Shelley Ryde – Polyester Lithography or Pronto Plate Printmaking
This workshop will provide hands-on experience and insight into the application of Pronto Plate Lithography, enhancing creative possibilities for students and for teachers interested in advancing their printmaking vocabulary.
Biography
Shelley Ryde was the Head of the Visual Arts Department at Diocesan School until 2024, a position she held since 1983.
As an educator of over 50 years’ experience, Shelley has been involved in curriculum development, moderation & assessment at national levels, & has attended & contributed to local, national &international courses & conferences in the visual arts field. She has researched new technologies in Printmaking & has facilitated workshops & seminars throughout New Zealand.
As a painter Shelley has continued to develop & evolve. She completed her Masters in Fine Arts at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2003 in painting & the work of this period reflects her research into processes, materials & methods of production to explore the optical & sensory impact of the vibration, harmonics & discords of layers of colour on the surface & the edges of a painting.
The landscape of this country has been a recurrent theme in her work ranging from realistic to abstract interpretations, but gradually the work moved away from the landscape as a source towards painting as a process.
Colour, edge & surface and the techniques of layering washes & glazes of pure colours combined with investigations into the relationship between the painting as an object and the space it occupies are very much a feature of her later paintings.
As a printmaker Shelley has translated her painting practice to her printmaking approach, particularly her use of colour. Over the last three decades she has researched new techniques in print and applied her findings to her teaching practice. Shelley has become increasingly interested in the wider implications of print in education and has facilitated numerous workshops on drawing, multimedia and print applications for educators from ranging as far afield as Dunedin to Keri Keri.
More recently Shelley has become interested in crossing the boundaries between fields and exploring diversity in print practice with her students, and particularly the use of available technologies including the photocopier.
Her current practice is to design integrated visual art programmes appropriate to students at all levels, from year 7 to 13 with an emphasis on inquiry learning leading to individual creative outcomes in different fields.