Printmaking 101 (with Guest Curator Summer)

(*Curator Beatrice’s note: how lucky are we to have Ottoman‘s own Curator Summer guest blogging for us again today?! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.)

It’s Summer here again. I want to talk about Printmaking today, which is an often heated subject, but I’m going to stick to what I consider to be traditional printmaking and works that have content at that.

First off, let me say that Etsy has done some work to organize the printmaking category, but there is still work to be done, such as the addition of the subcategories “digital” (digital printmaking, not reproductions of paintings and such) and “lithography.” One can get very confused browsing the printmaking section, as you need to know a bit about the terminology to understand it and mis-tagged listings do not help (there are many examples such as: paintings in the printmaking section and linocuts in the woodblock section).  Etsy, I’m for hire part-time to help (and I still love you). Still, with a little digging, true printmaking gems can be found.

Printmaking 101

Drypoint: There is something very appealing about the raw and direct nature of drypoint, and it’s often the first thing one learns when presented with a copper (or zinc) plate in a printmaking class. Here’s a piece by Ole Rattlesnake that presents drypoint splendidly:

Etching: I focused mainly on etching when taking printmaking in college (printmaking was my emphasis as well as sculpture), so I really have a soft spot for it. This piece by snphillips is also conceptual:

Woodcut (or woodblock): My example for woodcut is a very large print which would make my former professor happy, by dustyherbig:

Linocut: Similar to woodcut, linocut is yes, you guessed it, cut from linoleum. Linoleum is more buttery to cut and lacks the woodgrain that is often noticeable on a woodcut (for better or worse, it’s all a matter of preference in working process or visual result). This piece by Handmade Empire has a great political message:

Letterpress: Letterpress is something I sadly didn’t get to while in college. The studio was quite new (as was the professor to the University) and I believe she was setting up the presses for it when I was graduating. This piece by VikDesign is one of my favorite new things:

Screen Print: I don’t mind when art makes me a little uncomfortable because it makes me think (maybe only mommies get uncomfortable by this piece); this screen print by kbowman016 does just that:

Lithograph: I did manage to find a lithograph without a category for it. It’s by 1canoe2:

Monoprint: Monoprints are prints where there is only one just like it: 1/1 or “unique.” I love the use of post-it notes (highly clever…and I love the use of everyday objects) for the prints by Chris Keegan:

Combined methods: A print doesn’t have to be just an etching or a woodcut, there can me more than one technique used. For example, this work by Rar Rar Press includes both linocut and letterpress methods:

There you have it! The many faceted world of printmaking, and I only scratched the surface!