Experimental Woodcut Printmaking: Colorful Multi-Layer Prints

Instructed by Ray Seebeck

Saturday, April 25, 12-6pm

Class Size: Maximum 8

In this hands-on workshop, participants will create multi-layer woodcut prints using a single-block reduction method on 6×8 woodblocks. We’ll carve and print successive layers from the same block, building up color and image through a process that is both structured and intuitive.

Woodcut is one of the earliest forms of printmaking and has been used for thousands of years across cultures. In this workshop, we’ll approach the medium as an experimental and expressive process, with a particular focus on how color can shape meaning and visual impact.

Participants should bring 3–5 source images, which we’ll look at together and refine for the reduction process. Emphasis will be on nature or landscape imagery, or portraiture, approached either representationally or abstractly. However please feel free to bring any ideas, sketches, or source images you'd like to work with.

We’ll cover:

• Choosing an image that adapts well to multi-layer printing

• Transferring a drawing onto the woodblock

• Planning color sequences and carving stages

• Printing and carving successive layers

• Knowing when a print is finished