| Art Defined | |
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Lithographs |
Lithography is a direct printing method which utilizes the antipathy of water and grease. A drawing is made directly on thick limestone, or a zinc or paper plate with a greasy pencil, crayon or ink (tusche). The tusche may be diluted with solvents and brushed on in washes to produce tones from light to very dark. When the drawing is completed, the stone is processed with gum arabic and acids, making the open areas hydrophilic (water loving) and the image more grease receptive and water repellent. In stone lithography, the stone on the press and is kept damp while ink is rolled evenly onto the image with a napped leather roller, the moist open areas repelling the ink. Paper is placed on the stone or plate and covered with a smooth lubricated tympan. A scraper bar applies pressure of about 500 pounds per square inch as the plate is moved through the press, forcing ink into the fibers of the paper. As with all printmaking techniques, the image must be inked for each impression. |
| Giclee |
With much experimentation and consumate craftsmanship, the technology of computer prints has evolved into an elegant art form. Giclée reproduction is created by tiny jets spraying millions of droplets of water-based printing ink onto a sheet of fine art paper. This spray of ink, more that 4 million droplets per second, whirls onto paper spinning on a drum at 250 inches per second. Hence the name giclée, French for "fine spray." Precise computer calculations control four ink jets that together produce 512 shades of dense, water-based ink. The information controlling the jets comes directly from a computer - no printing film or plates are involved. The computer's information is scanned directly from the artist's original work. An art print emerges, lush and velvety, with the feel of a watercolor and the look of a serigraph or original lithograph. This technology is the work of a tiny number of sopisticated art print production shops using high-quality digital priters. These artist/technicians have gone beyond all of the boundaries of current technology, customizing their equipment, creating new computer programs, even developing special inks and protective coatings - science, bent to the will of the artist. From this marriage of art and science we celebrate the emergence of the giclée fine art print - a precise reproduction of an artist' painting with the qualities of an original. |
| Serigraphs/Silkscreens | A printing technique that makes use of a squeegee to force ink directly onto a piece of paper or canvas through a stencil creating an image on a screen of silk or other fine fabric with an impermeable substance. Serigraphy differs from most other printing in that its color areas are paint films rather than printing ink stains. |
| Etchings | A vitrious, either transparent or opaque, protective or decorative coating made from silica (a kind of glass) heated in a kiln or furnace, and fused onto metal (usually copper or gold), glass, or ceramic ware. It is often applied as a paste which solidifies in firing as areas of color. Also, an object, usually very small, having such a coating, as in a piece of champlevé, cloisonné, bassetaille, or plique-a-jour. |
| Gouache | A heavy, opaque watercolor paint, sometimes called body color, producing a less wet-appearing and more strongly colored picture than ordinary watercolor. Also, any painting produced with gouache. |
| Limited Edition | The issue of something collectible, such as prints, limited to certain number quantity of numbered copies. The first number indicates the number of the piece; the second number indicates the total quantity in the edition i.e. 123/200. The total number of prints if fixed or "limited" by the artist who supervises the printing. All additional prints have been destroyed. |
| Open Edition | A series of prints or objects in an art edition that has an unlimited number of copies. |
| Original Print | One-of-a-kind print in which the artist personally conceived the image, created the master plates and executed the entire printing process. |
| Acid-free Paper/Canvas | Paper or canvas treated to neutralize it's natural acidity in order to protect fine art and photographic prints from discoloration and deterioration. |
| Canvas Transfer | Art reproduction on canvas which is created by a process such as serigraphy, photomechanical or giclée printing. Some processes can even recreate the texture, brush strokes and aged appearance of the original work. |
| Proofs | Proofs are prints authorized by the artist in addition to the limited signed and numbered edition. The total size of an art edition consists of the signed and numbered prints plus all outstanding proofs. If a set of proofs consists of more than one print, numbers are inscribed to indicate the number of the prints within the total number of the particular type of proof, (e.g., AP 2/20 means the second print in a set of twenty identical prints authorized as artist proofs). Proofs are generally signed by the artist as validation of the prints. |
| Artist's Proof | A print which is intended for the artist's personal use. It is common practice to reserve approximately ten percent of an edition as artist's proofs, although this figure can be higher. The artist's proof is sometimes referred to by it's French épreuve d'artist (abbreviation E.A.). Artist's proofs can be distinguished by the abbreviation AP or E.A., commonly on the lower left of the work. |
| Trial Proof | Pre-cursor to a limited edition series, these initial prints are pulled so that the artist may examine, refine and perfect the prints to the desired final state. Trial proofs are generally not signed. |
| Bon A Tier (BAT) | Final print proof. The reference by which all future orders of the image are compared against for color accuracy. |
| Wood Engraving | A print similar to a woodcut (woodblock print) in that it is made by cutting (engraving) a design into a block of wood. However, unlike a woodcut, the artist cuts the design on the end grain of hardwood rather than the side grain of soft wood. The print's design can therefore be more intricate than the typical woodcut. |
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