Francille Zhuang

This workshop will introduce strategies for exploring photopolymer plate development in home studios. We will introduce an affordable exposure system for creating and developing photopolymer plates and review techniques for effective image-making and printing. Participants will learn how to use everyday items to reliably create high-quality polymer plates.

These methods are intended to provide printers who lack access to a formal exposure unit an improvised setup with which to experiment. Much of the stigma associated with printing from polymers follows from the assumption that it represents an “easy” way out of the careful scrutiny entailed in composing forms from type. With this workshop, the hope is to challenge the idea that polymer implies outsourcing, while demonstrating the potential for novelty within the medium.

Francille Zhuang

Francille Zhuang is a Junior in Studio Arts and Technology BA and Computer Science BS at Purdue University. Through lithography and silkscreen, she develops imagery surrounding her identity as the midpoint between two cultures, American and Chinese. Over the past year and a half, she has been assisting Jennifer Scheuer in researching tonality in various photomechanical printmaking techniques, including photopolymer letterpress.