This workshop gives you a chance to play with patterns and learn the essential techniques for the rich tradition of block printing to create beautiful printed textiles.

Artist Jill Saxton Smith will start with an introduction to pattern making, then show you how to draw and hand carve your own design, and end with printing each design element by hand onto a linen table runner, creating wonderful variations that look beautifully handmade.

We will have all the supplies and plenty of inspiration ready for you to start making!

About the Instructor

Jill Saxton Smith is a U.S. artist that has been living and working as an artist internationally for the past 15 years. Jill earned a BFA from Utah State University in painting and printmaking and received her MFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Her experience gained while living in the U.S., Egypt, Zimbabwe and Guatemala have given her unique opportunities and insights that have greatly impacted and enriched her artwork and career as a studio artist.

Her interdisciplinary work calls attention to the felt experiences, both physiological and psychological, that comprise and shape our being-in-the-world. She explores themes such as comfort, dislocation and the sense of home. Her investigation concerns whether these emotions and inner experiences can be transferred and embodied in the intuitive processes and simple materials she draws on to create her work.

She exhibits her work internationally on three continents, including at The National Gallery of Zimbabwe. She has given lectures, taught workshops and demonstrated her art as a visiting artist to a variety of schools and organizations with a special interest in underprivileged and disabled artists.