Sugar Lifting Workshop: The Painted Line on Copper

Inspired by the exhibition Interpreting the Natural: Contemporary Visions of Scholars’ Rocks, this workshop introduces participants to Sugar Lift Intaglio, a printmaking technique that allows for expressive, painterly marks and tonal effects on a copper plate. Explore approaches to drawing that evoke the spontaneous line, gesture, and rhythm of calligraphy and ink painting.

Visit the exhibition, with particular attention to the ways artists have interpreted landscape, stone, and the natural world through line, gesture, and abstraction. Looking closely at these works, consider how a simple line can suggest an entire landscape or evoke a sense of place, memory, movement, or contemplation.

In Sugar Lift Intaglio, the artist paints with a water-soluble sugar solution directly onto a copper plate. The plate is then prepared for etching, allowing the painted areas to be etched into the surface and ultimately translated into a printed image.

No previous printmaking or drawing experience is required. The workshop is designed to be welcoming to beginners while also offering experienced artists an opportunity to explore a painterly and expressive approach to intaglio printmaking.