Artist’s Talk & Salt Etch Demonstration with Gus Ramirez
Saturday, August 9th, 2025
Time: 1-4 pm
Cherry Press Printmaking
at ArtHouse
12 South Main Street
Wilmington, VT
Free & Open to the Public
The ArtHouse Bar will be open from 2 pm for snacks and beverages
Donations Appreciated
Join us on Saturday, August 9th, for an Artist’s Talk and Demonstration of Salt Etching with interdisciplinary artist, Gus Ramirez. Salt Etching is a new, non-toxic method for creating intaglio plates for printmaking. Unlike traditional etching techniques, that use nitric acid or ferric chloride, the salt etch is not corrosive, and doesn’t create fumes or hazardous waste storage and disposal issues and can be used to etch a variety of metals.
Gus Ramirez lives and works in Cohoes, New York, and was born in El Paso, Texas. Their work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, with shows across the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Greece.
Ramirez’s practice explores queer identities and representation within an overwhelmingly binary world. Through their multidisciplinary approach, they blend various arts to create historical references and new explorations, contributing to a queer-adjacent narrative that challenges traditional boundaries of identity and history. Their dynamic works contribute to a growing conversation about gender identity and sexual culture in the hopes that future generations do not need to suffer under the oppressive and unnecessary binary systems that currently exist in the world.
Intaglio, also known as “etching” is a printmaking method where a design is made on a plate by creating grooves in the plate’s surface, either by hand - “drypoint” or by coating the plate’s surface with a resist, drawing/scratching a design into the resist with a sharp tool, such as an etching needle and immersing it in a corrosive substance - “etching” to bite a variety of different-depth grooves into the plate. To print the plate, ink is rubbed into the grooves of the design and then wiped off the surface of the plate. The plate is run through a printing press on damp printmaking paper. The press squeezes the ink from the grooves on the plate to create an image on paper. How thoroughly or decisively the plate was wiped previous to printing will affect the tonality of the print.
We are so excited to have this opportunity to to share Gus Ramirez's artwork and the salt-etching technique with you!
Also check out other Arts events in Wilmington, Fine Arts events in Wilmington, Nonprofit events in Wilmington.
