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Printmaking is important because it allows artist to create artwork in a unique and distinct way. It creates a one of a kind masterpiece with very little materials. Infact, that is what sets Printmaking apart from a lot of other artforms. You do not need much to create it. Printmaking has been around for centuries because it did not need all of the new technology we have today to make a museum worthy piece. You can even use different sets of material to create it. So no matter if you live in a place with lots of wood, or lots of stone, you can create a printmaking masterpiece with those few materials.

Printmaking was invented some time in between 500 BC - 100 AD. The Ancient Egyptians were the first to use printmaking. They would use wood instead of paper to print the artwork. But around the same time the Chinese were doing the exact same thing, but they used stone instead. Not to far behind, the Indians would cut from plank and printed pictures, as well as text until 1300. During the 15th century word finally reached Europe and they also began printmaking. Inspired by the glass windows in churches. As I stated before printmaking survived even until today. We know this because graffiti and stencil are a forms of printmaking.

Printing making is an ancient process of transferring an image from a base using ink or paint. This is used to create multiple images that are, for most part, identical. There are many different styles and techniques for printmaking, and many different material used depending on your chosen process. Some of the most common are: woodcuts, where an image is carved into wood and then transferred to paper or fabric; linocuts, which use linoleum instead of wood; etching, where the artist carves into waxed coat metal and then dips the plate in acid, and Lithography, where the drawing goes on a flat surface with an oil based paint and then coated with a water based liquid.

These many processes have been extremely important in the spread of literacy, art and religion, as well as connectivity. Prints and printing presses enabled the early mass production of books, which made them less expensive and more accessible to the lower class. With more books and writings out, more people were able to learn to read. These was also used to showcase art, which also spread culture and ideas. Prints also enabled the first magazines to be created, which aided in the spread of news and current events. People could learn about what was happening across their state, country, and even continents more rapidly than they could be spoken mouth. These two things were also used as apparatuses for the spread of religion, as religious ideas could be conveyed in a simplified format aided by pictures to a wider audience.

​The above image is a woodcut print titled "Prowling Cat" by Eileen Mayo. (source) This pictures a short hair, solid colored cat "prowling" around in deep grass. It also seems to be passing a leafy plant. As for specifics, the cat has no visible pupils and has its right front paw raised, mid step. However, I notice that most of the movement of this piece is not in the step. Starting from the nose-- as the eye is drawn to the most intense empty space of the print-- the viewer is almost pulled up through the face and into the bend of the grass, guided back down into the back-- as all the grass seems to point in that direction-- and then ushered down the tail. It is rather incredible how Mayo is able to guide the eye around the piece with organic shapes, which does not push us to travel too fast. The tiny flecks of white around the cat's fur to show difference almost require time to for us to see the muscle and build of the feline. this print is extremely well done, as it suggests so much movement, not only in the cat, but in our own eyes. The simplicity of the cat and it's empty eyes also leave the viewer space to interpret what the cat is actually doing. We may wonder, what are its motives? Is it hunting? Or just enjoying a warm day?

Art is a special concept that existed since the early humans. Art is such a broad topic, that there’s so much variety. One particular art style is printmaking. Printmaking is the process of designs by printing them from specially prepared plates or blocks. There are many forms of printmaking like engraving, mezzotint, etching, etc. All of these forms have been revolutionized because printmakings has been around since 400 AD. Printmaking has been around so long that the Mesopotamians used it, they used round cylinder seals for rolling an impress of images onto clay tablets. Printmaking was important because it was originally used to reproduce religious texts.

Printmaking is still used today. I noticed that graffiti is unique printmaking. That’s why I wonder if graffiti artists know that what they are making is printmaking art?  What if more than one type of printmaking was combined together to make a new type of category of printmaking.

(Stephen Alcorn's work)

This is my favorite print because it shows something respectable, a hand shake. It uses both negative and positive space to make a simple but intriguing image.

This artwork is a form of printmaking called linocut created by Pablo Picasso in 1959. This printmaking, it shows two workings that seems to be taking a break from something. In the left corner, you can see a bag of grapes. You can also notice that the landscape are hills. There’s also a lizard there.

The print definitely shows a contrast between the darker colors and the lighter color. You can see the different textures from looking between the sky, land, and people so they don’t blend in fully. There are lines that seems to have a roughness to it as you can see it through the sky and lines that have a softness as you can see that through the land and people.

I think this print is trying to show two hard-working people on a break from harvesting. For the title, it seems they were harvesting grapes. It also might infer that the bag is filled with grapes. The person on the right looks like they’re eating grapes while the person on the left look like they’re just relaxing. Based on the colors in the background, it seems to be evening.

Printmaking is a type of art, which you transfer an image on a paper from a carved wood, metal, stone, or screen. There is different types of printmaking such as relief, intaglio, etc. Printmaking is important to the artist because it isn’t normal art. This art is made by transferring it to make a print. Printmaking apparently started after paper was made in China around AD 105. Printmaking had a its most success in the 18th century in France.

