Make an Animal: Exquisite Corpse Printmaking Project

Friday 19 September 2025
10.30am – 4.00pm

An intensive workshop with the Boston Printmakers artist Ellen Shattuck Pierce

In this full-day workshop led by guest artist Ellen Shattuck Pierce, participants will take part in a collaborative printmaking project inspired by the surrealist game exquisite corpse, centered around the creation of imaginative and unexpected animal forms.

 

Terms of Participation

€75,00

More information

Program

Each participant will carve a linoleum block depicting an animal, real or imaginary, current, extinct, exotic or inspired by insects, skeletons, or robotic creatures. These blocks will then be divided into three sections (head, body, and tail) and recombined freely with sections carved by others. The result: a wild and ever-evolving bestiary of hybrid beasts born through collective play and transformation. The exquisite corpse method borrowed from surrealist tradition, serves here as a tool to explore the tension between attraction and repulsion. Participants will be invited to combine animals they love with those they find unsettling or strange, transforming discomfort into a space of discovery and play. The project reflects themes central to the artist’s own practice, which explores personal and societal contradictions within contemporary American life. All prints will be made by hand, and participants will leave with as many printed versions of their exquisite creatures as they have the energy and inspiration to create. Those who wish may donate a print to be included in a collective display, presented alongside the artist’s final installation at the end of her residency. The workshop offers a space for shared making and reflection through the liberating and playful act of visual mash-up.

 

Ellen Shattuck Pierce

Ellen Shattuck Pierce is a U.S.-based artist working with printmaking, drawing, and installation to explore themes related to personal and collective identity. Her work examines the emotional push and pull between what draws us in and what unsettles us. Drawing inspiration from the surrealist game of cadavre exquis, her current project, How You Ruined Everything I Like, addresses the socio-political transformation of contemporary America. Through a language of collage and grotesque imagery, she delves into fears, contradictions, and the possibilities for resilience and resistance.

 

Terms of Particpation

• The maximum number of participants admitted is 12.
• If the minimum number of participants is not reached, the Workshop may be cancelled. In this case, the participants will receive a full refund of the participation fee.
• The Scuola Internazionale di Grafica is a School and Studio for Artists. All of our participants are expected to abide by the rules that are provided at the beginning of each workshop.
• The use of presses and working tools is strictly prohibited without the supervision of our qualified staff. The Scuola is not responsible for any injuries that may occur as a result of not following our rules.
• Lunch is not included in the cost of the Workshop

MATERIALS
• The Scuola Internazionale di Grafica provides all materials and tools needed for the Workshop.

CANCELLATION POLICY
Registrations cancelled up to 20 days before the start of the Workshop will receive a refund equal to 50% of the participation fee. Thereafter, no refunds will be paid by the Scuola. Cancellations must be communicated by email to info@scuolagrafica.it.

In the event of non-attendance without prior notice, participants will be required to pay the full workshop fee (payment at the front office).