Printmaking Today

Printmaking Today

ARTISTS PRINTS BOOKS AND MULTIPLES 

Graduate Opportunities
 Printmaking Today welcomes submissions from current and recent graduate artists for a regular feature on new work in print. This is a great opportunity to showcase your work and share your ideas and projects with the printmaking community and beyond. Successful submissions will be published in the magazine's 'State of the Art' feature. 
Eligibility: 
Current BA, MA and PhD students and those within 2 years of graduating (students do not have to come from a specialist printmaking course)

Application: 
- Word doc. of 400 words describing one project using print, or a series of works exploring a particular process or idea. Collaborative projects are also welcome. 
- 3 low-resolution jpeg images (no larger than 800 pixels in length or width) 
- Brief CV
- Full contact details
Please email submissions to the editor, Email: ncampbell@pt.cellopress.co.uk
 Only successful submissions will be acknowledged. Deadline 1 September 2014




During my final year of Fine Art at Arts University Bournemouth, Printmaking became the essence of my creative practice – screen-printing in particular. I became increasingly interested in exploring not only the visual effects of printmaking through juxtaposing various processes but also the tactility that a print offers. I was utilizing the subtle nuances of screen paint by proofing the colours through screen matrix. The bitmap images printed in layers through various colours gave my prints a 2.5D dimensional quality. I was working with the concept of the mass production of the lotus land and consumption of American consumerism, so the marriage of mass production and re-production of print became the foundation of my major final project. My original surface started with canvas and then paper and now metal. The laborious task of printing on a three dimensional metal surface with curves and uneven surfaces became an obsession. Why did surface become so important to me as a printmaker? I wanted to take print out of the frame and off paper into a more 3D element. I was exploring America’s greatest invention the mufflerized deity of the car. My method has developed from a flat surface to a more sculpture and 3D surface. I wanted to take my visual language out of the frame and boundaries. I started by laying out my designs on paper through print and transferring them onto various surfaces such as metal, wood, glass fabric etc. I had worked in a two dimensional method through various types of traditional printmaking so I had to make several adjustments not only in a practical way but also in a perceptual way. This changed my way of working immensely especially when it came to printing on various surfaces. I had to experiment with making my own screens and stretches to be able to contour the various surfaces, shapes that I was transferring images to. This became a major hiccup within my process and work. With the help and ingenuity of printmakers at the Arts University such as Preeti Sood I was encouraged to be more experimental, innovative with the process of printing outside of the frame.

The surfaces were extremely uneven and had several raised contours. This proved to be challenging to allow the screen to lay flat on the bonnet and doors of the car, so making screens to contour the curves became apparent. Some screens were made to fit the small spaces of the car door and bonnet. To achieve a flat print onto the surface I had to keep rocking the material whilst printing. I used torn screens to take away the stretch tension alongside the frame, which allowed me to transfer, the images onto the uneven surface.

Through this method I was able to print over 1500 images on top of each other to in-cooperate the element of mass reproduction of the American culture.

Donna Peters 2012

                                         

Donna Peters 2012