‘Old school’ print method bites the dust

Professor Timothy McDowell's printmaking class visits artist Dan Weldon's studio in Sag Harbor, N.Y. to observe an environmentally favorable “etching” technique.

The art department is preparing to demolish its acid-and-solvent room and remodel it as a computer lab, where students can manipulate images into prints with Adobe Photoshop and with digital scanners.

Professor of Art Timothy McDowell, a printmaking specialist, is transforming the studios into new, greener facilities. He is in the final stages of implementing an acid-free “etching” technique using light energy to produce intaglio plates. This new method of printmaking will replace the original process in which hazardous acids were used to incise etchings. McDowell said the new lab could be done over winter break, if plans continue as expected.

“The environmental benefits of the new technique are extensive, as the only elements used in processing the plates are light and water,” McDowell said.

Petrochemicals, solvents and acids, which were standard in printmaking, are no longer necessary. The new process is also beneficial because it allows printmakers to work from a positive plate to create a positive, instead of creating a positive image from the plate of a negative.

“Artists have always had to think in reverse when developing their prints,” McDowell said. “This is difficult and taxes the eyesight.”

Earlier this fall, McDowell took his printmaking class to the Sag Harbor, N.Y., studio of the artist who developed solar printmaking. The trip, sponsored by a Traveling, Research and Immersion Program grant, helped students familiarize themselves with the new acid-free printmaking technique that they had already started learning at the College.

The technique was developed by artist Dan Welden in 1972 when he discovered he could use solar plates to transform drawings, digital images and photographs into high-quality finished prints.

— Ursula Bailey '07