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/printmaking/

Lee Stevenson- Night Tide. Lino & Woodcut

This print is interesting to me because this seems like it’d take so much patience. I wonder how long it took. I noticed the detail in this is incredible. I love looking at oceans at night and the way this is done is what it actually looks like, which is a realistic sense portrayed. It’s very well done. The contrast of the dark brown and light blue works well together. The lines are pointing my eyes towards the right upper corner of the art.

Printmaking is was one of the few things that is often overlooked as one of the most revolutionary inventions. The printmaking above is by the artist Sarah Gayle Key , it is a relief print, and it depicts a flower in a true artistic form. This image caught my eye because it shows small details in the flower and shows the variation of the different shades of black. Printmaking was traced to the 1500’s starting in China. Since then it spread all around the world and different types of variation of printmaking were invented. Since the rise of printmaking it had revolutionized the world in many important ways. For one , spreading knowledge through imagery was limited, however after print making was invented images were everywhere and allowed things to travel faster. In the image above you can see that the artist tried to depict the details of a flower. I wonder how she created the different shade variations. The drawing as a whole is very pleasing to me. Without printmaking we would not be where we are now.

Printmaking is important because it lets us recopy images without spending a lot of money and without using a lot of materials. The google definition of printmaking is the activity or occupation of making pictures or designs by printing them from specially prepared plates or blocks. My definition of printmaking is taking a drawing that someone or you made and copying it on a prepared plate or block. Printmaking was discovered in the 15th century. The news of printmaking spread through Buddhism from India to China. Printmaking is so important because you don’t need a lot of resources to printmake. Printmaking is revolutionary because it was one of the first discoveries for copying a picture.

 http://mitchsart.weebly.com/printmaking-inspiration.html

Printmaking is a type of art where someone carves an image, covers it in ink and transfers the image onto a piece of paper. Print making was one of the first means of transporting communication. It was created in ancient Egypt.

Printmaking is the process of transferring an image onto another piece of paper. It is important because it help creates designs for buildings, murals, and other architectures. The invention of printmaking is revolutionary for the same reason, that it started a whole new idea of pictures.

Week 2 - Day 2 - Blog - What is printmaking/Why is printmaking important?

Printmaking is creating art by transferring an image or design by contact with a matrix such as a block, plate, stone, or screen. It is basically the process of making artworks by printing. Printmaking is very important. I say this mainly because printmaking it gives a clear forum for talking about technique. Printing gives a structure to how to create an image and how to talk about creation that kids especially need.  I believe that printmaking is meaningful because printmaking is not just an art form: it's also an important medium for communication because it usually involves multiples. I think of printmakers as the communicators of the art world. This is why I think printmaking is important.

Now let’s talk about the invention of printmaking and why it is so important. Most of us tend to take printed materials for granted, but imagine life today if the printing making  had never been invented. We would not have books, magazines or newspapers. Posters, flyers, pamphlets and mailers would not exist. It is so important that it has come to be known as one of the most important inventions of our time. It drastically changed the way society evolved. Based off of my research, one of the sources stated,” following its invention by Chinese art many centuries previously, fine art printmaking became established during the German Renaissance (1430-1580), during the early period of the Northern Renaissance.” It also stated, “it was not till the 18th century that art prints began to be considered originals and not till the 19th that artists began to produce limited editions and to sign their prints along with the technical information necessary to authenticate the work.” These evidence support the fact that printmaking was revolutionary.

Albrecht Dürer, German Master Printmaker(1470-1528) Knight Death and the Devil, Engraving, 1513, 8" x 10".

This painting shows an armed man sitting on a horse. It looks like the man is going to go fight. The background of this painting looks dark and scary. The man on the horse don’t look happy at all. This painting shows a contrast of light and dark colors. I think that this is a good painting because the artist uses a different style to create the image. This picture has a meaning to it. I wonder if the person on the horse is going to go fight in a war. I notice that this image looks like it is showing something from the past.

Printmaking is the art of making pictures and printing them from prepared plates or blocks. There are many types of printmaking and most of them tends to differ a lot. Without printmaking, digital printing would not exist today. Printmaking also also makes it easier for the general public to access art since it is more inexpensive than other forms of art. It allows artist to be able to show their work on a much larger scale and even make copies.

Printmaking is revolutionary because not only did it inspire the thought digital printing, it also allowed artist to do more things. Instead of having to draw or carve the same thing over and over again, they could just make a copies so time can be saved. This also allows artist to become more creative with their work as new opportunities are opened.

An example of printmaking is the woodcut method. Woodcut is a relief printing technique that is done by carving out an image in a block of wood and then inking the negative space around the carved image. I find this type of printmaking interesting because I notice that it seems pretty easy to do compared to the other types of printmaking and the outcome of the image comes out very detailed and clean. I wonder how long it takes to do this type of printing and how easy it is to carve into the wood. What if you need a certain type of wood in order to do this type of print?

Printmaking is an art form that allows you copy you art work more than once in a few different ways. Some of the ways are through, relief, intaglio, or, lithography. Printmaking was so important because it was the first art was able to be duplicated. This also a reason why it was so revolutionary. It was able to become very widespread and you could get the prints, or at least copies, to other places in the world.