A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

Frances Lightbound

Lecturer

Bio

Frances Lightbound (she/her) works between printmaking, photography, sculpture and installation to address the materiality of built space, and relationships between time, bodies and buildings. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues in the US and Europe, with recent solo exhibitions at Rule Gallery (Marfa TX), Bird Show (Chicago), and the John David Mooney Foundation (Chicago). Lightbound was awarded a Luminarts Visual Arts Fellowship in 2017. Originally from Sheffield, England, she received an MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BA (Hons) from Glasgow School of Art, Scotland.

Education: BA (Hons), 2012, Glasgow School of Art (Scotland). MFA, 2016, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Exhibitions: Blue Star Contemporary, San Antonio; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; MONACO, St Louis; 68projects, Berlin; 6018|North, Chicago; DEMOproject, Springfield, IL; Heaven Gallery, Chicago; Chicago Artists' Coalition. Awards: Luminarts Visual Arts Fellowship, Luminarts Cultural Foundation. Residencies: Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency; The Studio Pavilion, Glasgow; Chicago Artists' Coalition HATCH Projects.

Portfolio

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

Do you want to develop a proposal for a grant, residency, exhibition, or curatorial project? Are you applying to graduate school? This is the course for you! Learn how to research and identify opportunities, write an artist statement, and document and present your work. Upon completion, students will have a competitive advantage when it comes to securing new opportunities in today's contemporary art world.

Class Number

1067

Credits

1

Description

This course is designed for artists who are interested in learning printmedia techniques, but do not necessarily have access to a print studio. Technical processes covered may include transfers, monoprinting, linoleum stamps, digital and handmade repeat patterns, and digital printing on fabric. These processes can be transferred easily from the classroom to the artist¿s workspace. Class discussions will focus on how repetition or manipulation of an image affects its meaning. The processes addressed will allow students to experiment with their existing drawings, photographs, or designs. This class is suitable for artists of all disciplines, both
with and without prior printmaking experience.

Class Number

2409

Credits

1

Description

Explore an overview of printmaking techniques that don't require a dedicated print studio. This course is designed to give a brief overview of basic printmaking processes, such as monotype, relief, image transfer, and basic screen printing. Each technique will be explored through an introductory project, culminating in one final personalized project at the end of the course. Experiment with a variety of approaches to techniques and materials, and discover the creative and critical potential of the multiple within the broader field of contemporary art and visual culture. Artists of all disciplines, both with and without prior printmaking experience, are encouraged to join.

Class Number

2319

Credits

1

Description

This class will guide students on a deep dive into the possibilities of monoprint and monotype - painterly printmaking processes that lend themselves to immediacy and experimentation while producing finessed and complex imagery. The class will introduce a variety of monotyping processes, as well as elements of collagraph and chine collé, then cover multi-layer registration, allowing for the planning and production of more complex compositions. Student work may incorporate elements of drawing, painting, and collage in combination with printmaking techniques, with the option to use SAIC laser cutters to produce photo-based printing plates. Students will have the opportunity to draw upon both the collections of the Art Institute and the immediate environment of downtown Chicago in their work as they produce several unique prints and variable editions during this one-week intensive.

Class Number

1074

Credits

0.33

Description

Cultivate a regular sketchbook practice to develop new ideas, stay accountable to your creative goals, and refine the direction of your work. Explore sketching, collaging, painting, and writing, as you investigate how the personal nature of an artist's sketchbook can catapult work to the next level. During one class meeting, handmade sketchbooks are made using an array of book construction methods. You will also review the history of artists¿ sketchbooks and visit the Art Institute of Chicago for inspiration.

Class Number

2295

Credits

1

Description

How is print fundamental to artistic practice? Students will have two seven-week sections learning fundamentals, exploring ways in which artists utilize processes to facilitate print media based projects. Projects will encourage students to critically examine how print services concept and context both historically and within the contemporary. Each thematic section is anchored in a specific print process aimed to establish skill acquisition and experimentation. Sections in Room 221 and 222 will concentrate on experimental and innovative processes in Screenprinting and Lithography; the section meeting in Room 223 will explore contemporary practices using Relief, etching, monotypes, stencils, and collagraphs.

