monday 12th - Friday 16th January 2026
$430 workshop only - 4 day workshop, rest day Wednesday.
$805 workshop + 5 nights accommodation - self catering
Masterclass in Mezzotint
This is a time-consuming but very beautiful technique. During the workshop students would learn how to ‘rock’ a copperplate to prepare the ground for a mezzotint. The rocking will cover the plate with tiny dots and burrs, which hold the ink and produces a velvety black when printed.
The student will then start working on an image by scraping and burnishing areas of the rocked ground and in this way producing a wide range of tones, from intense black to nearly white and all shades in-between. The student works from dark to light. A number of proofs are printed, as it is difficult to judge the tonal nuances by looking at the plate. At the end of the workshop the student should have at least one finished mezzotint.
Possibilities of adding colour will be discussed.
*For this workshop an etching press is needed.
*Students will need a rocker, scraper and burnisher. (Nan should be able to source enough rockers for all the students).
*Hopefully students are able to bring their own scraper and/or burnisher, (Nan will have a few extra ones, but not enough foreverybody).
*Work will be done on copper.
Nan Mulder
Nan Mulder has been making mezzotints for nearly 50 years. She was educated in printmaking and painting at the Art Colleges in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Krakow (Poland), where she was taught the technique of mezzotints. Having served as a Lecturer in Printmaking at Dun Laoghaire School of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland and at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland, she has been invited as a guest lecturer in Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands and Nepal. She attended residencies in Slovakia and Pakistan.
Nan has had 17 solo/duo exhibitions and her mezzotints have been shown in numerous global exhibitions. She has been widely recognised with awards. In 2017 she was awarded the title of 'International Mezzotint Ambassador' at Russia's International Mezzotint Festival in 2017.
Nan Mulder has been a member of the Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) since 2008, She emigrated to New Zealand in 2024 and lives and works now in Wellington. Nan is keen to promote this beautiful technique of velvety black to both beginners and more experienced mezzotinters .
