Painterly Aquatint Techniques with Ernesto Ortiz Leyva

3 Tuesdays, 6 - 9pm
July 22 - Aug. 5, 2025

Fee: $320 including 9 hours of studio time
(To avoid a transaction fee, please contact info@printshop.org)

This course guides students through the exciting possibilities of aquatint techniques: spit bite, white(soap) ground, and sugarlift. Through step-by-step demos and hands-on practice, participants will learn how to create rich tones, varied textures, and expressive effects with these methods. The class begins with the basics of plate preparation, including how to use an aquatint box, hotplate and masking. By the end of the course, students will have expanded skills in aquatint techniques and gained hands-on practice to produce distinctive, expressive prints. This class is recommended for students with introductory intaglio experience.

Ernesto Ortiz Leyva is an artist born in El Paso, Texas and now based in Brooklyn. Ernesto attended the Ecole superieure d'art et de design Marseille- Mediterranee, in Marseille, France in 2003 before receiving BFA from the California College of the Arts in 2005; and MFA in Drawing and Painting from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014. In 2003, He has been a recipient of the RA Brown Memorial Scholarship (2003); the Robert Ralls Memorial Scholarship (2004); the New Artist Society Merit Scholarship by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2012); and Artist in Residence program (2017) at IPCNY, now known as Print Center New York. His work has recently been exhibited at the Editions/ Artists’ Books Fair and Art on Paper in Manhattan. He currently teaches Printmaking at Hunter College and Visualization and Representation at Pratt Institute.