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KAT WILSON ’96
2. ART 2793: All studio art majors take Intro to Printmaking. So do a lot of art minors and graphic design majors. “In their introductory graphic design classes, they study printing processes and history, and this gives them the opportunity to actually put their hand to it,” Cialone says. Intro students progress chronologically through the four major printmaking techniques—relief printing, intaglio, lithography, and screen printing. Here, they’re carving images into linoleum blocks with chisels, knives, and gouges in a variation on the ancient woodcut technique for relief printing.
3. Ink and inking glass: Ink is kept mainly in caulking-style canisters and dispensed with a caulking gun. “Dealing with a lot of students—especially beginners— there’s less waste because the ink is encased,” says Cialone. When a linocut is finished, ink is spread onto the inking glass and transferred to the block with a roller called a brayer before the paper is pressed against the block to transfer the image. 4. Phonebooks: In intaglio printing, images are etched or engraved into the surface of a metal plate, ink is applied, and then the plate is wiped clean, leaving ink only in
the incisions or grooves. “If you get the right kind of phone book, it’s really good paper for wiping plates,” says Cialone. “So a Southwestern Bell or an AT&T phonebook is good. Those red ones—that paper stinks.” 5. Intaglio press: Turn the big wheel, and the roller presses the dampened paper against the inked plate, actually squeezing the paper down into the incisions on the intaglio plate’s surface, where it picks up the ink. “You can apply ginormous amounts of pressure with that thing,” says Cialone. 6. Repurposed sink: Formerly part of a system for spraying solvent that eventually fell afoul of modern safety standards, the big metal sink now serves mainly as storage for large, wood-framed squeegees used in screen printing. Through the years, students have printed images on it—John Lennon, Charles Bukowski, Prince, Clint Eastwood, Jim Morrison, a Star Wars Storm Trooper. “Some of those were there when I was a student,” Cialone says. 7. ART 3753: In addition to the Intro class, the department offers classes on a rotating basis in each of the four principal printmaking techniques. In spring 2010, it was Screen Printing, the only printmaking technique that remains in wide commercial use. A woven mesh is stretched over a frame and then a stencil made from a non-permeable material is used to “block” portions of the screen. Ink is then forced through the mesh onto the paper, leaving the stenciled image unprinted. Strong work by former screen printing students hangs at the top of the chalkboard. 8. Litho stones: In lithography, images are drawn or painted onto flat pieces of limestone in greasy, water-repelling ink or crayon. The parts of the stone not covered in the ink or crayon are then etched, making them hydrophilic, or “water-loving.” The stone is dampened when the final image is printed, but only the etched areas get wet; the areas that received the drawing repel water. When oil-based ink is applied, it is repelled from the wet areas but adheres to the dry image. “Aside from the presses,” says Cialone, “the litho stones are the most expensive pieces of specialized equipment we have. A lot of people that come and visit us are surprised that we do stone lithography.” UA Fort Smith BELL TOWER
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