Etching & Drypoint Retreat

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This six-night retreat offers an immersive introduction to traditional copper plate etching and drypoint, combining focused studio practice with the landscape, culture and rhythms of rural Umbria.

Suitable for complete beginners as well as artists and printmakers wishing to refresh or extend their practice, the retreat is designed around a deliberately small group, allowing for individual guidance and a teaching approach that can respond to different levels of experience.

​Most days are centred around the print studio, where participants are guided through the processes of drypoint and copper plate etching from initial image to finished print. Studio sessions are punctuated throughout the week by time away from the press — exploring local villages and markets, enjoying the surrounding landscape, and taking part in private wine and olive oil tastings.

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The retreat begins with drypoint — a direct and immediate introduction to intaglio printmaking. Participants choose an image and work directly onto the plate, exploring drawing and mark-making before learning to ink, wipe and print their first image on the etching press.

From there, the focus moves to copper plate etching. Participants choose an image for their etched plate — either returning to the same subject or beginning with something new — and are guided step by step through the process of translating that image onto copper and developing it into a finished print.

Copper plates are filed, cleaned and prepared with a contemporary etching ground in advance. This means participants can begin working with their image from the outset, rather than spending valuable retreat time on lengthy plate preparation.

Working from a drawing, photograph, direct observation or another source image, participants can draw directly through the ground or be guided in transferring an image onto the plate. You do not need to consider yourself good at drawing to make a successful etching. For those who feel hesitant about drawing freehand, transferring an image provides a clear starting point from which the work can develop. More expressive or abstract approaches are equally welcome.

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Line etching forms the foundation of the retreat. Through demonstrations, examples of Megan's own work and looking at etchings and drypoints by master printmakers such as Albrecht Dürer, participants explore the extraordinary expressive possibilities of line — and how changes in direction, density and mark can create texture, form, depth and remarkably subtle variations in tone.

There is a practical reason for beginning here, too. Etching is a process-oriented form of printmaking, with several interconnected stages to understand. Focusing initially on line allows participants to see clearly what is happening at each stage: a line is drawn through the ground, exposing the copper beneath; the plate is etched in a contemporary non-toxic mordant, creating an incised line; that line holds ink and ultimately becomes the printed mark on paper.

Understanding this relationship between drawing, plate and print provides a strong foundation for everything that follows.

Participants then learn how to proof their plates, assess the developing image, ink and wipe the plate and print it on the etching press. The aim is not simply to follow a sequence of instructions and produce a print, but to understand why each stage produces the result it does and gradually develop the confidence to make informed decisions about the work.

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Although line etching and drypoint provide the core technical focus, the retreat is not a rigid one-size-fits-all course.

Because groups are intentionally kept small, teaching can be adapted where appropriate. Returning participants may wish to build upon techniques learned during an earlier retreat, while somebody with previous printmaking experience — or whose particular image would benefit from further development — may explore additional processes such as aquatint, open bite, roulettes, stencilling, à la poupée or selective wiping.

For many participants, however, the expressive possibilities of line provide more than enough territory for the week. The intention is not to race through as many techniques as possible, but to develop a sound understanding of the fundamental principles of etching and use them to create a resolved piece of work.

By the end of the retreat, participants will have their drypoint prints, original etched copper plate, working proofs and  a small edition from their completed plates.

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Printmaking may begin with an individual image, but a printmaking studio itself is naturally collaborative.

Everyone develops their own work, while sharing the inking tables, press and working space. Plates are inked and wiped alongside one another, proofs emerge from the press, work is discussed and ideas and observations are exchanged. As participants progress at different stages and become familiar with the processes, helping one another with inking, wiping, printing and troubleshooting becomes a natural part of working together. It creates a particular kind of creative community: individual artists and makers concentrating on their own images while sharing the experience of making prints together.

That exchange is an important part of the retreat. Learning happens not only through demonstrations and individual tuition, but through seeing other plates develop, discussing different approaches and sharing the anticipation of lifting the paper from the plate to reveal a new proof.

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While printmaking is at the heart of the retreat and most days include substantial studio time, the week is designed as a retreat rather than an intensive 30-hour technical course.

Studio practice is interwoven with time to experience Umbria — its hill towns and villages, landscape, food and traditions.while private wine and olive oil tastings introduce participants to two of the region’s most deeply rooted forms of cultivation and production.

The result is a week that allows enough concentrated studio time to genuinely understand and develop an etching, while still leaving space to enjoy being in Italy — returning to the studio with new observations, conversations and ideas.