Explore printmaking and mixed media, including the major print processes (relief, intaglio, screenprint), the concept of the matrix and the edition, and the layering and combination of materials in collage and mixed media

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to explore printmaking and mixed media: the major print processes (relief, intaglio and screenprint), the concept of the matrix and the edition, and the layering and combination of materials in collage and mixed media. These are studio approaches for the Coursework component, and they introduce two important ideas: that an image can be made indirectly, through a prepared surface that prints a reversed image, and that combining heterogeneous materials extends both the texture and the meaning of a work. Understanding these processes also enriches the formal analysis of prints and mixed-media works.

The answer

What printmaking is: the matrix and the edition

Printmaking is the making of an image indirectly. The artist works on a prepared surface called the matrix (the block, plate or screen), which is then inked and printed onto paper, often repeatedly, to produce an edition of multiple, equally original impressions. Two consequences follow. First, the image on the matrix is reversed when printed, so the artist must think and work in mirror image. Second, because the work is created in stages, preparing the matrix, inking, printing, printmaking is more planned and indirect than drawing or painting, and colours are often built up as separate printed layers.

The major print processes

There are three principal families. Relief printing (woodcut, linocut) cuts away the non-printing areas so that the raised surface takes the ink; it gives bold, graphic, high-contrast images with strong shapes. Intaglio (etching, engraving, drypoint) incises the image into a metal plate so that ink sits in the recessed lines and is wiped from the surface; it gives fine, detailed line and rich tone. Screenprinting (serigraphy) pushes ink through a stencil held on a fine mesh screen, depositing flat, even areas of colour; it suits bold, graphic, repeatable imagery and is closely associated with Pop Art. A fourth, planographic printing (lithography), prints from a flat surface using the resistance of grease and water.

Mixed media

Mixed media combines more than one medium in a single work, for example paint with ink, pastel, printed elements or collage. Layering different media builds rich texture, tonal variety and visual complexity that a single medium cannot achieve, and it lets an artist exploit the strengths of each. Mixed-media work is common in experimental and developmental practice because it encourages combination and discovery.

Collage and the meaning of materials

Collage assembles and glues materials, paper, photographs, printed matter, fabric, found objects, onto a surface. Beyond texture, collage introduces the associations and histories of real materials into the work: a fragment of newspaper, a photograph or a piece of fabric carries meaning from its source, so the work gains reference to the real world. Collage also allows the juxtaposition of unrelated images to create new connections and meanings, a strategy central to much modern and Postmodern art.

Examples in context

Example 1. Andy Warhol's screenprints. Warhol's screenprinted soup cans and celebrity portraits exploit the flat, even, repeatable colour of the screenprint process and its mechanical character. The medium itself, indirect, layered and reproducible, is central to his Pop themes of mass production and the multiplied image, showing how a print process can carry the meaning of a body of work.

Example 2. Cubist and modern collage. When Picasso and Braque glued fragments of newspaper, wallpaper and printed labels into their Synthetic Cubist works, they brought pieces of the real world directly onto the picture surface. The collaged materials added texture and, crucially, their own associations and references, demonstrating how combining found materials extends a work's meaning beyond what paint alone could express.

Try this

Q1. What is a matrix in printmaking, and what is an edition? [3 marks]

• Cue. The matrix is the prepared printing surface (block, plate or screen) that holds the image; the edition is the set of multiple impressions printed from it, each an original. The matrix prints a mirror image.

Q2. Distinguish relief, intaglio and screenprinting by how each makes its mark. [4 marks]

• Cue. Relief prints from the raised surface after the non-printing areas are cut away (bold graphic shapes); intaglio prints from ink held in incised recesses (fine line and tone); screenprint pushes ink through a stencil on a mesh (flat even colour).

Q3. Why can collage extend the meaning of a work beyond texture? [3 marks]

• Cue. Found and printed materials carry their own associations and histories into the work, so a fragment of newspaper or fabric adds real-world reference, and juxtaposing unrelated images creates new connections and meanings.