Workshop Series: Printmaking and the Contemporary Amoxtli with José Hugo Sánchez

This workshop series introduces participants to the artistic language of relief color printmaking while exploring the symbolic universe of the amoxtli/Codex Borgia, one of the greatest pictorial manuscripts of ancient Mesoamerica.
Participants will learn both the practical techniques of color printmaking and the philosophical foundations of the amoxtli/codex tradition. Throughout the workshop, students will create an original contemporary amoxtli/codex, interpreting present-day life through symbols, narrative sequences, memory, family, community, ecology, contemporary mythology, ritual and personal experience.
This workshop series combines historical knowledge, studio production, creative research and personal reflection. Each participant will develop original imagery and assemble a finished book. Each session combines discussion with demonstrations and guided studio work. Sánchez will provide individual feedback as participants develop their imagery, refine their printing techniques and bring their books together.
Organized by the California Center for the Arts Museum in collaboration with José Hugo Sánchez.
Who This Workshop Is For
This series is for adults and teens ages 15 and older interested in printmaking, artist books and visual storytelling. Instruction begins with tool safety and introductory relief-printing techniques before progressing to multicolor printing and book assembly.
The sessions build on one another, so participants should plan to attend the complete series.
What You’ll Learn and Make
Throughout the course, you will:
• Explore how images and symbols communicate meaning in the Codex Borgia and develop your own imagery in response.
• Transfer drawings to linoleum and use carving tools safely.
• Mix printing inks and use registration methods to align successive layers of color.
• Organize individual prints into a connected visual narrative.
• Assemble and finish an original pictorial book.
You’ll leave with a contemporary amoxtli of your own design and practical experience in relief color printmaking.
Weekly Schedule
October 18 | Introduction to Pictorial Storytelling and Relief Printmaking
Explore the Codex Borgia, develop ideas for your pictorial book and learn introductory linoleum carving techniques, including tool safety and creating texture.
October 25 | Creation Stories and Personal Imagery
Explore creation stories and the natural world while developing your own visual vocabulary. Transfer drawings to linoleum, carve your first image and produce a black-ink proof.
November 1 | Ritual and the Introduction of Color
Explore ritual imagery while refining your designs. Learn ink mixing and registration techniques before printing your first color layers.
November 8 | Calendars and Layered Color
Investigate cycles, time and calendar imagery. Experiment with transparent inks, overlapping colors and multicolor registration.
November 15 | Dreams and Symbolic Imagery
Explore dreams, identity and symbolic imagery through multiblock