A new exhibit at the Durango Arts Center wants to show you that there’s a lot more to prints and printmaking than you might think.
“Under Pressure,” featuring 26 artists from the Four Corners, will open Friday and run through May 19.
This is not a passive exhibit: You’ll have an opportunity to learn about the processes the artists used to create their works. Not only will you get to see the artwork, there will also be examples of the tools artists use in printmaking, and the space will be divided into the four types of printmaking – relief, intaglio, planographic and stencil. When you enter the room, a large poster breaks down each type of printmaking process.
“The main reason I wanted to do this show was to help educate the public,” said Maureen May, the exhibit’s curator. “Most people, when they walk into a gallery, see something that’s marked as a print and they think, ‘Oh, it’s just a reproduction or a copy of something.’”
Louise Grunewald, a calligrapher, printmaker and designer, is showing her work.
“I am fascinated by the design potential inherent in the shapes of the letters of the alphabet,” she said of her piece “Square Deal,” a solar plate blind embossing with colored pencil and graphite.
It’s the second in a series she’s currently working on called “Alphabet Soup.”
Grunewald said the solar plate process she uses involves exposing an image onto a steel-backed plate that has a UV-sensitive polymer coating. She printed each of the letters of the piece onto a transparency and laid it on the unexposed plate. Exposing the image in the sunlight for about 45 seconds and then a “post-exposure” in the sun later resulted in a hardened plate that can stand the pressure of an etching press.
“I picked the artists whose work I was familiar with, but also wanted to cover as many printmaking processes as I could from artists in the Four Corners,” May said. “I was able to find enough artists in this area – I wanted two artists for each process, but I ended up with a few more because artists work in more than one medium.”
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If you go
There will be an opening reception for the new exhibit, “Under Pressure,” from 5-7 p.m. Friday at the Durango Arts Center, 802 E. Second Ave.
Exhibiting artists are: Rebecca Barfoot, Joshua Butler, Sandra Butler, Tim Calkins, Peggy Cloy, Ron Fundingsland, Dan Garner, Louise Grunewald, Crystal Hartman, Tony Holmquist, Andrew Jagniecki, Minna Jain, Tim Kapustka, Jake Kelley, Julia Klema, Sarah Kriehn, Mary Ellen Long, Shay Lopez, Jeff Madeen, Andrea Martens, Paul Pennington, Donny Phillips, Kay Roberts, Carol C. Sanchez, Arista Slater-Sandoval and Stevie Stevenson.
The exhibit will run through May 19 at the DAC. For more information, call 259-2606.
What is a print?
In essence, a print is an image that has been transferred from an inked plate or matrix onto a surface, such as paper. In “fine art” or “hand-pulled” printmaking, the artist creates the plate or matrix by hand. Though the process may sound simple, it is generally anything but. There are four basic types of printmaking processes:
Relief. A relief print is created by removing areas of a plate or block, then inking the remaining raised surface. Pressure is then applied by hand or a press to transfer the inked image to the paper. The areas that were removed from the plate will not print, producing “negative” space. The resulting print is a mirror image of the plate. Examples of relief processes: woodcut, linoleum cut, wood engraving, letterpress, collagraph, embossing, relief etching.
Intaglio. An intaglio (the “g” is silent) print is made by incising into the plate to create recessed areas. The recessed areas are inked and any excess ink is wiped from the surface of the plate. The image is then transferred by placing dampened paper onto the plate and applying pressure, typically with a press, forcing the paper into the recessed areas. The resulting print is a mirror image of the plate. Examples of intaglio processes: etching, engraving, aquatint, dry point, collagraph, embossing, mezzotint.
Planographic. A planographic print is created by applying ink onto a flat, smooth surface. Paper is placed on the inked surface, and the image is transferred to the paper by applying pressure by hand or a press. The resulting print is a mirror image of the plate. Examples of planographic processes: lithography, monotype, monoprint.
Stencil. In a stencil print, a nonporous image or mask is adhered to a matrix or screen. The matrix is then placed on top of the paper and ink is forced through the matrix, transferring the ink to the paper in any areas that are not masked. In photographic printing, light passes through the matrix (film) onto light-sensitive paper, creating the print. In stencil printmaking, the resulting print is a negative image of the matrix. Examples of stencil processes: silk screen (serigraph), cyanotype, gum bichromate, pochoir.
Maureen May, Curator of “Under Pressure”
