syllabus — ART 231 — Screen Printing

Cut-Stencil Screen Prints

overview

Consider this project as an opportunity to focus on an issue or topic that is important to you. You will address your concept in two ways, with a limited edition set of identical prints and with a collection of experimental prints. Both sets will utilize cut-stencil screen printing techniques. (You may also choose to develop two different ideas for the different sets.)

Take time to consider the subject matter and how you want to approach it. What will you need to research to develop your idea? Who do you hope to connect with in your work? Will the tone of your message be serious, humorous, formal, educational, aggressive, ironic, etc? How might the screen printing medium affect the development, interpretation, or delivery of your message? What size and format (from a traditional print to a sticker) will best convey your message? How does the production of multiples play a role in your work?

Ideas for your limited edition might include illustrations, intricate patterns, mixtures of graphics and text, conceptual imagery, utilitarian function, or pointed social commentary exposed through art or design. Develop something entirely your own or draw from the themes and imagery found in commercial and fine arts screen printing throughout history (silk screening, serigraphy).

Your experimental prints may be the same general process as your limited edition (developing a plan or design and printing it traditionally) but expanded by experimenting with an attribute like color combinations or types of material supports. Or, you may push the form or process in different ways to better address the specifics of your concepts. Consider Andy Warhol who emphasized commodification with wallpaper prints and 3D object prints, Ed Ruscha who screen printed text with a range of items like pie filling and caviar to connect language and materiality, and Anthony Burrill whose environmental warnings were printed with oil collected from Louisiana beaches after the BP oil spill. Lastly, you may choose to push your work in terms of conceptual art experimentation, which may produce results that resist traditional print evaluation. If your plan for experimentation may not yield something tangible that the class can critique, please talk to me about some additional form of documentation or results (for example some experiments are temporary and must be documented at or just after the moment of their creation, others require a written component as part of the work or to support the work).

Please note that your unique, thoughtful approach to your concept is critical, so you should avoid creating stencils/designs that are simply recreations of something you’ve seen before or found online.

complete or submit the following items for your project grade:

• PREP WORK:
  Present the concept for your work. (SEE: the Developing Ideas assignment)
  
  
• TRADITIONAL LIMITED EDITION:
  A limited edition of IDENTICAL finished and signed prints on quality printmaking paper or Bristol board; minimum of 5 prints. See: Edition Information PDF
  NOTE: Newsprint is not an appropriate paper for these prints. Please purchase appropriate paper for these prints.
  * Either your traditional edition or experimental set must include layered multi-color prints (different stencils for different colors); minimum of 5 multi-layer prints (all of the traditional edition or at least 5 of the 10 experiments).
  
  
• EXPERIMENTAL SET:
  A collection of tests or experiments that show either a large range of types of experimentation or a great depth into a certain kind of experimentation, minimum of 10. They may be on any form of support (not just printmaking paper) and may be signed or unsigned. Usually students choose to make different stencil designs for the traditional and experimental prints, but you may use the same design as long as it requires two layers of stencils. Be aware that many stencils do not last for multiple printing sessions, so it may not be possible to use the exact same cut stencil.
  * Either your traditional edition or experimental set must include layered multi-color prints (different stencils for different colors); minimum of 5 multi-layer prints (all of the traditional edition or at least 5 of the 10 experiments).
  
  
• PRESENT IN CRITIQUE:
  Consider a proper format for presenting your work (for example, pinning to the wall) and be prepared display all your work during the critique.
  If you are absent on the day(s) of the critique or your work is not complete for critique, you must submit a brief written component along with your images on D2L for presentation credit; discuss the details of the description and self-assessment paper with me.
  
  
• DOCUMENT:

Photograph / document your final work and submit the JPGs (or HEICs) in the appropriate D2L folder within 1 week of the end of class critique. You will have a brief amount of time to photograph your work during class critique or you may photograph it before/after critique. It is not my expectation that you edit the images or clean them up, but as long as your work was in critique, you may submit appropriately edited images if you choose.

NOTE: Please submit a minimum of 6 images as listed below as JPG (or HEIC) files to receive full credit for your work. Do not submit in a different file format without discussing with me.
NOTE: Items loaded after the 1 week timeframe will be considered late and will receive reduced points.
NOTE: Assignment credit may not be granted unless minimum D2L submission requirements are met.

Please submit a minimum of the following JPG/HEIC images:

1+ photo(s) of your favorite limited edition print (full image of print)

3+ photos of your favorite experiments (full image of experiment if applicable)

1+ photo(s) of a detail of a single work

1+ photo(s) or some configuration of photos showing ALL your work for critique – this part of the documentation doesn’t need to be formal and can be prints spread on the wall or floor, etc.

[ This is a minimum of 6 photos total ]

NOTE: If you feel that your concept for this project will not be possible within these stated requirements, please talk to me so we can work out a different set of requirements.

grade criteria for limited edition prints:

• Challenge of concept, message, or purpose
• Success of concept, message, or purpose
• Identical printing (at least 5 prints)
• Effort exhibited in the initial sketches for your work
• Overall composition
• Detail and complexity of stencil design
• Skill and craftsmanship in creating your stencil(s)
• Two stencils*
  * Either your traditional edition or experimental set must include layered multi-color prints (different stencils for different colors); minimum of 5 multi-layer prints (all of the traditional edition or at least 5 of the 10 experiments).
• Quality and craftsmanship of printing
• Finished quality of the work; appropriateness for portfolio or exhibition display
• Appropriate application of limited edition process
  To edition, gather your prints and select the prints that look identical (sometime a little paintbrush or X-acto work can remove a small blemish). You may choose a few prints to be Artist Proof images if you want (traditionally 10% of images); Label those as “A.P.” and put them aside. Count your remaining prints and the resulting number is your edition size. You may choose to keep a few Trial Prints / Test Prints that might even include your notes written on them, but label them “T.P.” See: Edition Information PDF for further information.
  
  Prints are labeled under the image in sharp pencil, left to right: # of print / # in edition, title (if applicable), signature and date.

grade criteria for second or experimental pieces:

• Challenge of concept, message, or purpose as it applies to the work.
• Effort exhibited in formulating a plan for beginning your experimentation; this may or may not be sketches.
• Breadth and/or depth of experimentation. (This could include: use of materials, multi-stencil, mixed-media, color experimentation, color-mixing, etc. or more conceptually based work.)
• Evidence of exploration and multiple trials. (If this component is not clear in the final prints or if the final prints no longer exist, please provide a statement or other form of documentation.)
• Quality and craftsmanship as it applies to the work.
• Two stencils*
  * Either your traditional edition or experimental set must include layered multi-color prints (different stencils for different colors); minimum of 5 multi-layer prints (all of the traditional edition or at least 5 of the 10 experiments).
  
  

resources:
Art School Vinyl Cutter (12 inch)

Print Liberation by Nick Paparone and Jamie Dillow (book)

Ink, Paper, Politics: WPA-Era Printmaking from the Needles Collection (download PDF)

Artists who yearn for art that transforms by Lisa Gail Collins (text and PDF)

Ester Hernandez on community leadership and art (3min video)
The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics by Milton Glaser (PDF)

Very basic cut-stencil process from Catspit

FastSigns vinyl cutting services
DePaul Idea Realization Lab, IRL & IRL2 (can cut stencils; open to alumni)