Gelli Plate Printing with Nancy Crasco

What is Gelli Plate Printing? Gelatin printing is a form of monoprinting in which a gelatin slab is used as a printing plate, in conjunction with standard water soluble printing inks to create images. Very little pressure is required to make monoprints using this technique. No press is required.

The process is extremely simple and versatile, and can be applied to a variety of surfaces, including paper and textiles. It is equally well suited for professional or novice printmakers, craft enthusiasts, and professional artists. 

For this 4-hour workshop, our instructor, Nancy Crasco, will provide one homemade gelatin plate, approximately 6 inches. Nancy recommends that attendees also acquire a commercially produced, synthetic GelliPlate, so that you can experience both surfaces. Inks will be provided, and the cost is included in the course fee. Please download the materials list for additional materials needed for the class.

Click here to download the materials list. 

*Please note: this workshop will run from 10am-noon, and then 1-3pm, with a one-hour break for lunch. Participants may bring lunches, or visit our Harvard Sqaure friends - including Darwin's and Flour Bakery - for lunch. 

About the instructor: Nancy Crasco 

After graduating with a degree in Painting and Art Education from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1964, I began a teaching career from which I retired in 2003. In 1968, a new baby afforded limited time to continue with painting, and I decided to make a bed quilt. At that time, there were very few books on the subject and no easily procured patterns; I relied on my acquired sewing skills and design training to create my first work. Enjoying the process, I made several more, and then in 1975 entered an original design of a Bicentennial Star in the Boston 200 quilt competition. I won first prize for a quilt made by an individual, and my art quilt career was born. In addition to creating more original works, I began to attend quilt shows and exhibits and for several years I taught quilt classes at various locations in the Boston area.

I joined the Quilters’ Connection, quilting guild in 1977 and continue to be an active member. The connection with other quilters and artists is very stimulating, and I look forward each May to the camaraderie of the members during our very well known annual exhibit, which beckons visitors from all over New England and beyond. I have organized, juried and curated both quilt shows and gallery exhibits of contemporary crafts including the New England Quilt Museum.

In 1979 I entered a quilt in the first Quilt National and my work was accepted, which validated my choice of a new medium for artistic expression. Acceptances to other quilt and art exhibits followed and I soon began wishing that I could travel to all the places where my quilts were exhibited, including South America, Europe, Japan, and many states in the US. In 1986, I became part of a small critique group that meets every month to share ideas, to critique works in progress, and to support and encourage each other in the creating, promoting and exhibiting of our work. Judy Becker, Sandra Donabed, Sylvia Einstein and Carol Grotrian are all close colleagues and friends. Our group is well known in the quilt world for its productivity and longevity and we have had several group shows at galleries and museums in New England. I also maintain close contact with Elizabeth Busch and Patricia White, dear friends and RISD classmates. We share our works in progress and our insights with thanks to digital photography and the web.

I have continued my education in the crafts by attending the Haystack Mountain School of Craftsin Deer Isle, Maine, where a most creative and generous staff and student body enriches and enlarges our visual vocabulary. With fiber artist Adrienne Sloane, I am a co-representative for the Surface Design Association’s Massachusetts/Rhode Island group, which has a monthly breakfast meeting in the Boston area, keeping me in touch with a core group of working artists.

In addition to all my artistic endeavors, I enjoy reading, swimming several times a week and walking along the Charles River. My husband and I enjoy traveling far and near, often with our two adult children.

Visit nancycrasco.com to see Nancy's artwork.