The Stuff of Printmaking

01

Jillian Ross working with large “mylar maps” (1), used for planning and composing the complex works of South African artist, William Kentridge. Kentridge’s works are large and layered in both form and meaning. As his Master Printer, Jillian and her team at Jillian Ross Print work organically and intuitively, while at the same time balancing the strict requirements of reproduction and repetition that is central to Printmaking. (5) shows a series of “draw downs”; ink colours being mixed and tested on scraps of paper ahead of printing.

02

Jayden Thompson’s Original Tool 2023. The stone (2) shown in the display case was used to print the upper portion of the piece. The image began as a photo-transfer to a lithographic limestone slab, with tusche and grease “painted” by hand, to generate the intense field of black. Two colours of silkscreen complete the text below.

03

Mackenzy Vida’s copper etching, with chine collé, titled Need a Hand?. Copper etchings often start with drawings using a simple Etching Needle (6). But in this case, Mack’s plate (3) is based on a photo-etching of her own drawing, which was then was printed partially in the retroussage manner, employing an almost painterly approach to inking. Chine collé refers to the process of printing a thin layer of washi paper (in this case, orange) at the same time, adhering it and the inked image, to the thicker paper below.

04

Kelsey Ford is seen here, using a silkscreen (4) similar to the one in the display case. Kelsey is working hard, printing tote bags for Nuit Blanche Saskatoon. In the silkscreen process, an image is affixed to a stretched mesh screen, using photo-emulsion. The process of printing involved forcing layers of ink through the mesh, onto the surface to printed, below.

07

Patrick Bulas’ mezzotint, Rise, from 2024. Mezzotint is perhaps the most romanticized but also the most time-consuming of manual Printmaking processes. Using a clean copper plate (7), a mezzotint rocker(9) is moved back and forth, over and over, often for hours, to create a textured surface that will print solid black (or any other colour). Highlights are achieved using a scraper (13) and burnisher.

08

Nicole Banton’s I Love Japan and Japan Loves Me from 2023 is a multilayered UV silkscreen print. Using a series of carefully prepared silkscreens, and an array of bright colours, Nicole squeegees (8) the ink for each layer, one sheet of paper at a time. In the UV silkscreening process, each layer is printed and then passed under a special, high-intensity ultra-violet light, curing the ink instantly.

10

Here we see Kevin Epp tightening a set of Challenge printing quoins (10). Quoins are simple but ingenious little tools that apply pressure to a letterpress form, holding, in this case, more than a dozen individual pieces of lead type, lead spacing material, and wooden “furniture” in a metal printing frame, called a “chase”. Quoins are tightened and loosened, with a Quoin Key.

12

Robert Truszkowski’s Stars: A tribute to Russell Crowe’s portrayal of Inspector Javert in the 2012 Hollywood Adaptation of Les Misérables featuring Truszkowski’s Horse is a lead type (11) and photo-polymer (12) letterpress print. The image of the skillfully and delicately drawn horse has been digitally output as a negative transparency, before transfer to a photopolymer printing plate in the darkoom. Photopolymer prints in much the same way as conventional lead type, and can be used on any press, of any age. A fun fact about the type used in this piece, it is Gill Sans 12 pt., produced by M &H Foundry, one of the last remaining casters of lead type in North America.

14

Girlynne Gascon’s Agararado Idiay Taltalon (Plowing in the Rice Fields) is printed from a linoleum block (14). Usually one of the first introductions to Printmaking – and widely thought to be the least complicated, from a technical point of view – Girlynne’s careful use of line and shape, literally (!) harnessing the unique characteristics of the simple carving tools remind us just how effective black ink on paper can really be. Girlynne prints work like this using the small roller (16) and the round underside of a kitchen spoon (15).