KPU fine arts students sell their prints at the Surrey campus

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s fine arts department hosted a print sale at the Surrey campus Arbutus building’s atrium on Nov. 13 and 14 for students to sell their work.

Second-year fine arts student Asma Akrami was among those who took part in the sale. Akrami’s first sale piece was made using screen printing, which involves making designs with a screen, stencils, and ink.

“My inspiration for the screen print was fast fashion,” Akrami says. “There are a lot of fabrics and clothes produced every year. People tend to buy a lot of clothes each year even though they don’t need it. [It also causes] a lot of pollution in the air.”

Another print Akrami put up for sale was called “Scarlet Shadows.”

“[It’s] a photo I took in Victoria,” Akrami says. “How it works is that we have a silicone piece that we have to carve on, so you can transfer the photo onto the piece of silicone.”

Once it’s dried and the photo is transferred, the process then involves etching out the white parts in the piece and applying colour to the entire surface of the sheet. Akrami began by applying red — the lightest colour in the piece — on the silicone sheet before using a press machine to roll out the sheet onto paper, revealing a design.

“Then, for the darkest colour, which is the last colour, I carved the parts that I wanted to stay red …. I [then went] ahead with the black ink and I put the rest of the silicone … and printed it on the paper.”

The inspiration behind the piece was Akrami’s appreciation of nature and landscapes as well as paying homage to Victoria in the fall.

“All the trees were red. It was a great colour and is my favourite colour …. It’s like something is growing and it gives a sense of life.”

Akrami says the process of making the piece took about 12 hours.

“It was quite a process. I took the piece home, I worked on it for four to five hours and then at school for printing another five hours. The process after that is you need to wait for the first thing to dry a bit, so that would be another hour.”

Akrami used the sale as a chance to share original, successful work with the university community and show people that the prints can make for good gifts.

“It’s a great opportunity for others to see the works and maybe it’ll be a good inspiration for them,” Akrami adds. 

“For myself, I get a lot of inspiration from other works, so it’s always great to see art from other artists. It’s also a good opportunity to start to learn to share your art.”