Current News

"Greener" technique for printmaking

November 04, 2005

Professor of art Timothy McDowell, a printmaking specialist, on his way to transforming the CC printmaking studios into new "greener" facilities, 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.

The "greener" technique was developed by artist Dan Weldon in 1972 when he discovered he could use solar plates to transform drawings, digital images and photographs into high-quality finished prints. Recently, McDowell took his printmaking class to Weldon's studio in Sag Harbor, N.Y. for a workshop in solar printmaking. The trip, which was sponsored by the college through a travel and research grant, helped the students familiarize themselves with the new acid-free printmaking technique that they had already started learning at the college. "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 until Weldon developed his technique, are no longer necessary in creating the prints. 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." The new process no longer uses negative images, which gives it an aesthetic benefit as well as an environmental one.

Connecticut College is one among a group of colleges and universities which are switching over to Weldon's "green" printmaking technique. The college has planned for the demolition of its acid and solvent room, which will be remodeled into a computer lab where students can appropriate and manipulate images to be made into prints with Adobe Photoshop, as well as with digital scanners.

- Ursula Bailey '07

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For media inquiries contact: Amy Martin (860) 439-2526; a.martin@conncoll.edu