1. Blocking Printing History, Mass Production, and Street Art

2. “When you do a painting that’s it, it’s one of a kind. But when you do a graphic the amount of prints you can make from it is infinite.” --Carlos Cortez (Chicago Artist)

3. Block Prints Block printing is a form of printmaking known as relief. In relief printing, the image to be transferred to paper is raised above the surface of the printing plate. Ink is rolled onto to the raised surface. The relief printing process is similar to using an inkpad and stamp.

4. Early Block Printing Invented by the Chinese and first appeared in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) In Japan, block printing made it so that art was no longer just for the upper class and royals but was available to everyone because after carved, block prints could be easily mass produced.

5. Mass Production Block prints are one of the simplest forms of printmaking that allows easy reproduction of the print over and over. Once the block is cut, the block can be reproduced as many times as one wants allowing for quick reproduction.

6. Contemporary Originally, block prints were carved out of wood but now an easier material, linoleum, is used to carve. When using linoleum, it is often called linocut.

7. Street Art and Block Printing Contemporary block printing is starting to be used in street art and street art style of work. Gaia is a street artist known for mixing block prints and spray paint in his works.

8. From the Streets to the Galleries to the Streets Street Artist who use these printmaking techniques are appearing more and more in art galleries. Photos from the street art show Printmaking Today 2/2011

9. Vocabulary Edition – a number of prints struck from one plate, usually at the same point in time. Pulling a print – the act of creating a print. Inking – applying ink to the surface of a print with a brayer.

10. Elements to think about: Line – a moving point. Line quality can be expressive. Positive space – The areas of an artwork occupied by forms or images. Negative space – the area around the positive space. Texture – the surface quality of an object. Texture can be actual or implied

11. Tools Lino handle- tool used for cutting Cutters (#1, #2, #3, #4, and #6)- different blades that can be used in the lino handle. Each has a different size to make different types of cuts. Brayer- used to spread ink in the process of transferring an image from a block to paper. Roller- used to apply ink to block

12. Examples

17. Project *You will be responsible for creating one block with 3 editions printed. The editions must be cleanly printed and look as similar as possible. *2 of your prints must be on the paper you made yourself. NO TEXT! What you cut is going to print reversed! Think of a mirror image!

18. Brainstorming Think of an image that you would want to be able to mass produce. Why is this image important to you? What does this image mean to you? Does it have any meaning already in society? How would other people interrupt this image?