‘Gyotaku’ is an ancient Japanese art form which began life during the early artistic Edo period in Japan; a period of intense creativity and innovation during the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate and Samauri warriors which continued for two hundred years from the 1600 onwards.  

The Emperors believed they owned everything produced on both the land and sea including the stocks of fish. They would order the fishermen to bring the best of their catches to him to examine.  For practical reasons an imprint of the fish was taken rather than the fish brought to the Emperor itself  and it was this practice which, over time become an art form in and of itself.  

The practice is quite surgical and attentive, it lends itself to strong yet fine papers and cloths such as mulberry washi,  linen, lightweight poplins and calicos. 

This master class also includes, evening artist talk, a studio highlight, and a demo/talk session, covering the full day on Sunday.

Lunch included

Evening Talks

Artist talk – Kate O’Shea

Kate O’ Shea works across printmaking, archiving, large-scale installation, performance, and publishing. Kate is co-founder of the transdisciplinary collective, Broken Fields, bringing together experience, knowledge, and practice from the fields of socially engaged art, architecture, community work, social movement archiving, activism, research, and writing. Kate co-creates the newspaper Gravity Express with Dr. Ciaran Smyth (Vagabond Reviews). Kate is co-founder with Victoria Brunetta of independent publishing house Durty Books. She is co-founder of The People’s Kitchen and is a member of Red Wheelbarrow Productions. She also goes on many print adventures with Print Van Go.

Studio highlight –Kells centre of typography excellence

Mark Smith, who is in the process of setting up the Centre of Typography Excellence. His is also the creative force behind the Kells Type Trail, an annual event that celebrates typography in both urban and natural landscapes. The initiative not only highlights the artistic beauty of type but also fosters community engagement, making typography a dynamic and interactive experience.

Demo/Talk –Julie Corcoran

Multi Tone Cyanotype In this demo Julie will show the process of creating multi-toned cyanotypes; from creating digital negatives to exposing, bleaching and toning in layers to create the final, multi-tone effect