Screenprint silkscreen serigraph

DEFINITION

A Screen-print or Silk-screen is an image made from a commercial reproduction process whereby paint or ink is forced through a fine screen onto the paper that has a stencil design so that exposed areas receive the paint. Parts that do not appear on the print are blocked with photosensitive emulsion that has been exposed with high intensity arc lights. To produce the direct transfer of the image from screen to paper, a squeegee is pulled from back to front. A separate stencil is required for each color if paint is used, and one hundred or more colors may be necessary to achieve the desired effect. The process of Screen-printing or Silk-screening is commonly used for printing posters, wallpaper, ceramic designs and text instructions on manufacturers goods. The term Serigraph means nearly the same thing as Screen-print or Silk-screen, but differs because of the degree of participation of the artist. Silk-screen printers are persons who make commercial art by doing translations from artists' sketches. In other words, as printers they are copying images and not creating them. But Serigraphs result from an artist's total involvement beginning with the making of the design and the stencils, and then the applying of the medium, usually paint, and then the pulling the copies. Because the creative hand-of-the-artist is totally involved, many art professionals argue that Serigraphy is a fine-art original process and not simply a printing process. This "fine-art" or creative approach to Screen-printing began in 1938 with New York City artists working for the Federal Art Project. Especially active were Anthony Velonis, Doris Meltzer, Harry Shokler, and Edward Landon. Art critic Carl Zigrosser coined the name and was so taken with the innovation he arranged for Serigraph exhibitions. Credit: Ralph Mayer, ???A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques???; Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art" (LPD)