I tried a workshop at the Berkeley Art Studio
Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a Screen Printing Workshop through UC Berkeley Art Studio and this article is about my experience. It spanned two Sundays and eight hours total (four hours a week, with breaks included). Materials are not included in the price of the workshop, so students are expected to bring their own ink and materials to print on. Although classes are paid for by most students, the UC Berkeley Art Studio does offer a scholarship to low-income graduate students and students that are a part of the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). Some materials can be purchased from the Berkeley Art Studio itself. If you’re interested in trying something new or developing your new favorite hobby, check the art classes offered at Berkeley Art Studio each semester; from ceramics to Chinese calligraphy, there are lots of options!
My teacher was Ryan Medieros, an experienced artist and printmaker who teaches regularly with UC Berkeley Art Studio. Ryan provided us with a syllabus before the first day of class, complete with a day-by-day schedule, materials list, instructions for printing, and advice for the process. The class went a little something like this…
Day one: intros, orientations, screens, and practice
We began the first day by introducing everyone. The class had a wide variety of people—graduate students, undergraduates and Berkeley community members.
Then, we quickly jumped into the screen preparation process—a crucial step. There are a few different samples of screens (which were provided to everyone by the Berkeley Art Studio since they are reusable), all of which have a different mesh count (wider or smaller gaps in the screen). Ryan showed us how to coat our screens in a material called emulsion, which acts as a barrier for ink in the future during the actual printing process. Part of the emulsion was washed away in a later step. Emulsion takes several hours to dry, so we set aside our coated screens for the rest of the day as Ryan showed us how to print our designs.
After designs are made, they must be printed on transparent mylar (you can bring your own, or purchase individual sheets from the Berkeley Art Studio for a couple of dollars each). Ryan showed us his preferred printing settings, which printed a dark design onto the transparency sheet.
Next, we exposed. In the dark room, there lies an exposure unit. This exposure unit is how the design makes its way to our screens! It uses UV light and pressure to transfer a design from transparency paper to the emulsion-coated screen. Out emerged a transferred design…
The UV light causes the emulsion uncovered by the dark design to harden, while the covered design remains soft. This can later be washed away with simply water!
One of Ryan’s designs that he used to demonstrate the exposure process with.
Finally, we practiced printing another one of Ryan’s designs onto paper and t-shirts for those who wanted to test their skills (seeing as we couldn’t do anything to our own screens as we waited for them to dry).
Several of our attempts at a layered print on the drying rack.
Ryan also gave us some independent work time in between the different steps of the process, which is where I had time to sketch my design, transfer it to my iPad and later to Adobe Illustrator, which is free for UC Berkeley students.
The time in between
In the time between the first and second sessions of the workshop, we had homework. It wasn’t anything crazy! Just some at-home editing of each of our designs to speed up the printing process in the second session.
My design had two components: a hand drawn design and a quote that I pulled from a museum exhibit close to my heart. I also had two layers that I intended to print in two different colors. Ryan asynchronously helped me prepare all elements of my design in Adobe Illustrator.
I had to do a bit of resizing and upscaling to minimize the possibility of overexposure in the exposing unit. In the end, I had a two-frame design that I was able to quickly print in the first 30 minutes of the workshop because I spent a bit of time at home finalizing my design.
Some advice that Ryan emailed me about my design. The left side is my top layer, and the right is the bottom layer.
Day two: exposing, setup, printing
I came in early on this day to get a head start on printing.
My design printed on transparency paper.
The next step was exposing, which Ryan had already shown us last week. I placed my design and emulsion-coated screen into the exposing unit and exposed it for around a minute. Exposure times vary by the mesh count of the screen you chose. I washed the uncured emulsion from my screen and was left with an imprint of my design.
My screen with the design washed out.
This is the easy part! I taped up the edges of my screen, so the ink couldn’t pass through the borders that I didn’t coat in emulsion, as well as the top side of my design. Taping up those areas made it so that the ink only prints on one side of my screen, that being the bottom side. I printed it in a periwinkle shade, let it dry, washed out the ink, and taped up the other half to repeat the process again for the top layer (for which I used black ink).
I ended up with a two-layer screen-printed design that I printed both on paper and on a tote bag!
A much needed break for me, and maybe you!
This workshop happened to fall into a very busy part of my life, but it was such a nice break from everyday stresses. While these classes are not free for all students, I think the exposure to a new creative hobby or outlet with the guidance of a professional is a fun way to get your hands moving and brain rolling. Taking this class was a fun way to get to know Berkeley community members, a new craft, and new tools like Adobe Illustrator.
Milana Berhe, Class of 2028, is majoring in astrophysics and political science and minoring in creative writing.
Want More?
- Here’s Pottery at Berkeley Art Studio.
- Interested in other student artists? Read Meet Cal Student Artists.
- Another way to get involved in the arts at Cal is Theater Arts.