Before you embark on [project 11], take a look at what others have achieved using a relief collage as a starting point. Trawl through some examples of collographs/collatypes (same thing) online, pick out some favourites and write about them in your learning log.
My first in-depth introduction to collagraph was through the Book “Collagraph Printmaking” by Mary Ann Wenniger, which I bought for the collagraph section of the printmaking course. The book dates back to 1975 and I have the paperback edition from 1980. It contains mostly black-and-white images which is a pity because it makes it difficult to follow the instructions when you cannot see the details in their true colours. Nevertheless it is a very inspirational book with many tipps and techniques.
I was just wondering why the course introduction seems to talk only about relief printing on a collagraph plate, whereas I think that intaglio printing and wiping away ink from the plate is what actually makes that technique exciting. Also the combination of intaglio and relief printing opens up many possibilities for experimentation with the technique. Maybe it’s introduced later in that part, but otherwise I guess I’m going to experiment on my own.
Another recent contact with collagraph printmaking was my visit to the exhibition of prints by Clare Romano and John Ross (Blog post http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=831). A large part of their prints were collagraphs and some were exhibited together with the plates from which they were printed. I was very impressed by the richness of texture and also by the sheer size of the prints, of which many were in formats at least A2 or around 50 x 60 cm, not counting the paper rim.
So I’ve actually a good general idea what collagraph is and how amazing the effects are that can be created by printing from textured plates. So I’ll just keep it at a brief image search as suggested in the research brief, as I’m eager to get onwards to gain some practical experience.
Looking closer at some interesting collagraphs
Laurie Rudlinger, Alcazaba (blue variant) is a citiscape with a somewhat Italian or medieval flair. I think it was made by combining relief and intaglio techniques: It looks as if the dark blue colour was used for the intaglio, whereas a lighter green was applied to print as relief. The stone-like textures were probably created by making incisions into a medium, whereas the textures of sky and the rocks in the foreground look less organized and might be made with a less controllable technique. http://www.laurierudling.co.uk/uploads/gallery/31-alcazaba-blue-variant-collagraph-980px.jpg
Mari French, Harvest Moon. Apparently inspired from a workshop she took with Laurie Rudlinger, Mari French created a collagraph with textural qualities resulting directly from the materials glued on the plate and their different ink-holding capacity. The print also seems to combine intaglio and relief techniques with colours blue and yellow. http://marifrench.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/harvestmoon2blog.jpg
The print by Julie Howe shows incorporation of plant material. In her blog she explains the print was experimental and made during a workshop. To me it looks as if only the intaglio technique was applied, but the blue ink has a broad tonal range and thus creates a variety of tonal values from light to dark. http://mycuriousteaparty.blogspot.com/2010/08/collagraph-lessons-at-cuckoo-farm.html
Inga Gorsvans-Buell published the print Aerial Abstraction, which is more colourful than the other collagraph examples I chose. This could have been made by inking the collagraph plate with multiple different colours and wiping part of it away, then printing in one go. I haven’t employed the Dabbing technique in the previous course part because it did not fit my printmaking ideas for linoprint, but I see lots of applications for it with collagraphs and will certainly experiment with it. http://ingagorsvans-buell.com/aerial-abstraction/
References
Mary Ann Wenniger (1980) Collagraph Printmaking, available from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Collagraph-Printmaking-Mary-Wenniger/dp/0823006662/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Exhibition visit: Prints by Clare Romano and John Ross at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=831