CRAFTY HOUR: April in Paris – pochoir techniques

Join us for a Crafty Hour this month offering “April in Paris!” – we will be sharing techniques around the French art of color stenciling, called “pochoir.” (https://www.britannica.com/art/pochoir)

There will be a brief slide show about this process, and lots of chances for everyone to share their favorite color stencil ideas and templates, and to learn the basics of the technique as it was and is used in printing.

Pochoir: Art of the Stencil
from the introduction to the RISD exhibition at the Fleet Library, Jan 11-April 8, 2011:

Simply stated, pochoir is the French word for stencil.  In the 1920’s and 30’s Art Deco era, the color  application process of the stencil was rejuvenated by the French, bringing color illustration processes for books and prints to new glorious heights.  This interest in exploring the stencil process came in reaction to the proliferation of machine printing and the poor quality of color reproductions in publishing.  With pochoir printing, the hand application of layers of pigment created dazzling effects that the camera or printing press could never replicate.  Earlier stencil works, typically used for decorative surface ornament were quite primitive, with applied color areas outlined by the supporting cutout framework.  New experimental techniques in pochoir refined the process using multiple layers of color applications for a single print.   Pochoir printing was also easily combined with images made by lithography, woodcut, wood engraving, line drawings, or etchings, thus turning a decorative technique into fine art.  Jean Saudé was one of the foremost artists to explore and promote pochoir techniques and his treatise, Traité d’Enluminure d’Art au Pochoir, published in 1925 did much to further this art form