcut lino blocks
1 x 150 x 150mm Double-sided Vinyl Block
2 x A3 Acetate Sheets
1 x A4 carbon sheet
Some paper suitable for proofing
3 pieces of Magnani Incisioni paper 25 x 25cm for editioning
(More paper is available for purchase from the Impress Paper Supplies)
butchers paper
We also have available to use:
Utility Knives (boxcutters) several
Basic Lino and Wood cutters and Sharpening stones.
Several Barens
Cutting Mats
Block safety holders
Runners
Box Board
Presses
1 set of gouache paint
Caustic soda
Rollers
Ink

Participants List

Participants need to bring:
A fine tipped Permanent Water proof black marking pen.
A broad permanent marker may also be useful but is optional
A utility Knife (optional as Impress does have them available)
Lino or Wood cutting tools - if you have your own (Impress has tools if you do not already have them)
Drawing Materials eg pencils
An image or images sized for a 15 x 15 cm block
You may choose to work on a 30 x 30 cm block - Optional (Impress has 30 x 30 cm blocks for sale for $6 a block)
a box of disposable rubber gloves
Enclosed shoes
Old clothes
Printmakers Apron ( Impress has a limited supply of these for $25 each)
An old well washed, clean, dry towel for blotting your paper
OPTIONAL EXTRA
Water Colour  or Gouache Paint and brushes - but only if you already have them

SAFETY
Participants are advised to wear closed in shoes, suitable clothing or apron that you do not mind getting ink on. Tie long hair back, wear goggles, masks where appropriate. Follow all instructions given by your tutor during your workshop.

PAYMENT
Preferred payment method  is via direct deposit - details are on the Booking Form Page
Reference: Use YOUR SURNAME + the Workshop Code you are enrolling in e.g. SmithALWS10

Q&A with Rew Hanks reproduced from Imprint May 3 2016 - The PCA Magazine

‘Now I make art to try and fulfil a continual creative pursuit. I usually enjoy solving the intellectual and technical processes and challenges that arise. I seem to have adopted the role of a type of ‘Pictorial Choreographer’ who invents complex narratives that evolve during their execution.’ 

Why do you make art?
As a child I intuitively made many drawings and paintings without hesitation or fear of criticism. It was a luxury of uninhibited creative freedom that was never to be repeated as the future became more complex with increased knowledge and continual self-appraisal. As a teenager in high school I was introduced to the history and theory of art and years of very limited practical tuition. The teachers and other students would often comment, ‘Only the dummies and delinquents choose art as a subject’. Fortunately I didn’t fit either of these categories. At art school I was overwhelmed by the endless possibilities of making all forms of art and obtained a broader appreciation of the historical and contemporary concepts of art. Now I make art to try and fulfil a continual creative pursuit. I usually enjoy solving the intellectual and technical processes and challenges that arise. I seem to have adopted the role of a type of ‘Pictorial Choreographer’ who invents complex narratives that evolve during their execution. Many of my friends from art school have given up producing art because of the financial burden, lack of exhibition opportunities and the poor general support from the community. For me making art has become a fundamental and intrinsic part of my life although at times continually being creative can feel a little like a curse.

Rew Hanks - A Touch of Home 1

What’s your relationship to printmaking?
Like most professional relationships it is good most of the time but it can be frustrating even infuriating, demanding and rewarding. We have a healthy respect for each other. The constant pressure to produce new and engaging works requires discipline, dedication and plenty of hard work. You must constantly challenge yourself to progress. During the many hours taken to cut my intricate linocuts I use this time to prepare new ideas and compositional concerns for the next work by quickly sketching possible images or concepts. Printmaking has become the major vehicle or outlet in which I use to help realise my creative output. This has evolved partially because of time constraints due to heavy teaching commitments. However it allows me the freedom to develop the work of my choice. We all have productive and not so productive days and must accept that not every print is going to sing. This happens to all artists no matter what medium they use. In the future I am very keen to resume my relationship with lithography and pursue wood engraving and embark on a series of small sculptural works.
How did you get interested in printmaking?
Similarly to most Australian school children I was introduced to linocuts in high school when I was about fifteen. The tools were rusty and blunt and the linoleum was brown, crumbling and brittle. We printed by hand rolling up with oil based Sakura inks and then used the back of a wooden spoon rubbing frenetically on the shiny side of a sheet of MG litho paper. Most of the impressions were smudged with the borders covered with inky fingerprints and the occasional splash of blood from nearly severed fingers. What a perfect introduction to a beautiful medium. It’s little wonder when students are reacquainted with the medium they uniformly shudder. I occasionally produced linocuts but was seduced by lithography in art school. After completing further training in America I produced mainly lithographs for many years, both mine and for other artists. However, for the last fifteen years I have exclusively exhibited linocuts because I thoroughly enjoy the physical act of carving and printing of the medium and also it gave me freedom to interrupt its execution at will unlike lithography.
Who is your favourite artist?
An impossible question to answer. There are too many to list.
Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Honoré Daumier, William Hogarth, George Stubbs, John Glover, Red Grooms, Edward Hopper, etc. They all offer something unique that might inspire an idea or maybe just to simply admire.
What is your favourite artwork?
Another impossible question to answer. It changes regularly. The process of discovering a ‘new’ favourite artwork keeps it exciting and refreshing. Visiting the Louvre, Uffizi, Rijks and MoMA museums is why I can’t attempt to answer this question.
Where do you go for inspiration?
As an artist you are continually absorbing images and ideas from everything around you. It might come from newspapers, journals, books, TV, the internet, exhibitions or just from a simple conversation. All of which are stored in your memory waiting to be reactivated when needed. Mobile phones and  iPads are also regular methods of instantly capturing a spectacular bank of clouds or unique shadow. However being surrounded by too much stimulus, both cognitive and visual, occasionally leads to frustration because of the lack of time to bring some of these ideas to fruition.
What are you working on now?
I have just shipped off thirty-five linocuts to Redcliffe Art Gallery in Brisbane for a survey exhibition that opens on 7 May. I’m a finalist in the Basil Sellers Prize which opening on 22 July at the Ian Potter Museum in Melbourne. The work must relate to sport in Australia. All the prints I have produced portray Captain Cook playing cricket, golf and surfing with a satirical contemporary twist. This sporting theme will continue but with Indigenous references for my first solo exhibition in Melbourne which opens at Nicholas Thompson Gallery on 22 September. I have just been awarded Third Prize in the Bietigheim-Bissingen’s Graphic Arts Prize Linocut Today X and hope to attend the award ceremony on 15 July in Germany.