Calvin Custen's photo etching demonstration at Frostburg University

As part of the Maryland Printmakers educational outreach I was asked by Bob Lewellyn (chair of Printmaking at Frostburg University) to present a workshop and demonstration in photo etching back in October. I was only too happy to be able to respond to his invitation. Bob was my mentor in undergraduate school and he has been a member of the Maryland Printmakers since the first days in '89. It is always a pleasure to visit my old alma mater and visit with Bob and the other art department faculty.

The workshop had a respectable turnout and we all had an enjoyable, educational and productive time. The background and experience of the participants ranged from novice to advanced. The day started about 10:30 with a brief introduction about the Maryland Printmakers and my purpose for being there. The workshop ran about 5 hours.

I began the demonstration explaining a bit about the history of photo intaglio and the past practice of using the KPR materials and the toxicity of the old processes. I then introduced Dupont's Riston product Image-On and explained the non-toxic nature, ease of use and inexpensive cost of materials. I also gave some background about the film and how it has been used in the printed circuit board industry for over 20 years.

We started out making exposures using the platemaker that Frostburg owns. As soon as the demo was over and we began exposing the students' plates, as luck and good fortune would have it, the Platemaker broke down and we were forced to use good old Mother Nature. Fortunately it was a beautiful October day in the mountains and everyone was able to enjoy the few minutes of natural outdoor sun exposure. Most of the exposure was less than a minute. Not all of the participants were able to achieve the result they had hoped for their first time. Everyone was excited to try it again and Bob had said he was going to include photo etch as part of his curriculum again. Though not all got the results they had hoped for, everyone was happy with the day's experience. It appeared to be an overall success. Many of the participants were interested in the Maryland Printmakers and we have already picked up some new members from the visit.

All in all the day was very rewarding and the weekend was wonderful. I hope more of the members can give such demos and workshops and I hope that more of the schools and Universities will ask for the Maryland Printmakers to come out and give a presentation and/or workshop.