Creative Collagraphs

Online booking will be available on Monday 2 March.

Explore the versatility of card, tapes, adhesives, and texture in this exciting 5-week collagraph course.

Each week you will experiment with lots of inspiring ways to create collagraph plates from simple layered card plates, working on recycled packaging to create texture through sgraffito techniques and found materials.

You will focus on different types of plates each week to gain an understanding of the many ways to create a collagraph, and produce a number of prints to take home.

This course is ideal for absolute beginners and those with some experience of printmaking but new to collagraphs.

Week 1:

Through discussion and demonstration, you’ll create relief collagraphs using firstly just card and then explore textured materials, with one-to-one support. We’ll then cover how to ink up a relief collagraph and experiment with how to take a print.

Week 2:

Explore using recycled packaging to create an intaglio plate, using the shape of the template to inform their design. Through demonstration they will experiment with sgraffito, using mark making to scratch into the surface and removing areas and then they will learn how to seal a plate. They will explore how to ink up and intaglio plate and learn how to use the printing press.

Week 3:

Introducing glue, sand, texture pastes and carborundum to your plates. Through discussion they will develop their knowledge and the impact of using porous and non-porous areas in their work. Through exemplar work and demonstration, they will explore combining both intaglio and relief techniques in their work.

Week 4:

Create a final plate using your chosen techniques and learn about blind printing sand and how to take a blind print from the plate.

Week 5:

Develop your designs and experiment with printing, with guidance and support, exploring how to ink up and wipe down plates. Learn about ghost printing and how to use multiple plates in your work.

About the tutor:

Tutor Jo Shearer is an artist and art educator living and working in Leicestershire. Her belief is that art is for everyone. It is another language for expressing and communicating our experiences, thoughts and emotions which often reflect the world around us and how we fit into it. Art can demonstrate a tremendous level of skill and be aesthetically pleasing; however, the greatest strength is in its capacity to express and unite people. Jo studied Visual BA (Hons) Arts and English Literature and a PGCE in secondary art. She taught in schools and colleges in Hertfordshire and Leicestershire for over 10 years.

After leaving mainstream education she continued her love of teaching through tutoring and went on to develop workshops like this one. She enjoys the freedom to work in a variety of media and has an ever-increasing love for print. She enjoys nurturing creativity and developing individuals’ skills to build confidence in their own work as well as evoking a sense of calm and release of emotions through the process of making. Her personal work explores the spaces that we inhabit, the collection of experiences and emotions that connect us to a place and the inherent beauty of the natural world in all its forms.

Further information:

This five-week course will run on Wednesday mornings, 10am – 1pm, starting on 3 June, with the final session on 1 July 2026.

All materials and equipment will be provided. Please come in old clothes and/or bring an apron as printing can get messy! We do have aprons to borrow too if you prefer.

Participants must be aged 14+. Under 18s must be accompanied by a paying adult at all times.

If the course/workshop you’d like to book is sold out, we do operate a waiting list – simply contact our box office team on 0116 252 2455 / arts-centre@le.ac.uk and ask to be added to the waiting list. We’ll then contact you if a place becomes available, with absolutely no obligation to accept it if you’ve made other plans!

Please ensure that you agree to our updated Terms & Conditions before booking as courses/workshops are non-refundable if cancelled within 21 days of the start date for any reason.

We aim to make all our sessions as accessible as possible and carers/PAs are very welcome – just remember to book their free place when you book your session. If you’d like to talk to us in advance of booking or attending your sessions to discuss your access needs, our Box Office team is here to help! Email arts-centre@le.ac.uk, pop in or call 0116 252 2455, open 7 days a week.

We have four blue badge parking spaces outside Attenborough Arts Centre, plus double yellow line roadside parking very close to the building for blue badge holders for up to three hours if our parking spaces are occupied.

Free parking for all customers is available after 5pm on weekdays and all day at weekends in the University of Leicester car park next door to Attenborough Arts Centre on Lancaster Road.

The closest public car park for parking at all other times is Victoria Park, 5-10 minutes walk from us (near De Montfort Hall).