This project began as a final class assignment given by printmaking instructor Greta Songe in 2007. The class was to create a collaborative print portfolio that would include one image from every student. Each student then received a portfolio that included a print from each member of the class. One edition was given to the College’s art collection. Each image is 11 x 7.5 inches and a cover page was also designed to complete the collection.
Print portfolios are common within the community of printmakers as a way to share and receive artwork from other artists. Each printmaker creates an edition of prints with certain design parameters – size and number of copies are always specified, but sometimes printing process or theme are also addressed. The edition is then shared with all participating artists and the host organization so that each has a portfolio of prints from each participating artist. Sometimes if there are many participants, each artist may only get a sampling of prints equal to the number they contributed.
See the Printmaking Techniques box at the bottom of the page for a full description of the various methods used to create these images.
| Anthony Aiuppy The Mighty Leviathon Collagraph with etching and chine collé A Gift from the Artist |
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| Julie Bell Untitled Intaglio A Gift from the Artist |
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| Jessica Cody Untitled Serigraph A Gift from the Artist |
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| Sarah Colado Untitled Intaglio A Gift from the Artist |
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| Vincent Dolan Untitled Relief print A Gift from the Artist |
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| Virginia Farley Untitled Intaglio A Gift from the Artist |
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| Jamie Fiore Clue Relief print A Gift from the Artist |
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| Laura Ingersoll Untitled Relief print A Gift from the Artist |
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| B. Rachelle Keller Untitled Collagraph A Gift from the Artist |
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| James Palmer Stahn Alicron Intaglio A Gift from the Artist |
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| Ashley Pennington Little Red Man Intaglio A Gift from the Artist |
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| George Rech Untitled Intaglio A Gift from the Artist |
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| Greta Songe Untitled Intaglio and chine collé A Gift from the Artist |
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| Ferrell Watson Untitled Relief print A Gift from the Artist |
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Intaglio (from the Italian itagliare, to carve or cut) includes a number of related printmaking techniques usually done on a metal (copper, zinc, or steel) plate. Grooves or pits are incised into the surface of the plate either with the use of a sharp instrument or by the action of a strong acid solution. A greasy ink is then worked into these depressions, and the surface of the plate wiped clean. The high pressure of a press enables a soft, dampened paper to reach and take on the ink in the depressions.
Etching is a process in which the incisions in the plate are produced by drawing with a sharp tool through an acid-resistant wax ground and subsequently immersing the plate in an acid bath. The resulting line is less crisp than that achieved by engraving; ‘darker’ lines are produced by longer immersion times in the acid bath. Etching is also used as a catch-all term for all intaglio processes employing an acid bath in the production.
In Relief print processes the artist cuts away areas not requiring to be printed from a smooth wood, metal, or plastic surface, leaving raised portions which are then inked before the print is taken.
Chine collé is a technique used in printmaking that sandwiches a thinner, more fragile paper with a thicker support paper and a bit of adhesive. There may be color or imagery from the support paper showing through. The final print is made on top of the bonded papers. Chine is French for China, alluding to the origin of the tissue thin papers used in the process. Collé is French for “glued.”
Collagraph (derived from the Greek collo, or the French coller, to glue, is a relatively modern process developed strictly as a fine art medium. The collagraph is pulled from a surface built up of adhered (glued) elements in the manner of a collage. The finished plate may be inked in intaglio (the uppermost surface wiped clean), or in relief (only the uppermost surface inked), or in some combination of the two, and is then run through an intaglio press to produce the printed image.
Serigraphy, it’s first syllable derived from the Latin for silk, is the name coined for fine art screen printing, which in its commercial application was a development of the late 19th century. A screen print is the only printing method that is not printed in reverse. It is a stencil process that employs silk or some other fine mesh fabric stretched on a frame. Non-image areas are blocked out with paper, glue, or other materials, and paint or ink is forced through the opening in the fabric by use of a squeegee – a piece of wood with a rubber blade, it size chosen to accommodate the width of the screen. A separate screen is prepared for each color used.
Information about these printmaking techniques courtesy of Discover Graphics Atelier and the Museum of Modern Art.