Bye, Bye Mitch

Mitch Lyon
June 2012

I just got news that Mitch Lyons died earlier this month.

About seven years ago while I was working in ceramics, I found Mitch's DVD's on ceramics in the college library. I loved what he was doing with ceramics especially the clayprinting. As I watched the magic appear on the clayprinting plate it was so exciting that I thought I would hyperventilate.

In 2012 I was able to take one of his workshops in Taos, NM. It changed the course of my work. My present studio is set up for clayprinting and I can easily lose myself for hours being surprised by what appears on my printing plates.

Thank you Mitch for sharing your clayprinting process with so many artists.

www.mitchlyons.com

Here are a few pics from the 2012 Workshop:

Mitch creating

Clay pigments

Mitch adding color to the plate with chalk.

Mitch adding color to the plate with colored slip.

Mitch pulls a finished print.

Prints drying on the line. 

Radio Waves
I created this clayprint at the workshop. It is framed & hangs in my entry.

The Art of Printing with Clay

Here it is folks, and I'm so excited: The Art of Printing with Clay by Mitch Lyons.
I got my copy in the mail yesterday and just flipping through it, I can tell it's full of inspiring techniques.

Mitch Lyons is the "inventor" or maybe the "discoverer" of printing with clay. He tells about how working with clay over the years kept him trying new things including printing. You see with clayprinting the clay is the printing "plate". Pigment is applied to the plate in a design of the artist's choosing and then "lifted" onto a substrate. Most printing processes involve a printing plate, ink, paper (as substrate), and a press.

Clayprinting uses no ink, no paper, & no press. I describe it as: pigment suspended in liquid clay on spun polyester canvas. It's all explained in Mitch's book.

I took a clayprinting workshop from Mitch in June of 2012 in Taos, NM. I have been working almost exclusively in clayprinting ever since.

Mitch also has an instructional DVD on clayprinting.

www.mitchlyons.com

Clayprinting

I feel I must promote clayprinting every chance I get. And to promote the creator of the clayprinting process, Mitch Lyons. I bumped into Mitch (not literally or personally), but in Paul Scott's book  Painted Clay.  And a likely place to find Mitch, even though he was nestled in the back of the book like a post script,. because clayprinting  actually involves painting clay with clay (got that?)

With the clayprinting process you can produce wonderful monoprints with layers of color and texture. What I particularly like about it is the "surprise factor". Because the colors are applied to a clay slab that is only leather hard the clay almost has a life of it's own. Pigments sink into the clay, colors come up from the clay, and lovely surprises appear on the "canvas".

Check out Mitch's prints & ceramics at www.mitchlyons.com.