Workshop as a Pedagogical Strategy for Printmaking: A review of the sixth Nsukka printmaking workshop.

Abstract

In May 2009, the sixth printmaking workshop was held at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. This paper is a review of this creative workshop. Critically evaluating the demonstration of drypoint and collagraphy techniques in the exercise, effort is made to highlight the effectiveness of workshop as a strategy of teaching and disseminating the art of printmaking. Also surveyed is the historical evolution of workshop in the development of printmaking in Nigeria, with emphasis on how the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria adopted workshop in its academic programme. Beyond the learning of skills, the sixth Nsukka printmaking workshop is used to interrogate the issue of trans-national and cross-cultural networking in art. The contemporary construction of art history is much affected by how artists, artworks and artistic styles get interconnected in physical, printed and electronic forms. The sixth Nsukka printmaking workshop was a product of such contact, and inspired further linkages for younger artists from Nsukka as will be elaborated in this essay.