WHY I Use Printmaking Techniques in my Artwork

I love printmaking! I like screen printing…

…and stamp carving…

…and gelatin printing…

…and stenciling…

…and making monotypes…

…and chine-collé…

…and collagraph…

…and so many more printmaking techniques! In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met a printmaking technique that I didn’t like?! So why is that?

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Why Printmaking?

I recently filled out a questionnaire and one of the questions was: how does printmaking and/or the printmaking process influence your art practice?  This was my answer:

I use a lot of different printmaking techniques in my work, often mixing several of them together in a single piece. Screen printing, block printing, collagraph, pochoir, and gelatin printing are all regular parts of my studio practice. While printmaking is traditionally associated with making identical copies, that’s never been the part that interests me most. I’m fascinated by repetition with variation—the way something can feel familiar and new at the same time. Much of my work is about looking closer and asking what might be hiding in plain sight.

As a biracial woman who can pass as white, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what we see, what we assume we see, and what remains unseen. Those questions naturally find their way into my artwork. Printmaking allows me to build images in layers, revisiting shapes, marks, and ideas over and over again. Each layer becomes an opportunity to ask, “What happens if I push this a little further?” I almost always work in series, but I rarely create traditional editions. I’m more interested in exploring possibilities than producing exact replicas.

Printmaking is also a practice built on ritual. There are steps that have to happen in a certain order, whether I’m preparing a screen, carving a block, or pulling a print. Those repeated actions are woven into my daily studio life. I sometimes find it funny that so much of my process depends on structure and routine because the artwork itself often lives right on the edge of chaos. I’m constantly looking for ways to disrupt patterns, embrace unexpected results, and see where the work might take me next.

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Why the WHY Matters

Here’s where I put on my teacher hat and get up on a soapbox.

I think it’s important to think about why we choose the techniques and methods we use in our artwork. Because when our process aligns with our intentions, the work becomes stronger. We stop making choices out of habit and start making them with purpose. For me, printmaking’s layers, repetitions, and opportunities for variation mirror the questions I’m asking with the work itself.

If you’ve never asked yourself WHY you’re using certain technique (or materials) it might be worth thinking about. It’s something I often discuss with my coaching clients.

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Mixing Printmaking Techniques Together

I don’t “just” like to mix my media. I also love to mix techniques together. Here’s a recent piece of my work that incorporates several printmaking techniques:

(As a side note, I teach many of the techniques used to make this piece in my Botanical Monotype Collage class.  The class is all about mixing collage and printmaking together so that you’re collaging on top of prints and printing on top of collage.  It’s lots of fun!)

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Wrap Up

Do you use printmaking techniques in your artwork?  If so, WHY?

Thanks for stopping by!