PNCA holds workshop on woodcutting

Over 50 people, including students, gather to learn printing techniques

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) organised a one-day woodcutting workshop on Tuesday under the supervision of senior artist Tasneem Shahzad aims at providing a platform for emerging artists to get an opportunity to learn from a native from Peshawar.

The workshop was a great success as over 50 people took part in the event from twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad including students from different art colleges and schools. This workshop was an incredible opportunity for the youth to learn from the master in the field.

Shahzad explained that woodcutting is a relief printing technique. In printmaking, an artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood typically with gouges leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. The block is cut along the wood grain (unlike wood engraving, where the block is cut in the end-grain). The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas.

Multiple colours can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks (using a different block for each colour). The art of carving the woodcut can be called "xylography", but this is rarely used in English for images alone, although that and "Xylographic" are used in connection with block books, which are small books containing text and images in the same block. A single-sheet woodcut is a woodcut presented as a single image or print, as opposed to a book illustration.

Shahzad hails from Peshawar and he studied fine arts at the University of Peshawar. He started printmaking at a very early age and since then he has achieved numerous awards nationally and internationally. He has presented his artworks in the US, Japan, China, Russia, India, Italy, and France. Shahzad a living legend started painting at a very early age and since then has achieved many awards for his work from world-renowned art galleries.

He has represented his artwork in the US, Japan, Russia and India, China, and France, he is a bachelor in fine arts from the University of Peshawar.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2022.