Soraya Ghezelbash: silkscreen printing

As a sequel to its art history classes for children, entitled I am sitting in chair, Beirut Art Center hosts a silkscreen-printing workshop for children lead by architect and artist Soraya Ghezelbash. The workshop’s objective is to shed light on this specific technique and the value of manual processes in a context where handcrafting is disappearing. Working with silkscreen printing allows one to break the borders between craftsmen and designers: it is a practice where the making is merged with the creative process. Step-by-step demonstrations and experiments will allow each participant to build and design a silkscreen stencil, and then manually print it onto various media. Join us for this fun and instructive hands-on activity! Silkscreen printing is a technique that uses mesh to transfer an artwork (illustration/photography/typography) onto almost any surface, whether it is a t-shirt, poster, sticker, vinyl, wood, or any other material. It originated in china almost 14 centuries ago, with the beginning of local silk production. Silkscreen printing can serve as a highly industrial and efficient technique but artists can also create their own specific method, even with very basic tools. In the 1960’s many artists found its large scale and solid bright colors a great fit for the ideas of the time, mainly in pop art. It was made familiar by artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Eduardo Paolozzi and Joe Tilson.