Education

What is an original print?
An original print is not a copy that has been quickly churned out on an automated press at the flick of a switch or a button. The whole process involves artistic input from creation to competition.
 
So - what is a print? A print is an image, which has been transferred from one surface to another. And what is an original Print? An original print is an image produced from a surface on which the artist alone has worked, such as a stone or wood block or a copper plate. A Fine Art Print is most often a work on paper, produced by an artist working in direct contact with a print process.

With an original Fine Art Print, the artist always supervises and approves the finished print and in the case of the Printroom, all prints are completely made from concept to finished print by the artist him/herself. All prints in the Printroom are signed, (either on the front or the rear) dated and titled by the artist in pencil which does not fade and are either one off individual prints or one of a small numbered and truly limited edition. Most editions are between 25 and 30 prints, some as small as 5. The paper is always acid free and the inks are archival and will not fade. Traditionally there are four main processes:

Intaglio is a generic term for a process which uses a metal plate either copper or steel and includes the techniques of etching, engraving, dry point, stipple, etching, mezzotint, hard, soft, lift, ground, etching and line etching, aquatint, sugar lift, pochoir, photo-processes and many others. The image is created on the plate either by a sharp implement or by the 'biting' of the plate by immersion in acid. The image areas are those depressed 'etched' below the surface of the metal plate. To print the plate is 'inked up', the surface wiped clean and dampened heavyweight paper place over the inked plate, several layers of blanket placed over it and run through a roller press. The dampened paper forced into these depressions picks up the image. This process is all done by hand. Although an artist may run an edition of prints, each version is inked up by hand and will differ from each other.

 
Relief printing is a direct method of printing without the need for a press. Relief prints result from using a raised printing surface and exploiting the surface characteristics of any material. Traditionally these have resulted from cutting, engraving, abasing and scoring materials by hand such as wood or lino. A wider approach now encompasses the use of found materials, the use of computer aided cutting devices and power tools. Printing may be done by hand with a burin on the back of a spoon or with a press. Like intaglio although an artist may make an edition of prints, each version is inked up by hand and will differ from each other.

Lithography In this, the printing surface is neither raised not depressed but flat and the printing depends on the chemical reaction between grease and water. Traditionally done on Bavarian limestone today is chiefly done on zinc or aluminium plate or uses photo-processes. Printing is always done with a press.

Screen-printing is another flat process in which the image is made by forcing ink through a stencil. The stencil is held in place on a frame tightly stretched with a fine mesh and a squeegee is used to force the ink through the open areas onto the paper below. Artists today often work to combine different print processes and also have turned extensively to Electronic Media.

Electronic Media electronic digital media have given artists the capacity to use images and photography in extremely flexible ways. Many artists use computers and specialist software, scanners, printers and photocopiers for part or all of the process of image making.

There are well-understood guidelines as to what constitutes an original print including the artist's direct involvement at all stages of its creation and the making of a limited number of copies, known as the edition of a print. Recently the use of new media has begun to blur traditional definitions. However, it remains important to understand that an original Fine Art print is a one-off print, not a multiple without limited numbers or a reproduction. The deciding factor must be the artist's intention; however, the dealer will have to assure him/herself that a print meets understood criteria.

Use of colour in prints

Many clients come into the gallery looking for colour. However many contemporary Fine Art prints are printed using only black ink, a limitation that allows the full richness of the processes used to be viewed. This is particularly true in all forms of intaglio printing. However all processes can be printed using coloured inks or images can be hand coloured after printing in black. Digital printing allows for the widest possible use of colour.

Why an artist works in print?

Working in print allows an artist an exceptional amount of freedom to develop visual ideas through the interaction with the print process and all the aspects of chance and accident that can occur. All print processes allow for flexibility and change as well as the obvious advantage of creating an image, which is reproducible.

An interesting analogy for why visual artists choose to work in print is a musical one. When an artist picks up a pencil to draw, they are a soloist, using a single instrument to explore ideas. When they work with the gamut of oil paint and canvas they are a full orchestra, exploring not only all the ideas they have worked on in their drawing but working with a wide range of 'instruments'. Printmaking is the improvisational chamber music of the visual world. Here the artists can explore ideas at a basic level through drawing or carving on a plate and them by interacting within a limited arena can slowly develop, shift, and add to the image with increasing richness.

In terms of finance and making work accessible to an audience an artist, will chose to work in print because the creation of a limited edition Fine Art print allows him/her to make available more than one version of an image.