Come to learn about the traditional technique of resist print dyed fabric using indigo. Petra Gupta Valentova will guide attendees through the installation of "Beautiful Work,” currently on display at the Czech Center Gallery, discussing Czech craftsmanship and collaborative design. She will introduce the technique of blueprint - known as Blaudruck in German, modrotisk in Czech, kékfestés in Hungarian, and modrotlač in Slovak - which was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018. She will present examples of Czech blueprint textiles and wooden blocks used for printing, and in the second half of the workshop, participants will have an opportunity to try their hands at printing with fabric dye on fabric.
Workshop: Learning the Czech Blueprint
Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 7 pm
Duration 2 hours. No skills necessary.
Free registration here.
Petra will introduce the technique of blueprint - known as Blaudruck in German, modrotisk in Czech, kékfestés in Hungarian, and modrotlač in Slovak - which was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018. Blueprint, or blue-dyeing, involves printing a dye-resistant paste onto fabric before dyeing it with indigo. She will present examples of Czech blueprint textiles and wooden blocks used for printing, and in the second half of the workshop, participants will have an opportunity to try their hands at printing with fabric dye on fabric.
Petra (Gupta) Valentova, Ph.D., is a conceptual and multimedia artist focusing on questions of identity, memory, textile, and the craft of hand block printing and dyeing, as well as the cultural and intellectual rights of indigenous craft communities. Petra works with artists and designers in the US, India, and her native Czech Republic. She works with block makers and blue print (indigo) workshops in the Czech Republic and with indigenous printing communities in Bagru, Rajasthan in India. She exhibited extensively nationally and internationally, including at the Czech Center New York. In 2007, she published her book Searching for a Sámi/Cookbook, and her work is part of several public and private collections around the world.
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