Block Print
Overview
Title: A Permanent Home Size: 23.2 cm x 15.24 cm Medium: Hand carved linoleum plate with black water based ink Date of completion: September 2022 Exhibition Text: My print was made using linoleum and carvers, a new technique and medium for me. My piece has the theme that no matter what happens in life your home will always be there. I created this piece because I know many people have things happening in their life but the one constant is home. Home is comfort for myself and others. The chain on the home shows that the home is staying. I used the works of Thomas Berger Johnson as an inspiration because he often features homes and nature in his works. |
Inspiration
Artist: Thomas Berger Johnson
My block print was inspired by the artist Thomas Berger Johnson. Thomas Berger Johnson creates block prints, paintings, and sculptures. He lived through the art movements of expressionism and art nouveau, which can be seen through his work. This can be seen through the long and short sinuous lines in his block prints. Often in his block prints, he portrays nature and houses. Johnson used the positive and negative space to create contrast in the work. He was also able to incorporate many fine details into his work.This is what I was heavily inspired by and wanted to work towards. When I first came across his block prints I knew right away that I had found my inspiration. My eyes were drawn to the brick house immediately and then my eyes wandered around the surrounding nature, like the grassy areas and the trees. I wanted to incorporate that into my piece. I knew from then that I wanted to also be able to incorporate those fine details into my block print but also keep it nice, clean, and somewhat simple. I did not want too many details because then the art piece would be too complicated to complete and could have the potential to confuse whoever sees my work. I considered all of this when it came time for the planning phase. I guess you could say that I took many things into account when I first saw the works of Thomas Berger Johnson. He was a very big inspiration when it came to my block print.
Planning
When planning what I wanted theme to be I decided I wanted to have a nature theme. I decided I wanted to use the trees from Thomas Berger Johnson's block prints as inspiration in my piece. I began to draw a hill on the right side of the page. I added the two trees to the left side. I added three clouds to the sky also. From there, I had to decide what would be shaded and what I would leave white. I decided that the trees and the clouds would be left uncarved so they could be black. The hills would be both black and white. Although I really liked this plan, I believe that it is too simple. I also believe that it lacks a theme and a message. So i moved onto my next planning sketch.
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I decided that I wanted my them to be that no matter what happens your home will always be there. I wanted to incorporate a chain in the print to represent that the home will always be there. I wanted the home to be brick, which was an inspiration from Thomas Berger Johnson. The hills in the print could represent the struggles that someone faces. The tree and the chain would be black. The house, the sky, and the hills would be black white. When I was figuring out what would be black and what would be white I had a hard time with contrasting. The tree and chain would be kind of hard to differentiate with them both being black. Also I felt that the brick house was too simple but also hard to carve out. Therefore, I moved onto my next sketch.
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After two failed sketches I finally created my final sketch. I kept the brick house in the plan but changed it a little. I made the bricks black and the roof white with a black border. The door and window will be white with a black border. The chains will be outside the house, extending all the way to the edge. To contrast the black and white, the sky will be black with white lines. Two of the hills will be black with white lines and one will be white with black lines. I believe this sketch gave me the best contrast between the black and the white parts. Also I was still able to have the them of a home always being there no matter what happens in life. I was very happy with this final sketch.
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Process
The first step I completed was my planning sketch. I filled in all of the parts that I wanted to keep black with pencil. Once that was done, I transfered my sketch onto the linoleum. This will help me when it comes to carving. I shaded in all of the black parts with pencil and pen. I didn't want to use a sharpie because it would be hard to tell where the ink is when it came time to making the prints.
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Once I transfered the sketch onto the linoleum, I began to carve out the hills. On the bottom hill, I carved out everything around the black lines. This hill is mostly white with the lack lines to add texture. This is implied texture when it is printed. This is supposed to mimic ripples in the ground. The top two hills I carved out a line inbetween them so you can differentiate between the two hills. I carved out lines in the hills to also add texture. These two hills are black with white lines. I created the two different hills to have contrast between the black and the white.
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The next things I carved were the house and the chain. In order to carve out the house, I used a medium sized carver to carve out the inner part of the roof. Then I used a very small carver to carve out straight lines between the bricks. I switched back to the medium carver to carve out the inner parts of the door and window. I made sure that the roof and the house had a thicker border around them so that it can be seen during the printing stages. Then I carved out the chain using a small carver. I created tiny holes in the centers of the chains that would be big enough to be seen in the prints. Then I outlined the chain using the small carver. I created small curves on most of the chains. Then using the medium carver, I carved out the rest of the background. I made sure I did not carve out the chain or the border of the house.
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Now it was time to start the printing process. I used a metal ink tray, a baren, a brayer, black ink, pieces of paper for the prints, and a large piece of newsprint to cover the table. I put some ink in the ink tray and used the brayer to get an even layer. I then rubbed the brayer over the linoleum. I placed the linoleum on the piece of paper, centered. I used the baren to apply pressure. I carefully pealed the paper off of the linoleum. I repreated this step multiple times for my experimentation. You can see that the linoleum collected some of the ink in the crevices. When doing the printing it was clear to me that I needed to use more ink. I also needed to carve out more around the edges and in the background. I then moved onto my final piece.
