COOL CLASSES: “Computer and Printmaking”

A fine arts course in which students use a high-tech method to create images, and use a low-tech method to print them.

Class name: “Computer and Printmaking”

Taught by: Associate Professor of Fine Arts Hee Sook Kim

 

Here’s what Hee Sook Kim had to say about her class:              

This is an intermediate course covering computer software, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, and printmaking techniques, such as lithography. Students study techniques and concepts in computer and printmaking as well as visual expressions through hands-on experiences. Students are expected to master digital tools and combine their ideas with printmaking mediums such as polyester-lithographic method. Creating images based on consistent thematic ideas or subjects are required along with successful visual solutions. Creative and experimental approaches are encouraged.

I created the course about 10 years ago when digital imaging was very rare in printmaking. This polyester-lithographic method was used only in commercial fields back then. Lithography, which is traditionally done using limestones or aluminum plates, is the origin of offset printing, whose theory I use during the class. Instead of drawing images directly on stones or plates, students in this class create images using a computer and print the image on polyester plates using a digital printer. Then they ink printmaking plates in various colors using rollers, and print it through a conventional printmaking press. So the idea is that students use a high-tech method to create images, and use a low-tech method to print them. (Printmaking presses have been around hundreds years, since 1400.) In addition to that, I wanted my students learn programs like Illustrator and Photoshop to be equipped for various job markets.

 

See what other courses the Fine Arts Department is offering this semester.

Photo by Hina Fathima ’15 

Cool Classes is a series that highlights interesting, unusual, and unique courses that enrich the Haverford experience.