Arte-terapia | Art Therapy

This Saturday I assisted my professor in teaching the printmaking technique collagraph to a group of local art therapy instructors. It was the second session of a seminar we began three months ago. Collograph is a very tactile form of printmaking and produces expressive, immediate works.

The seventeen instructors attending our seminar teach art to prison inmates, hospital patients and recovering drug addicts. The methods and materials in collograph are engaging for their students. The work itself is physical and requires focus. For many it offers the newness of something they haven't tried before, as many of these students have previously painted, worked with clay, etc. With this method they are introduced to the press and the concept of printing an edition.

In this photo I'm mixing the inks for the seminar. We used Charbonnel etching inks and mixed them with linseed oil and talc to arrive at the correct texture for the collograph technique.





Everyone was kind and patient with my language skills. One student mentioned that I've improved since the last seminar. Encouraging news!


This is the inked plate before it is run through the press. This is the smallest press I've ever seen, but the combination of portability and low price is appropriate for art therapy uses.



A print being pulled by one of the student/instructors.


This is one of my favorite prints of the 100+ prints we pulled during the day.


We followed the long day with fabulous gelato at Badiani. I ordered a cup with two flavors: pistachio and caffé.