It’s official our new BA (Hons) Conservation: Books & Paper course has launched and our new first-year students on the course have joined us at the Art School.
On day 1 last week, the students spent time being inducted into the Print Room so that they can begin learning about etching from our expert staff. The students learnt about the traditional intaglio processes and made their own etches.
The Print Room at City & Guilds of London Art School was established in the late 19th century. Today, it offers a facility for printmaking open to every student in the School.
Professor Norman Ackroyd CBE RA ARCA was instrumental in re-establishing the Print & Engraving Room as a thriving centre for teaching and practice after being invited in 1995 to consider its potential for the future.
We focus on the teaching of traditional intaglio processes – including hard and soft ground, sugar lift, aquatint and colour etching. Teaching is delivered by practising artists working with etching. By teaching the full range of methods, we provide an historical context of the intaglio process and offer the same experience in terms of techniques, problems and solutions as that employed by Rembrandt, Goya and Picasso.
Our aim is to provide a practical understanding of how etchings of the past were made to inform the study of how they are best conserved for the future.
