My Upcoming Workshop at Carol Parks’ NoHo Studio

There are still several spaces left in my 3-Day workshop, Get Your Art On Buffet, Part Deux at Carol Parks’ studio in Southern California’s NoHo Arts District. And if you register by Sept. 1, you can still get the early registration discount. Here’s the info:

Get Your Art on Buffet, Part Deux
with Traci Bunkers
September 12-14th, 2008
Get Your Art on Buffet: Part Deux is a 3-day workshop buffet of experimental printmaking and mixed-media art gluttony. I’ll be fueling your hungry souls with an art diet full in protein to keep you energized long after you leave. All 3 courses are intertwined, building on and taking from each other to make a weekend full of tasty treats! We’ll use the prints made from our alternative methods to make a Printable Matter artist’s book and also as collage material in our self-portraits. My method of teaching is fun, inspirational and easygoing, making each course stress-free and enjoyable for everyone. No experience is required! You’ll go home with a “Printable Matter” mixed-media artist’s book, original printed collage material, a funky-sugary-sweet self-portrait, handmade printing blocks, and gocco screens to continue printing with at home using the techniques you learn in class. Because this gluttonous workshop buffet has so much to offer, you might get full before you are finished. Never fear! You’ll go home full of the knowledge and information-filled handouts to be able to finish up the leftovers at home. After a weekend with me, you will look at the oddities from dollar stores, thrift stores and garage sales in a whole new light, and you will never be able to pass one up.

There is a materials fee of $20 to cover gocco screens, inks, and bulbs; blocking material, and lots of other goodies used in class, most of which you get to keep.

First & Second Courses, Friday & Saturday: Printmaking à Gogo
I’ll introduce you to the world of experimental printmaking using ordinary & not so ordinary tools. You will learn to use various monoprinting methods, including building your own printing blocks to create multiple layered pages through repetition and patterning. These printed pages can be used as collage materials for our self-portraits, the pages in our artist’s book, and also as the foundation for our next process: the Print Gocco (pronounced go-ko).

The Gocco is a portable, self-contained Japanese silk-screen gadget that combines screen-printing with rubber stamping. It’s easy to use, you can print several colors at the same time on one piece, and make multiple prints that are all alike or different– it is immediate gratification at it’s best!

I will teach you the basics of gocco printing and also alternative gocco printing methods. You’ll learn how to burn a screen using photocopies of your own images or drawings, and how to print it on paper, all using the gocco machine. And, I’ll take you outside of the box, showing you various alternative methods using the gocco as the foundation. With these methods, you can create multiple prints of the same image, and one-of-a-kind monoprints through layering and stenciling. The wonderful prints that you made can stand alone as works of art, and can also be used as collage material for our self-portraits and as pages in our artist’s book.

After creating our prints, we’ll alter a book to house our pages in a hinged format, making it a book like you’ve never seen. We’ll also develop the book cover in the same experimental printmaking manner. These techniques and tools can be used as backgrounds that are a spring board to take your artwork to the next level. When finished, your Printable Matter Book will be a unique printed book that is a work of art in itself, the groundwork for an artist book or visual journal, or a valuable reference book for future printmaking projects.

Third course, Sunday: Uber Self-Portraits
Even if you have no painting or drawing skills, in this process & project oriented class, you can create a mixed-media self-portrait that is larger than life and out of this world in coolness. Not only will I show you how to make this 16”x 20” work of art, I’ll also show you the beauty in looking big and working big. We’ll paint, draw, collage and stamp on top of blown-up photo copies to create a piece of art that blurs the line between a photograph and a painting. Some of the alternative prints made in the first two courses can be used as collage material. The process is started in pieces and then joined together to be finished as a whole. It can be mounted in class on a stretched canvas or canvas board so it’s ready for framing. Or, you can mount or frame it when you get home. This project is also great for experimenting with different coloring materials or mark making techniques. (Note: you don’t have to use a self-portrait, but . . . )

Register by Sept. 1 for the early registration discount. Click here for full info.