When Is It Printmaking?

As new technologies are developed we scramble to define and categorize what they are and what they do. The printmaking community continues to struggle with and embrace/reject the idea of digital printmaking. I'm not going to take sides at the start, but I can tell you my bias as we explore the concept, technologies, and craft. And it's a deeper, more complex question than you might think. Here are the debates, based on a few assumptions.

• If printmaking is the act of transferring marks from one surface to another, does a human have to make any of the marks?
• If printmaking employs a craft and deep knowledge, do brain skills count or are we talking about hand skills?
• If printmaking is about communicating a new view, idea, feeling, information, or concept, does it matter what form it takes?

Drawing. In the academic world, there is (or was), an assumption that one must be able to draw in  order to be a printmaker, yet we see collagraph prints, color fields, and abstract prints that show no evidence that the maker can draw. Still, the works are made from marks that are carved, etched, cutout, rolled on, painted, and more, which are then transferred or used to transfer ink to another surface. Photographic screen printing is also acceptable in the printmaking world, as is photogravure, photo etching, and other photographic processes. So, already we have established that one does not need to know how to draw, but one needs to know how to create, form, or manipulate an image in order to make a print. Making an image begins with a certain kind of creative vision and a certain type of skill, be it by hand, knife, stylus and tablet, camera, brush, or pencil. Can you do all of these with a computer? Pretty much, yes.

Markmaking and the craft. In order to apply the image to a surface, one needs a certain kind of knowledge. Traditionally, printmaking as a craft, like most acquired skills,  employed a great deal of practice in order to become proficient. That is still true of the traditional forms: etching, lithography, relief printing, screen printing, letterpress printing, and newer forms such as risograph. One learns about printing surfaces, often referred to as "substrates"; kinds of ink; how to apply ink and how much and when to reapply; how to clean up inks; how the particular medium responds to temperature, light, humidity; how to print without smudging or unwanted marks; and even how to edition works. Physical skills, hand skills, plus understanding how it all works. Virtuosity is still valued, and I value the physical skill it takes to create a beautiful crafted print.

However.

While two of these traditional printmaking skills are needed, such as knowledge of printing surfaces and editioning, no real physical skills are needed for creating digital prints; it isn't a physical process. Those who work primarily via computer have other skills regarding the specifics of whatever program they use plus the practice of getting the image to look the way they want it (sizing, color, clarity, lighting, etc.): brain skills. The marks still get to the paper, but it is done by machine. This process can open the door for people who have found it closed: those with physical limitations whether they are due to lifelong disabilities or those who have developed health problems, who may not be able to lift or crank or  hold a hand steady.

Printing. The history of printmaking begins with the history of printing, a means of mass-producing. From carved blocks and clay to cast metal to stone and metal plates to screens (both kinds), humans have developed new technologies to make that communication better, faster, cheaper, but not necessarily artful. As one technology is replaced, the old ones have been brushed aside and artists have picked them up, generally because it was economical by that time. It's quite obvious that once offset printing became the norm and letterpress equipment was abandoned, artists could and did gather up the old equipment, which is what we are still seeing today. And because it was a mostly old-boy network of printers, women could and did enter the field in greater numbers. But that is another story. 

Instead of working with discarded offset technology, we've jumped ahead and made it possible for everyone to affordably design, print, and publish. Democratic printing. What happens when a new generation of artist grows up with everything faster, immediate, at its fingertips, better than instant ramen? How do these new artists fit in? If they want to communicate, express, and publish, how can they be welcomed into a community used to valuing hand skills? And if they aren't, will the old skills vanish? If the old skills vanish, is that a problem? I think it would be a shame, but we also need to look ahead.

Tactility and art. I was asked at a job interview once, did I think the students who took my bookmaking class were afraid of working digitally? No, I said, I think they are tired of the screen and want to make something with their hands, something they can touch. So it may be that by encouraging all kinds of printing and printmaking, those who do only work digitally might be curious and ready to learn physical skills as well. 

But that may only be the case in an academic environment, not in the art world at large. Those who are already committed to and love working digitally, well, that is their medium. I heard the designer Lance Hidy give a talk at CBAA in 2009, and he had been classically trained as a graphic artist, which meant forms of printing and printmaking. He was asked if he still worked that way or if he used the computer. He said that he absolutely loved being able to design via computer and no, he was not interested in going back; he could do his work much faster now.

For the viewer, however, tactility is important. We know that traditional letterpress printing has found favor with designers in the contemporary world (although mostly created from photopolymer plates rather than metal type) because their clients like the deep impression, the sock, the shadow in the paper that shows it was made by a physical process, not just photocopied or printed out. I'm making an assumption, too, that people can feel the difference among printer paper and a thick printmaking paper and handmade paper. They look as different as they feel as well. 

Design and communication. Designers go to a printer to have their work produced. Artists may be in residence with Master Printers to create fine art prints of their own work, but we do not call the designers the printers or the artists the printmakers. Trained printmakers may only be printing their own art designs, linking both craft and art. Is there a distinction between printing and printmaking? Is a printmaker still a printmaker if they print art not their own? In that case, we are only looking at craft.

Intention may be the larger question: what is this print meant to do? Is it meant as a brochure for a condominium development? Is it meant as a portrayal of a different view of the world? Is it primarily meant to advertise or is it primarily meant to provoke discussion? Both of those things we call communication, but each has a different intention.

Context. Is the intention of Printmaking with a capital P to show the merging of both art and craft? Must the Printmaker be able to do both? Must it employ a hand skill? Those are questions to keep pondering. In an academic setting I say absolutely yes. We also have to ask, what is the goal? In a professional setting, if virtuosity of craft is admired and a goal, we say, yes.

In a professional setting, we also have to keep thinking, or we will be like the aging play-going audiences. They, too, must think about new ways to get younger people engaged with the medium to grow makers (and collectors as well). Is price an issue? The cost of materials a problem? Access to equipment? There are cooperatives, residencies, and art centers set up in many cities. Is it lack of interest or impatience? Or just not knowing what printmaking is? When I was teaching in a printmaking program, we heard that question over and over: What Is Printmaking?

Which brings us back around again, and I don't have one answer. Must printmaking be a handmade process to be called printmaking? It depends. Handmade prints look and feel different, so it depends what the artist is after. Context is key. In certain organized, professional and academic settings and under certain circumstances, yes, for some individuals, projects, and in looser organizations, no. In each context there is a goal, and those goals need to be continually examined. Designations, definitions, categories: I've never really liked any of them, but they can help us to understand certain worlds. As a teacher I learned from my students that there are so many more ways of making art than can be imagined and beyond my definitions. But certain kinds of hands-on practice can prepare our muscle memory and give us a keen eye for practical use in the physical world as well, be it cooking or building, color matching, cleaning, surgery, or chemistry. We start with basic exercises. 

Maybe it is time to teach printmaking on street corners, armed with colorful ink and simple, tactile materials.