Biography of DAN WELDON
Teacher, Painter, Author, and Master Printmaker
Dan Welden, teacher, painter, author and master printmaker, is the originator of solar plate printmaking in the United States. He is the Co-Author with Pauline Muir of “Printmaking in the Sun” published by Watson Guptill in 2001, the comprehensive manual of solar plate methods.
As a teacher, Dan continues to inspire students around the world in workshops where he demonstrates how to make solar plates and print both intaglio and relief plates. His month-long summer workshops at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy, are attended by students from Europe, Australia and America. He has taught printmaking at several colleges in the New York area including Stony Brook University, Suffolk Community College, Long Island University Southampton, and Central Connecticut State University. His demonstrations at the New York State Art Teacher’s Association Conferences, Southern Graphics Council and Mid America Print Council Conferences inspire teachers, students and artists to make prints using the safer and greener methods of solar plate etching without the use of acids or other dangerous chemicals.
Dan is past president of the Society of American Graphic Artists, and has shown his work in more than 60 one-person exhibits and over 350 Group exhibitions in the U.S., Europe, China, Australia, New Zealand and Peru. As master printmaker/owner at Hampton Editions, Ltd. in Sag Harbor, Long Island, he has collaborated with artists Robert Dash, Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Jimmy Ernst, James Brooks, Dan Flavin, Esteban Vicente, William King, Ibram Lassaw, Kurt Vonnegut, Alfonso Ossorio, Jane Freilicher, David Salle, Eric Fischl, Louisa Chase, Linda Benglis and many others.
Students from Louise Millmann’s Advanced Media Arts class took a special trip out the studio of Mr. Weldon in Sag Harbor NY and participated in a unique solar plate etching workshop. Students brought their own acetate photographs and were evaluated by Mr.Weldon before the workshop began. He was very impressed at the level of sophistication of our student work and proceeded to demonstrate the non toxic solar printing process. Every student had the opportunity to prepare their plate, expose and print their very own solar etching on the professional press. They were very pleased with the results. We will be integrating the solar plate etching process into the AP/ St. John’s curriculum for next year. We hope you enjoy our results!