“Boone Bingo,” a mixed media work by Dan Welden

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - A master printmaker from New York will work with students and community members as an artist-in-residence from Jan. 30 through Feb. 28 at California Lutheran University.

The work of Dan Welden, the originator of the safe and green printmaking technique called the Solarplate method, will be exhibited in the Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture from Monday, Jan. 30, through Wednesday, March 7, as part of the 2011-2012 Artists and Speakers Series. He will create prints in the gallery from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Jan. 30 through Tuesday, Feb. 28. The community is invited to visit, and possibly help create art, during these times.

Welden will also present two Solarplate workshops for students and community members at CLU. The first, from Feb. 10 through 12, is full. A second workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 24, 25 and 26. The total cost is $425.

The artist, who is also a painter, is an innovator at the forefront of the alternative health- and safety-oriented movement of printmaking. As a teacher, he has inspired students around the world with demonstrations of how to make prints, including the use of both intaglio and relief plates, without the use of acids or other dangerous chemicals. He is co-author of “Printmaking in the Sun,” the comprehensive manual of Solarplate techniques, and is currently working on an updated edition.

Welden has been making prints and works on paper for more than 40 years. His work has been shown in more than 65 solo exhibitions and 500 group shows throughout the world. His pieces are in many public and private collections including the Amity Art Foundation in Connecticut, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Portland Museum of Art. He is a past president of the Society of American Graphic Artists.

He has led month-long summer workshops for students from Europe, Australia and the United States at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy. He has also taught printmaking at several colleges in the New York area.

The Kwan Fong Gallery is located in Soiland Humanities Center, which is on the south side of Memorial Parkway on the Thousand Oaks campus. It is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

CLU’s Artists and Speakers Committee and Art Department are sponsoring the residency and free exhibit. For more information, call Michael Pearce at 805-444-7716 or visit http://www.callutheran.edu. To sign up for the workshop, contact Kristi Colell at 805-797-3018 or cluprinter@yahoo.com.