Working with Bethan Stevens and George Mind, University of the Creative Arts Rochester’s Masterclass was based on the archive of work by Dalziel Brothers, a leading wood-engraving firm in Victorian London.
After a quick introduction to wood-engraving techniques and imagery, and to the Dalziel Brothers firm, the group started with some creative-writing activities, before making collages using images from the Dalziel collection. Each member created a different narrative based on an image for use within their collage.
After lunch, the young people created paintings with dye, using Dalziel images as inspiration, then heat-pressed the paintings on to fabric – bringing the monochrome prints from earlier in the day into colour. Feedback was very positive, including “I liked how we developed our ideas over the course of the workshop” and “The fabric outcome was amazeballs!”