Make an Impression From pictures to patterns art made by printmaking the process of transferring an image from one surface to another is all around Your T-shirt might feature a funky silk-screen design Framed prints may hang in your home or school Digital prints appear on cakes paper cups and billboards Present-day art looks new yet may be produced using methods that are thousands of years old WhaT Is PriNtMAkiNg Traditional printmaking forms include relief silk screen lithography and intaglio in-TAL-yoh Artists use these methods and newer techniques to create stunning original art Through these processes multiple prints of an image can be made Because each print is individually created by hand it is an original work rather than a reproduction or exact copy For example if you dip your thumb in ink then press it on paper it creates a print Repeating the process yields another print Although they look similar the two thumbprints are each unique works PriNtMAkeRs It is in the word itself printmakers are makers Printmakers may print on cloth clay paper or ceramics They develop new tools and fresh methods and take advantage of computer technology Digital art gives artists even more options but traditional printmaking is still popular Classic techniques practiced over hundreds of years provide makers with a place to begin learn and build their skills 4 Images are made up of both positive and negative areas The raised star on this potato stamp creates positive space when it is printed on paper while the cut away area leaves negative space
TimE To mAKe Why be a maker It is fun to dream up an idea and take on a challenge knowing anything might happen Sometimes things turn out as expected but not always Surprises are part of the process and a big part of the fun A makerspace is a great place to get started Often housed in schools or libraries these spaces provide makers with ideas materials and tools You might find a three-dimensional 3-D printer a printing press design software or other specialized equipment there A silk-screen print can appear 3-D It can be hard to tell whether a picture was made with a paintbrush or by pressing paint through a screen 5 Be a Maker A makerspace can be as small as a toolbox or as large as a workshop Make your own go-to makerspace a box of tools and materials that you can you use to make prints What will you add Paper Paintbrushes A brayer Be creative
History of Printmaking Can you imagine seeing pictures only once or twice a year or perhaps never at all Before printmaking evolved all art was original You would never see an artistic creation unless you visited a church or the home of a wealthy person Printmaking brought this beauty to everyday people BuIlDinG bLocKs Artists liked the idea of more people being able to view and buy their work The first prints were made by carving a picture into wood This created a printing surface called a relief The image was coated in ink and pressed onto cloth to make multiple prints During the 1700s in Japan an art form called ukiyo-e YOO-key-oh AY became popular Meaning pictures of the floating world ukiyo-e first illustrated city life in Edo now Tokyo and was later applied to landscapes Printmakers used multiple blocks and colors to create intricate prints making separate designs and blocks for different parts of an image Because they used water-based paints it took perfect timing to achieve the desired tones before the paint dried Four people a designer engraver printer and publisher worked together The process was labor-intensive but the results were precise and elegant This famous Japanese print called Under the Wave off Kanagawa shows a wave about to crash into a boat An artist named Hokusai designed the image then a master carver carved the woodblocks used to make the print 66
Movable type is a printing method in which blocks of individual letters can be arranged to make any word For The MAsSes Printmaking came to everyday people around 1390 when paper became inexpensive enough to allow mass production Playing cards and devotional images became affordable and popular More people could enjoy art but that was not the only change Ideas and knowledge spread more easily especially as improved methods of printing and papermaking evolved Images that shared information about science geography and architecture helped these fields progress Historical images provided a record of the past When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the mid-1400s movable type made it possible to spread information along with woodcut illustrations even more quickly Today libraries and the Internet allow people around the world to access knowledge shared through printmaking It is no longer necessary to be rich to access art and knowledge Be a Maker You do not have to go far to find printmaking examples Observe your surroundings How many kinds of printed materials can you spot right now 77
