THIS PROJECT IS NOW FULL! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO A WAITLIST, PLEASE EMAIL LUCA@WEPRESS.CA
Slow print is a collaborative printmaking project facilitated on stolen Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-waututh territories for people and artists who:
- are queer, two-spirit, non-binary, trans, or somewhere on the 2SLGBTQAI+ spectrum
- want to learn (more) about printmaking, may have some experience or none at all
- have access to a computer or smart phone, an internet connection, and some kind of image capturing device (phone, webcam, scanner)
- live in the Lower Mainland. more info on geography
- Online group activities will take place on most Tuesdays from 5 pm to 7 pm PST from Jan 1, 2021 to Mar 2, 2021.
- You do not need to be available for every group activity.
- This project is free to participate in.
- Supplies will be provided. You can pick up your supplies or have them delivered to your home if you are unable to commute.
- This is an English speaking environment, but interpretation or live transcription can be booked upon request. Read below for more information on interpreters.
Navigate this web page:
Why slow?
Each print we make together will take about 13 weeks to complete. This is because we will be trying a form of printmaking called collaborative reduction linocut.
Slow printmaking helps us stay mindful / grounded / *in our bodies* while making art. Slow printmaking allows us to respond to what comes up with consciousness. Slow printmaking acknowledges that we are living in a fast paced world that can be exhausting, ableist, and difficult to participate in. Slow printmaking makes space for you to take breaks, stop, and restart. Slow printmaking also ensures safety during this pandemic. You can participate in this project without ever leaving your home.
What is linocut?
The artist carves into a sheet of linoleum (usually called the block or plate) and then applies ink to the remaining surface. A print is made by pressing paper into the inked surface. The carved portion of the plate will appear white (or the colour of the paper) in the final print.
Linocut is associated with activism because it can be fast to produce a small print, and it is easy to integrate linocut and letterpresses in posters or newsletters because the print technique is the same. Before computers, linocut was very useful and low cost for activists (it still is!).
What is reduction Linocut?
Reduction linocut is a multi-layer (aka multi-colour) linocut print. However, instead of using a different plate for each colour, you use the same plate for each colour but carve away more and more of the plate’s inking surface before printing each layer. I found a good visual explanation of this online here.
What is collaborative reduction linocut?
This graphic explains the process.
Collaborative reduction linocut is the same as reduction linocut except that when you are ready to start another layer, you pass your plate and prints along to another person. They continue the print for you. Then they pass the plate along to someone else. Each layer is carved by a new person. In our project each print will created by four people.
About the Facilitator: Luca Cara Seccafien
I am a queer, genderqueer, white, disabled settler and an artist, teacher, facilitator, and community builder. I live on the stolen ancestral territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh people. I have two names I use interchangeably: Luca and Cara, and I use mixed pronouns: they, them, he, him, she, her.
I live with multiple mental health issues that affect my day to day life and psychosomatic symptoms including chronic pain. I am a trauma survivor who has been in recovery for eleven years.
A lot of people with trauma, like myself, have increased access to empathy and increased sensitivity to sensory stimuli. Because of these “super powers”, I listen very deeply and notice nonverbal cues. Combined with my social justice values, this has created an open, humble, welcoming, and safer learning space in group workshops I’ve run in the past.
Feeling disconnected from our bodies (clinically referred to as disassociation) is very common among queer and trans people and is something I experience regularly. This is because we experience ongoing systemic violence against our bodies and disassociation is an effective emotional protection mechanism.
Printmaking can be a useful tool to reduce the intensity of disassociation. This is because, compared to other visual art forms, printmaking is a full body and multi sensory experience. Some full body and sensory aspects of printmaking include:
- Hearing the sound of the sticky ink as it rolls out.
- Smelling the ink.
- Using multiple muscle groups and / or the weight of your body to create pressure and print.
- Feeling the indentation left on a carved plate.
- More walking / moving around and rearranging space than in other visual art forms.
In 2016ish I co-founded WePress Community Arts Space, a collectively operated intergenerational studio space in Vancouver’s DTES. At WePress, we strive for barrier-free art making experiences for people who normally do not have access to art making due to oppressive systemic barriers.
I have had the honour of mentoring under veteran artists and activists at organizations in Vancouver and beyond including: Powell Street Festival, Gallery Gachet, Heart of the City Festival, Queer Arts Festival & Sum Gallery, and The Works Art & Design Festival.
In my art, I work with diverse media including printmaking, stop-motion, installation, drawing, and illustration. My artwork is influenced by living in a queer, ill, femme body. I graduated from the University of Alberta in 2013 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in printmaking.
Some accessibility barriers:
LANGUAGE AND INTERPRETERS
This workshop is facilitated in spoken English. There are no interpreters booked at this time, but I can book ASL interpreters, live transcribers / subtitlers, or other language interpreters upon request. Depending on their availability, I anticipate that interpreters may take up to 3 weeks to book. Please indicate when you sign up if you need an interpreter, and I will contact you directly to confirm details.
TECHNOLOGY
Meetings will be accessible in your internet browser, such as firefox, google chrome, or safari, using a URL link.
The use of a camera phone, web cam, scanner, or digital camera is useful to share images of your artwork and for me to help you solve creative problems.
CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES
The inks used in this project contain synthetic ingredients and chemicals. Read the MSDS sheet at this ink: Speedball Professional Relief Inks.
PHYSICAL EXERTION
Linocut printmaking can trigger pain in your hands, neck, back, arms, feet, and legs. We will discuss strategies for managing and preventing pain during this project.
GEOGRAPHY
Participation is limited to those who live in the lower mainland because we are collaborating on prints together. You will work on printmaking plate and then pass the plate along to the next participant. We will need to get your plate and all of the work you’ve done (your prints) to the next participant within about 1 week, and this process will happen several times during the project.
If you are unable to commute, I can deliver art supplies to locations within about 10 km of Hastings Sunrise Vancouver. If you live further than this, ideally you will be able to deliver / pick up your own supplies / artworks once every few weeks to WePress Community Arts Space (9 West Hasting Street, Vancouver).
Please contact me regarding other accessibility barriers not discussed above. Contact me at luca.cara.secc@gmail.com or call and leave a voicemail at (604) 670-3424. I am supported by WePress Community Arts Space Society, the International Centre for Art for Social Change, and Judith Marcuse Projects.