Printmaking Residency

Printmaking
A relief print is an image created by a printmaking process where protruding
surface faces of the matrix (printing plate or block) are inked; recessed areas are
ink free. Printing the image is therefore a relatively simple matter of inking the face
of the matrix and bringing it in firm contact with the paper. A printing-press may not
be needed as the back of the paper can be rubbed or pressed by hand with a
simple tool such as a brayer or roller.

The matrix in relief printing is classically created by starting with a flat original
surface, and then removing (e.g., by carving) away areas intended to print white.
The remaining areas of the original surface receive the ink.
A: is the block
B: is the paper
Headed to the promis land with everything plus junk /
Con todo Y tiliches se aventura a la tierra prometida.
Juan de Dios Mora
Art and Culture
Understand a work of art?
All it takes is a attention to detail, patience, and
a willingness to reflect on your own feelings.

What title would you give this art piece.

Assume that all works of art support an idea

What are the Historic connections?

What story is it telling the viewer?

What idea does this work portray?

Ask yourself if you would place this work in
your home?

Oppression
is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.
It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being
oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically,
by troubles, adverse conditions or people, and anxiety
Printmaking / Propaganda as a social force.
Propaganda is a form of communication aimed
towards influencing the attitude of the
community toward some cause or position by
presenting only one side of an argument.
Propaganda statements may be partly false and
partly true. Propaganda is usually repeated and
dispersed over a wide variety of media in order
to create the chosen result in audience
attitudes.
Observing at your living spaces
do you agree with the
propaganda that is placed near
your homes, schools and
churches?

Do corporations ask for your
input when placing these ads?
Printmaking / Propaganda as a social force.
Since Propaganda is a form of communication
aimed towards influencing the attitude of the
community, can we create propaganda that can
influence our community in a positive aspect?
What topics can we create propaganda that will
inform our communities in a social conscious
way? Can we create a broadside/poster that
can give information of events that are
important in our daily lives? What would you
create?
Printmaking / Propaganda as a social force.
Broadsides / Propaganda
Broadsides / Propaganda
Justicia para los Campesinos
Carlos Cortez
Understanding art
Texas Farm Worker / Carlos Cortez
Printmaking tools
Brayers
Carving knives
Blocks and ink Barren
How are prints made?
Relief Prints are made by cutting onto the matrix/
block usually with a knife. In working the
block, the artist cuts away areas not meant to print.
These cut away areas appear in the finished print as
the white parts of the design while the ink adheres to
the raised parts. First we create a design that will
be used as our print project. We then transfer this
image onto our block, if needed the image is inked.
We begin to carve away the areas that will not
receive nor hold ink in order to create an image on
our paper. We now can create an addition of prints
based of your carved block.
Carlos Cortez
Carlos Cortez (August 13, 1923 January 19,
2005) was a poet, graphic artist, photographer,
muralist and political activist, active for six
decades in the Industrial Workers of the World.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1923, the son of
a Mexican-Indian Wobbly union organizer father
and a German socialist pacifist mother, Cortez
spent 18 months in a US prison as a
conscientious objector during the World War II,
refusing to "shoot at fellow draftees.

Cortez joined the Industrial Workers of the World
in 1947, identifying himself as an anarcho-
syndicalist, writing articles and drawing cartoons
for the union newspaper the Industrial Worker for
several decades.

As an accomplished artist and a highly influential
political artist, Cortez is perhaps best known for
his wood and linoleum-cut graphics. His work is
represented in the collections of several museums
around the world, including the Museum of
Modern Art in New York. The National Museum of
Mexican Art in Chicago holds the largest, most
complete collection of Carlos Cortez's work.
Esther Hernandez
Ester Hernandez (born 1944) is a Chicana visual artist
known for her pastels, paintings and prints primarily
depicting Chicanas/Latinas. Her artwork captures time,
and makes sense of the complex world we live in. She
aspires to create a visual dialogue for women's role in
this new multi-cultural millennium.
Juan de Dios Mora
Juan de Dios Mora (b 1985) Works representationally
and sometimes with the surreal portrayal of images of
the typical Mexican-Americans life, iconography, and
beliefs. His objective is to bring people together, with
sentimental, satirical, sarcastic, and comical themes.
He hopes to evoke self-awareness and then to
superimpose that awareness on the experiences of
life.
How can you represent Oppression and Liberation via Printmaking?

What message would it carry?

What message should our community
Receive?



National Museum of Mexican Art
1852 W 19
th
Street
Chicago, IL