About This Event
How does scale alter our relation to an image? What happens when a photograph expands across a surface, blends into its surroundings, or disrupts the space around it? The workshop will explore large-scale DIY, experimental, and temporary photographic installations. Participants will bring a selection of images and experiment with scale, fragmentation, and installation. Using Photoshop, they will enlarge photographs, divide them into grids of letter-sized pages, print them on a standard laser printer, and assemble them into larger-than-life works.
The focus is on affordability, accessibility, and experimentation, not permanence or technical perfection. By removing the usual constraints of printing costs and production, participants can explore what happens when a photograph becomes less an object and more something that inhabits a space.
Finished works will be installed in the Lab at Silver Eye and will be on view during Unblurred, the First Friday event on November 6, 2026.
Skill/Experience Level
No printing experience is necessary. Basic familiarity with Photoshop is helpful but not required. Open to anyone interested in making affordable, large-scale prints. Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops with Photoshop downloaded. If you do not have Photoshop, Silver Eye can offer a communal computer with the software. All other materials will be provided.
Schedule
Wednesday, November 4, 2026, 5:00 pm -8:00 pm ET - The Lab @ Silver Eye
A discussion of why artists might experiment with scale, how scale can affect a work, and the ethos of affordable, DIY printing. Helen will share examples from her own practice and from other artists, giving participants a sense of what photographs they might want to bring to the next class. Participants will then be guided through the process of planning and laying out their photographs.
Thursday, November 5, 2026, 5:00 pm -8:00 pm ET - The Lab @ Silver Eye
The second session will focus on formatting, printing, gluing, and installing the works, followed by a discussion of the finished pieces.
Friday, November 6, 2026, 5:00 pm -9:00 pm ET - The Lab @ Silver Eye
Prints will be on view and open to the public to see during Unblurred, the First Friday event on November 6, 2026. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to attend.
Register:
The two-day course registration fee is $120.00 with an additional $30.00 materials fee.
Register by 5pm on Monday, November 2nd!
If you would like to take this workshop and need financial assistance please contact sobia@silvereye.org. A limited number of bursary seats are available.
Artist Bio
Helen Jones is an image maker currently living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art. Since 2011, she has run Pine Island Press, a small press specializing in publishing photography and art zines. Her Photographs explore interactions between people, places, and landscapes and the imprints they leave behind. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Visual Art Center (Austin, Texas), Silver Eye Center for Photography (Pittsburgh, PA), (___) (Pittsburgh, PA), ShedShows (Austin, TX), UnSmoke Art Systems (Braddock, PA), and have been included in the Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers at Blue Sky Gallery (Portland, OR).
Image credit: Helen Jones, Highwater, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
About This Event
How does scale alter our relation to an image? What happens when a photograph expands across a surface, blends into its surroundings, or disrupts the space around it? The workshop will explore large-scale DIY, experimental, and temporary photographic installations. Participants will bring a selection of images and experiment with scale, fragmentation, and installation. Using Photoshop, they will enlarge photographs, divide them into grids of letter-sized pages, print them on a standard laser printer, and assemble them into larger-than-life works.
The focus is on affordability, accessibility, and experimentation, not permanence or technical perfection. By removing the usual constraints of printing costs and production, participants can explore what happens when a photograph becomes less an object and more something that inhabits a space.
Finished works will be installed in the Lab at Silver Eye and will be on view during Unblurred, the First Friday event on November 6, 2026.
Skill/Experience Level
No printing experience is necessary. Basic familiarity with Photoshop is helpful but not required. Open to anyone interested in making affordable, large-scale prints. Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops with Photoshop downloaded. If you do not have Photoshop, Silver Eye can offer a communal computer with the software. All other materials will be provided.
Schedule
Wednesday, November 4, 2026, 5:00 pm -8:00 pm ET - The Lab @ Silver Eye
A discussion of why artists might experiment with scale, how scale can affect a work, and the ethos of affordable, DIY printing. Helen will share examples from her own practice and from other artists, giving participants a sense of what photographs they might want to bring to the next class. Participants will then be guided through the process of planning and laying out their photographs.
Thursday, November 5, 2026, 5:00 pm -8:00 pm ET - The Lab @ Silver Eye
The second session will focus on formatting, printing, gluing, and installing the works, followed by a discussion of the finished pieces.
Friday, November 6, 2026, 5:00 pm -9:00 pm ET - The Lab @ Silver Eye
Prints will be on view and open to the public to see during Unblurred, the First Friday event on November 6, 2026. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to attend.
Register:
The two-day course registration fee is $120.00 with an additional $30.00 materials fee.
Register by 5pm on Monday, November 2nd!
If you would like to take this workshop and need financial assistance please contact sobia@silvereye.org. A limited number of bursary seats are available.
Artist Bio
Helen Jones is an image maker currently living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art. Since 2011, she has run Pine Island Press, a small press specializing in publishing photography and art zines. Her Photographs explore interactions between people, places, and landscapes and the imprints they leave behind. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Visual Art Center (Austin, Texas), Silver Eye Center for Photography (Pittsburgh, PA), (___) (Pittsburgh, PA), ShedShows (Austin, TX), UnSmoke Art Systems (Braddock, PA), and have been included in the Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers at Blue Sky Gallery (Portland, OR).
Image credit: Helen Jones, Highwater, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.