What is a printmaker?
by Deb Strong Napple
A printmaker is someone who makes prints, right?
But what does that mean?
As a fine artist who works both in oil painting and printmaking, I have had many conversations start with these questions. When someone meets a painter they know that they are talking with an artist who applies pigments to a canvas in order to make a unique image. They are often not aware that a printmaker does the same thing but uses wood, metal, carving tools, acids, inks, and rollers instead of brushes, knives and paint.
Let's start with a few things that I, as a printmaker, do not do:
- Make photographic or scanner based copies of paintings or drawings.
- Reproduce works made by other artists.
- Use machines to produce large quantities of identical images.
- Click an icon to make a print.
