HURLEY ART: UMASS – Printmaking

This past semester at UMASS I took a printmaking course titled ‘Intaglio 1’. The description of the course was as follows:

“The word "intaglio" comes from Italian, which means to engrave, incise or to cut into. Etching is a term, which refers to the study of the printing process inclusive of drypoint (scratching into a metal plate with a steel needle), etching (acid eats into exposed metal), soft ground, and engraving. In intaglio printing an impression is made by pushing a sheet of damp printing paper (via the high pressures of a printing press) into ink filled depressions and recesses in a metal plate. Students will learn the art of intaglio with a special emphasis on using lines to create tone and texture.”

There were a total of three projects in this course, with each requiring a series of proofs and editions to be handed in at the end. A proof is an impression of a print pulled prior to the final edition of the print; it is taken before the design on the plate is finished. These proofs are pulled so that the artist can see what work still needs to be done to the plate.

An edition is the number of prints made from the final plate. The artist chooses how many prints will be in the edition. All prints in the edition should look as identical as possible. The prints are marked 1/4, 2/4, 3/4 (which would be the third print out of a total of four prints).

If you would like to see an example of the intaglio printmaking process then click this link to a YouTube video from the MOMA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRwWJyy24So

My first engraving with a drypoint needle. Material is sintra. I originally wanted to have the words “It’s finger licking good” in the background but then realized that I would have had to carve the words backward in order for it to print the correct way.

My very first print.

Project 1  Drypoint/ Engraving 

We had to find an old art historical print or painting and crop a section from that image. We then took that section and remade it as a contemporary composition with modern objects or images from dreams. The historical image I chose to use was “Portrait of Olga in a Fur Collar” by Pablo Picasso (Drypoint, 1923, printed 1955).

Idea #1

Idea #2

Zinc Plate

Proof 1

Proof 2

Proof 3

Edition 2/4

Edition (Close up)

Project 2 Hardground Etching

This project examines the social (as in public life), the political (in terms of politics and policies), and the landscape of our world and it is addressed as one complete subject matter. I chose to focus on the homeless crisis as well as the drug epidemic in the United States. I took inspiration from places like Los Angeles CA, New York New York, Philadelphia PA.

Hardground - A process that involves applying a ground (traditionally made of beeswax and asphaltum) to a heated plate and spreading it evenly with a brayer. The artist draws into the ground with a sharp tool scrapping away and exposing sections of the metal. The plate is then dipped in a corrosive acid (for 5 – 30 minutes) where the exposed metal it is etched creating channels for the ink to eventually sit.

Idea

Transfer Paper

Hardground on Copper Plate

Copper Plate After Etching

Proof 1

Proof 2

Edition 1/4

Edition (Close Up)

Project 3 Softground

This project utilized the softground etching method in which, similar to the hardground method, a wax substance (softground) is applied to a heated copper plate. Next, soft objects and materials (cloth, fibers, plastic bag, paper, tin foil, leafs, etc.) are placed on top of the plate and then everything is sent through the printing press. These objects are then removed from the softground, leaving exposed sections of metal. The plate is then dipped in a corrosive acid (for 5 – 30 minutes) where the exposed metal it is etched creating channels for the ink to eventually sit. The subject of this project was my childhood home and the materials I used come from there.