Printmaking, painting and sculpture form the traditional art disciplines. Nowadays the boundaries of these three disciplines are actually fused. We can see many combinations of painting and printing, sculptures which are actually prints. The use of video, photography and digital media has revolutionized and changed art completely. Printmaking has also incorporated all these changes. Digital prints and the use of photography have changed the traditional way of printmaking. We will try here to give a small amount of information concerning printmaking techniques, galleries, residencies and materials. There are many printmaking techniques and the most important ones are etching, lithography, woodblock printing, relief printing, intaglio, silkscreen and the monotype. A good site offering information on several printmaking techniques is http://artoftheprint.info
The site http://worldprintmakers.com is a huge and comprehensive site offering information on all topics of printmaking plus showing the work of large number of printmakers from all over the world. Also artists can apply to include their work on the site. Sites dealing with specific topics are http://woodengravers.co.uk (covering all topics on wood engraving), also good information on all aspects of the woodcut and relief printing is the Japanese site http://www.barenforum.org The site http://monoprints.com is an excellent site on the art of the monotype, featuring info on the technique plus many monotypes of a variety of artists. An American site that gives us an introduction to gesso printing, a very simple technique which can be tried at home is http://marylandprintmakers.org Basic ways of pulling prints are also described at he site http://www.iamanartist.ie Many printing ideas can be used by amateurs for producing small and large prints. Also the site http://kinderart.com/printmaking has fun ways of printmaking and explains in detail all methods used. Its printmaking ideas will engage every child and produce nice and decorative prints. The site http://www.grafiskeksperimentarium.dk is a Danish website offering practical information on non toxic intaglio printmaking. Eventually on the dangers printmaking poses to an artists health more info can be gained by the excellent Japanese site http://www.kamprint.com and healthier alternatives are proposed. For printmakers the site of the famous Tamarind Institute http://www.unm.edu/~tamarind specializing in Lithography and offering many courses also in postgraduate level will be of great interest and a valuable source of information. The center for fine art printmaking Grafikens Hus in Sweden offers exchanges and residencies for artists http://www.grafikenshus.se Residencies are also offered by the London Print Studio. A large printmaking workshop also equipped for digital printing. It offers printmaking courses and has an all year round exhibition program http://www.londonprintstudio.org.uk Grants for artist in the start of their career are also offered by the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation. (Address: 1824 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite # 1 Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3H. The Women’s Studio Workshop in NY has internships and residencies for artists http://wsworkshop.org Fellowships and residencies are also offered by the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice http://www.scuolagrafica.it Also for the artist or amateur interested in printmaking one good book is “Printmaking for beginners”, Jane Stobart, A&C Black Ltd., London, ISBN 0-7136-5037-0. For every printmaker an invaluable amount of topics and information can be found in the excellent magazine “Printmaking Today”