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For my final print I added ink to my tray and used the brayer to get an even coat. Then I rolled the brayer over my linoleum and ensured that it was even. I took a piece of paper and used my pencil to make sure that the linoleum would sit evenly. Once I was ready, I placed the linoleum on the paper. I took the paper and linoleum over to the classroom roller and rolled my print through it. I then carefully removed the paper off of the linoleum. I was very pleased with how this print turned out.
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Experimentation
With the experimentation I mainly focused on the amount of ink I used and the depth of carving I did in certain areas of the linoleum. I knew that I may have trouble with some carved spots not being carved enough. For the first print I saw that I definitely needed more ink. I also realized that I needed to carve more around the edges by the bottom hill. I used the carver and carved some of that out.
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For the second print I added more ink to the tray. I added an even coat of the ink on the brayer and then onto my linoleum. When I used the baren and then peeled the paper back I saw a great improvement in the amount of ink used. However, there were still a lot of white spots in the sky and the hills. I also saw that I needed to carve more of the backgroud around the chains and under the sky. I proceeded to carve out those spots to have a better third print.
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For the third experimentation I added a little bit more ink. I also used the roller insead of the baren. I thought that this would help to make the lines more cleaner. When I completed the print I peeled back the paper and was very pleased by the lack of white spots. On the other hand, I was very disappointed by how much ink was in the background and around the edges. I could tell that if I wanted to use the roller, I need to carve out the white parts a lot more. That is exactly what I did before doing my next prints.
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For my next print I again used the roller. I used the exact same amount of ink as I had used for the previous print. However, when I peeled the paper back off of the linoleum I saw that the roller had made the print a little blurry. There was a slight double image. I believe that the linoleum slightly shifted on the paper during the rolling process. Although it is not too bad, I wanted to make another print.
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This is my final print. I used the roller again and the same amount of ink. This time when using the toller, I rolled it slightly slower so that the linoleum would not shift on the paper. When i unveiled the print I was very pleased by how it turned out. There are still some white spots but it is not too bad. The chain came out just like I imagined it and the lines are very clean. When I saw this print I knew this was the last one.
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Critique
When it came to creating my own block print, I knew I needed to come up with a great theme for my print. I used Thomas Berger Johnson as an inspiration for my piece. In my print you can see some resemblance to the works of Johnson even though there are two completely different meanings. My artwork had the theme of: no matter what happens in life you're home will always be there. The hills are meant to represent the struggles in life and the chain represents the home not leaving. As far as visually there are many similarities. Johnson typically adds some sort of home in his works, which I also chose to do. I created a brick house just like Johnson, however, they are visually different. Also I took inspiration from how Johnson uses lines to create implied texture. I also used lines, but mine are a lot thicker and longer. I felt like they would print better. One difference is that my piece has larger sections of white and black, while Johnson does not have large sections of black and white.
Reflection
With this project I was able to learn a new technique of art. Before this project I had never seen a linoleum plate before or even heard of block prints. I was able to learn how to manipulate the plate to create a beautiful print. I now have a better understanding of how these block print artists create their work and I have a better appreciation for their work. When completing this project the hardest part was the carving. I had many smaller details to carve out. It was difficult for me to have a steady hand and not cut myself when the carver slipped. I believe I was able to manage that better than I thought I would. My favorite part of this project was the printing. Since i had never done this before I was fascinated by how the ink turned out on the final piece. I worked very hard on this project and I hope that people are able to see that. I hope that people are able to understand the meaning of my work and see it in the piece.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- My inspiration for my artwork was Thomas Berger Johnson. Johnson’s work has a very identifiable relationship with nature which can also be seen in my piece. Also he often uses houses in his pieces. I also used a brick house in my piece. Upon first glance of the works of Johnson there was an immediate effect on the print I would create.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration
- I believe that the approach that the author has with the topic of nature is that nature is everywhere. Nature surrounds us and it is very beautiful. I can see this by the way that he portrayed nature in his piece.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- I concluded that it is important to embrace your beliefs into your work but also to keep other people in mind. I knew exactly what I wanted my theme to be but I also kept how others would feel in mind. I learned that people have underlying biases when it comes to artwork so it may be hard to appeal to everyone.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
- My central theme for my artwork is that no matter what happens in life your home will always be there. This is related to having a forever home.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- I inferred about how there can be implied texture through work that is flat. I learned that it is possible through the contrast of black and white and also how the linoleum is carved.
Citations
“Thomas Berger Johnson Block Prints.” History Nebraska, history.nebraska.gov/collections/thomas-berger-johnson-block-prints.
“Thomas Berger Johnson.” History Nebraska, history.nebraska.gov/collections/thomas-berger-johnson.
“Thomas Berger Johnson.” History Nebraska, history.nebraska.gov/collections/thomas-berger-johnson.