Button Menu

News & Media

Reflection: Spring 2022 WoodBlock Printing Workshop

October 4, 2022

During the month of April 2022, The Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University hosted the Carol Bowers Norris Visiting Artist, Matt Rees. Rees, a local woodblock printer, taught an 8-session workshop to participants ranging in age from college students to retirees. Rees also gave an artist talk to a packed house in the Peeler Auditorium on April 5. During his artist talk he discussed the importance of making artists’ work visible to the public and lobbying for local art to be shown in regional places like restaurants, businesses, visitor centers, and galleries. wood block carving

Rees only began his printmaking career three years ago even though he has made art all his life. He came across a video on Youtube of Tom Huck, a Saint Louis based printmaker, and knew that he needed to try out what Huck was doing. Rees spent time learning all the important details of woodblock printing during an internship under the tutelage of Huck and has since created his own printmaking studio on his property in Putnam County to make his dream of being a woodblock printer become reality.

In the first class Rees discussed the history of printmaking and showed the class slides of famous woodblock artists. He said he, and most people that take up woodblock printing, was influenced by Japanese woodblock printing. He discussed the process the Japanese used to make prints. They had an artist make a drawing then used a team of artists and artisans to create the woodblocks and print and color them.

One of the most famous and influential woodblock printers was German artist Albrecht Durer. The students were amazed at the details this 16th century artist could create in his prints. 

The slide presentation ended with contemporary printmakers including Tom Huck. The size of Huck’s woodblocks and the details he includes in his enormous prints was amazing.  

In addition to the talk given by Matt Rees, the Peeler community also had the opportunity to invite Tom Huck to Greencastle to give an artist talk and class visit. During his time at DePauw Huck was able to show the participants how to use his very own Tom Huck Outlaw Ink in order to ink and press the blocks they created. 

male artist showing wood blok printsDuring each class session Rees would begin by demonstrating a printmaking technique, e.g. how to hold the gauges. The students in the workshop learned the specifics of the tools needed to carve on birch plywood, the time and attention to detail needed in order to complete the task, and the process of inking each block correctly in order to end with a stark black print.  

By the end of the month each student had a woodblock carved and prints made. Some students even carved another on the back of the woodblock. Besides printing on paper, printing on T-shirts was tried and successful. There was a lot of information and fun shared in the 4-week workshop. Students even went home with a copy of one of Matt Rees’ woodblock prints.  

 “Matt came in with enthusiasm to teach his newly formed passion in woodblock printing,'' claimed Abby Downs, a DePauw University senior who took his class. “During the month of April participants in Rees’s class thrived on the ability to convene as fellow artists, bounce ideas off of one another, walk away with skills to build upon, and ultimately come together in order to create a series of successful prints,” said Downs, an art major.  “This class was one of the best experiences I have had at DePauw and I cherished the opportunity to slow down and learn a new medium in the last semester I have here at school.”

 “I appreciate Misti Scott and the DePauw Art Department for bringing in wonderful artists like Rees and Huck to show students their love of creating art,” added Maggie Downs, a senior at DePauw.

Jerry Bates, The Peeler Center’s wood shop manager and gallery preparator, mentioned that he really enjoyed the mix of people from all ages and different paths. “Personally, (this class) arrived when I needed to blow a dark cloud away by creating art with a group of people dedicated to this short introduction to printmaking.” 

Additionally, Mad Green, a fifth year Efroymson Fellow at DePauw said, “It was an eye-opening experience that allowed me to fall for another medium.”

 Martha Opdahl, a former DePauw University curator said, ”The workshop with Matt Rees brought about an artistic breakthrough for me.” group of artists holding woodblock prints

 “Each class was informative, inspiring, and pushed me to do creative work that I hadn’t before,” said Elise Monroe, a junior art major at DePauw.

DePauw University’s curator of galleries, Maggie Leininger added, “This 4-week session with Matt Rees clearly made an immeasurable impact on many of the participants.”    

Matt Rees is a local artist living and working in rural Putnam County, Indiana.