Faculty will conduct process demonstrations, introduce students to a history of practitioners in the graphic arts, and provide supporting readings. Print processes covered may include screen printing, relief, monotypes, photo plate lithography, book arts. Topics will vary but may include the multiple, seriality, editions, public address, progression of collage, and self-publishing. Learning will be aided with visits to the AIC Department of Prints and Drawings and the Joan Flasch Artists Books Collection

Class Number

1828

Credits

3

Description

How is print fundamental to artistic practice? Students will have two seven-week sections learning fundamentals, exploring ways in which artists utilize processes to facilitate print media based projects. Projects will encourage students to critically examine how print services concept and context both historically and within the contemporary. Each thematic section is anchored in a specific print process aimed to establish skill acquisition and experimentation. Sections in Room 221 and 222 will concentrate on experimental and innovative processes in Screenprinting and Lithography; the section meeting in Room 223 will explore contemporary practices using Relief, etching, monotypes, stencils, and collagraphs.

Faculty will conduct process demonstrations, introduce students to a history of practitioners in the graphic arts, and provide supporting readings. Print processes covered may include screen printing, relief, monotypes, photo plate lithography, book arts. Topics will vary but may include the multiple, seriality, editions, public address, progression of collage, and self-publishing. Learning will be aided with visits to the AIC Department of Prints and Drawings and the Joan Flasch Artists Books Collection

Class Number

1542

Credits

3

Description

In this course, we'll delve into the intriguing intersection of photography and printmaking, acquiring light and pressure-based printing skills and conceptually integrating them into an art practice that approaches print as a site-responsive medium, sensitive to light, pressure, and context. The introductory section explores the material sensitivity of embossing and frottage, treating them as akin to documentary photography. The second section introduces light sensitivity through cyanotype and gelatin silver processes, engaging directly with objects and surfaces. The final segment employs digital fabrication to create laser-engraved linoleum blocks and printed photogravure plates, enabling relief and intaglio inking techniques and printing processes.
The course will introduce pivotal artists associated with taught printing techniques and their historical context. We'll explore the works of artists such as Anna Atkins and Albrecht Durer, who played significant roles in the development of their respective techniques. We'll also examine figures like Alfred Stieglitz and Robert Overby, who influenced the trajectory of their media, and contemporary artists like William Kentridge and Do Ho Suh, who have reshaped our perception of print. Additionally, we'll read and screen 'Contact: Art and the Pull of Print' by Jennifer Roberts from Harvard, and invite her for an online discussion with our students.
The coursework will adhere to a media and technique-based structure, with the creation of six bodies of work with separate critiques.

Class Number

2200

Credits

3

Description

In this course, we'll delve into the intriguing intersection of photography and printmaking, acquiring light and pressure-based printing skills and conceptually integrating them into an art practice that approaches print as a site-responsive medium, sensitive to light, pressure, and context. The introductory section explores the material sensitivity of embossing and frottage, treating them as akin to documentary photography. The second section introduces light sensitivity through cyanotype and gelatin silver processes, engaging directly with objects and surfaces. The final segment employs digital fabrication to create laser-engraved linoleum blocks and printed photogravure plates, enabling relief and intaglio inking techniques and printing processes.
The course will introduce pivotal artists associated with taught printing techniques and their historical context. We'll explore the works of artists such as Anna Atkins and Albrecht Durer, who played significant roles in the development of their respective techniques. We'll also examine figures like Alfred Stieglitz and Robert Overby, who influenced the trajectory of their media, and contemporary artists like William Kentridge and Do Ho Suh, who have reshaped our perception of print. Additionally, we'll read and screen 'Contact: Art and the Pull of Print' by Jennifer Roberts from Harvard, and invite her for an online discussion with our students.
The coursework will adhere to a media and technique-based structure, with the creation of six bodies of work with separate critiques.

Class Number

2201

Credits

3

Description

This intermediate studio will explore Lithography as an expanded practice for creating fine art prints that are both innovative and experimental. The course will focus on both individual and collaborative projects to expand the notions and practice of traditional lithography by combining it with other artistic practices. Students will be introduced with advanced printing processes including multi-color printing using stone and aluminum plate, photo and wood lithography, and monotype/monoprints. Use of laser and vinyl cutters to combine with traditional lithography will also be explored.

Class Number

1552

Credits

3