I fell in love with stone lithography when I was a student at the Cleveland Institute of Art. It was my first year and I was in awe of what could be done with stone and grease. Michael Houlihan was the master printer teaching the class. Since then it became my lifelong goal to pursue this medium.
I dropped out of art school after two years. A decade later I found a workshop at the Printmaking Council of New Jersey. I took several classes with Stephen McKenzie. The Printmaking Council then closed and I was without a studio.
Fast forward to 2020 when I found the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop at the EFA in New York City. I took a workshop as a refresher under Devraj Dakoji and became a member.
Most recently I have discovered additional workshops and a community of printmakers worldwide. It is now a short-term goal of mine to build a home studio where I can focus on my practice without a commute, and offer my space to other printmakers who lack a facility in which to work.
What is the difference between fine art prints and gicleé prints and other reproductions?
Fine art prints refer to the art of printmaking, which includes any form of printmaking that relies on a matrix to create multiple impressions. This matrix can include carved woodblocks, etched copper plates, lithographic stones, or linoleum blocks.
When a set of identical prints is created from the matrix this is called an “edition”. Prior to making an edition the printmaker will make test prints, or proofs. An edition will be labeled as a fraction with the total number of prints as the bottom number. For example, if I have the first print in an edition of four, I’ll label it as “1/4” when I sign the print. When you hear “signed and numbered” it’s referring to an edition.
Fine art prints require the artist to create both the matrix and the resulting impressions, or edition. Artists may also employ a master printer. Digital and photographic techniques may be used in the creation of the image on the matrix, but this is not to be confused with digital reproductions, digital art, or photography.
Gicleé prints are not fine art prints. They are high quality digital inkjet reproductions of original artwork. They are a great way to make art affordable when the originally is either unavailable or unaffordable.
Gicleé prints are made with high quality archival inks and paper. The original is photographed or digitally scanned and an inkjet printer makes the reproductions, not unlike the inkjet printers we have at home but larger and with archival quality pigment inks and archival paper.
These reproductions can be limited editions, open editions, or embellished. An artist might run limited gicleé editions to create scarcity and therefore higher prices. Limited editions of reproductions can also be signed and numbered by the artist. An open edition means there is no limited number of reproductions available. Some artists will embellish a gicleé print, making it unique.
It’s good to know the difference since the terms print, fine art print, and reproduction are being used interchangeably. That is incorrect and can be misleading.
Know the difference between reproductions of original art, and fine art prints (printmaking) when you are buying art.