Slide 1
A stencil controls the opening
Screenprinting uses a stencil on a mesh screen. Ink can pass through open areas while blocked areas keep it from reaching the surface.
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The screen holds the stencil in position across the design. This lets isolated shapes remain part of the printing arrangement without needing the connecting bridges of a simple cut-paper stencil.
Slide 2
A squeegee moves the ink
A squeegee pushes ink across the screen and through its open areas. The image appears on the paper or other surface underneath.
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The ink is deposited through the mesh rather than transferred from engraved recesses. Screenprinting therefore belongs to a different process family from etching and engraving.
Slide 3
Colours need separate passes
A multicolour screenprint usually builds its image through separate colour passes. Each stencil determines where a particular layer will appear.
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Overlapping printed colours can create additional visual relationships. Planning includes both the individual shapes and what happens where one layer meets or covers another.
Slide 4
A print can leave the sheet
Screenprinting can place an image on materials other than paper. Andy Warhol used the method in works made on canvas.
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A work can therefore combine a printing process with the physical format of a painting. Museum medium labels describe making methods that do not always fit a single everyday category.
Slide 5
Repetition reveals choices
A reusable screen can repeat an image, but its printed appearances need not all be identical. Colour and placement can change between impressions.
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The stencil fixes some relationships while leaving others available for variation. Looking across a group helps distinguish the repeated design from choices made during each printing stage.
Sources
- What is a print?
Museum of Modern Art
- Printmaking basics
National Gallery of Art