Join printmaker Charlie Ash on this day workshop to learn how to create tree ring relief prints.

During this day workshop with printmaker Charlie Ash, you will discover how the captivating, complex patterns of organic material can be made into relief prints.

Tree rings make fantastic natural printing blocks, as they can be easily worked to reveal the concentric rings formed by the tree’s yearly growth. Using locally sourced woods such as Ash, Beech, Oak, Hazel and Hawthorn, you will be taking a close up look at the different grains of native tree species, and learning how to prepare them into relief blocks - a process of scorching and wire brushing the across the grain. You will then practice inking up the blocks and burnishing by hand to transfer the ring pattern onto paper.

With opportunities to experiment with colour, layering and composition, you will leave the workshop with a series of card size prints, or a larger feature piece, and a closer knowledge of the incredible natural forms which surround us in the local landscape.

Tutor: Charlie Ash
Date & Time: Saturday 17th October, 10am - 4pm
Venue: Chisel Studio, New Brewery Arts
Price: £105 (£0.00 VAT)

You are welcome to bring a lidded bottle of water with you but we kindly ask that you do not bring food into the studio.

Refreshments are available at our on-site café Blend until 4pm.

For more information:
Visit our FAQ page

Who is this workshop for?
No printmaking experience needed. Suitable for those who have an interest in printmaking, drawing or design. Also for those who are passionate about trees, gardening and ecology, or would like to learn more about the local landscape.

Please note that this workshop is for those aged 18 and over.

What you will need:
Please bring an apron or wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.

All materials and equipment are included.

MEET YOUR TUTOR - charlie ash

Charlie Ash is an artist and printmaker based in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Since graduating from Falmouth School of Art in 2019, he has specialised in woodcut and relief printmaking, working on commissioned and autonomous projects, undertaking artist residencies and participating in international printmaking exhibitions. For Charlie, the slow paced, process driven nature of printmaking offers an immersive and fulfilling experience, and this is something he is passionate about sharing as a tutor.

Charlie’s own practice takes inspiration from the history of print as a craft, while exploring its shifting, undefined place in contemporary culture. His recent work plays with using found images to make prints, including medieval brass plates, film stills, satellite images, archaeological scans and photo archives. Often these emerge through research into particular places and cultures - from Neolithic rock carvings, to Romano-Celtic artefacts, and maps of knotted junctions on the M25 - unexpected resonances form which the serial nature of printmaking can play into. As the original imagery is collaged and layered through drawing, then carved into graphic textures of lines, dashes and dots as woodcuts, Charlie looks for moments where it can morph into something lively and unfamiliar.