Proposal: Family Printmaking Day

Tamar Etingen

Describe your project.
I am submitting a grant proposal to Feast Mass to present a Gelatin Printmaking Workshop for 6 adult/child pairs (parent, grandparent, caregiver or volunteer adult and child). The workshop would be presented on a week end day at Gallery 263, for children from the Morse School K–2 Afterschool Program. This program has 21 children enrolled, of which 11 receive vouchers or some type of financial aide. Participation will be determined by a lottery. Gallery 263 is located 3 blocks up Pearl St. from Morse Elementary School.

On May 21, I presented a workshop to 12 children at the Morse K–2 Afterschool Program with the help of classroom aides and volunteers. The workshop was very enthusiastically received by the children and the parents were delighted and impressed with the prints. Offering the workshop free to participants would provide a wonderful opportunity for parents to spend some creative, quality time with their children. If parents were unable to attend, volunteers would be available to work with the children.

The workshop lasts for 2 hours. All tools and materials are provided. No prior printmaking experience is required. Gelatin plate printmaking is a non-toxic, low-tech method for making one-of-a-kind prints (monoprints). It requires no press and is accessible, fast-paced and spontaneous. Images are made using recycled found objects and plant material. The resulting prints are luminous, multi-layered images.

I have presented printmaking workshops at the Boston MFA, Curry College, Gallery 263, Morse Elementary School Afterschool, Lynn Arts and Arlington Center for the Arts.

How will you use Feast funding?
My usual price is $50 per adult/child pair. With this grant, I would be able, for $300, to present the workshop free to the participants.

If you win, what is the expected status of your project by the time of the next Feast?
The workshop should be completed by the next Feast. I will be able to share the results, maybe some examples of prints, photos of the workshop, and stories of how it went for me and for the participants.