Relief Prints

Both white-line and reduction prints included here are interpretations and variations of traditional print-making processes, which allow for more than one color to be added to the print. White-line prints were introduced c. 1915 by a group of women (The Provincetown Printers), who wanted to use a single block to produce multi-color prints, similar to the colorful multi-block Japanese woodblock prints that had become so popular. Once the outline is carved, each color is added separately before printing. This is a uniquely American printmaking process. Reduction prints are also multi-colored prints created from one block. To preserve each color as it is overprinted with subsequent colors, areas of the block are carved away before a new color is added. The result is a completely destroyed printing block and a beautiful, multi-colored hand-printed art image. Both techniques require careful registration to print each new color on top of the previously printed papers. Unlike intaglio prints, these relief prints can be printed by hand without a press.  My prints are modern interpretations of these technique using non-toxic ink.