The "The Art Of Printmaking" Story

One of the very first block prints I did during my class in Graphic
Arts.  I worked along with the students to show them how to
use the tools and how to make the prints.  This was from a 5"x7"
piece of wood that had linoleum attached to it.  After printing I
used water colors to add some color.   Below it is a sheet of postal
stamps.  My students weren't expected to mat and frame their work!

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at a few of the block prints that I made maybe fifty years ago while teaching Graphic Arts at Manheim Township High School in Lancaster, PA.  One of the first projects my classes would do each year was a linoleum block cut which taught what was referred to as relief printing or printing from a raised surface.  

The Lancaster Museum of Art at the Grube Mansion.

To accomplish the project the students would draw a design on a linoleum block what was "type high" or .918" (the height of a piece of lead type used to print the letter.  They would then use cutting tools to cut the background from the block, allowing what remained to be inked and printed in a relief press.  During every class I would work along with them so they could see what I created and follow my lead.  

Pictured here is a wood block and a linoleum block that
can be used for printmaking.  The wood block has already
been cut with a design.  The tool could be used to do the cutting.

What we were accomplishing was what was known as print- making.  The four forms of printmaking are relief (woodcuts - and sometimes done on linoleum), intaglio (also known as etching and done on metal or plastic), screen printing which is printing through the image, and lithography which is printing from a flat surface (which would be printing from a metal offset plate or printing from a stone).  

Another relief print on display at the museum.  It is on
wood and shows the tools used to create it.  

Recently two shows opened in Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania on the art of print- making.  One show was at the Demuth Museum in downtown Lancaster titled "Print- making through History: Artist Prints" while the second show, titled "The Art of he Big Print: Master Lancaster Printmakers" opened at the Lancaster Museum of Art in what is known as the Grube Mansion, a few blocks from the Demuth Museum.  

This press was on display in the museum.  It
could be used to print blocks that were type high.

I chose to visit the later since the show featured six local printmakers who were each given a large 30x40 inch piece of Baltic birch wood on which they could make a relief print.  Hand tools, such as metal chisels, were used to cut the design in to the wood.  It was then inked with a roller and printed onto paper.  The areas of the piece of wood that were cut away will not receive ink and therefore not print.  I visited the Lancaster Museum of Art and had the chance to see the six large prints.  Two of the artists work in woodworking with the remainder being involved in education in either administration or teaching.  

A sample from one of the six artists in the show.  This print
was done by the head of the art department at a local high school.

I loved walking from one large "block" to the next, examining each and having the chance to see the final result.  Also on display were some of the tools used by printmakers as well as a small press that could be used for printing the blocks.  My hope is I get a chance to visit the Demuth Museum to have a chance to see a few other historic examples of printmaking.  I never tire of viewing results of what I taught while a high school teacher.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.