Printmaking
A Step-By-Step Studio Guide
Jenny Mason-Gunning
Herbert Press
Introduction
With something included on every Printmaking technique I can possibly think of, this is the bible, the cover all book, the education tool for all who wish to learn or return to this genre of creative practice.
About the author, the artist
Jenny Mason-Gunning, is a Master printmaker, author, artist, designer and co-owner of Ironbridge Fine Arts. Based in the UK. Her family history centres on Printmaking, her own father spent his life as one. It must be through her, within her.
The notes on the Ironbridge Fine Arts website are very insightful into her mind and work, it is worth a read:
I enjoyed reading about her practice values:
‘Everything I do comes back to the same three things:
A fascination with printmaking.
A desire to understand it.
And a determination to keep making it better.’
The readership
From the authors intense knowledge based on lived and worked through experience, she has written this book to be suitable for all - those who are beginners or those who want to check on a method, go back to Printmaking, be reminded…..in other words, somehow she has made a book which needs no other. If you want to be a Printmaker, there is no other book required.
The overview
The name tells the story - a studio guide. Yes, this is practice led, this is the book you hope to have on your shelf in your own studio or at the studio you work at, rent, whatever.
Her own website comments are worth reading:
‘The book brings together decades of studio experience, experimentation and technical research. I wanted it to be the kind of book I would want beside me in a working studio — not something that simply introduces a process, but something that genuinely explains how to do it, from the foundations through to specialist techniques.’
It would be pointless for me to give you a chapter and verse on this title, it is enough to tell you that it is structured by technique and method, with every single step annotated and image led.
The stand outs
As a practicing artist myself, I really appreciated the end chapters of this book, which explain framing and exhibition set up practices. These are all key things to know as a working artist - not just an aspiring one or someone who reads a book like this for the sake of it. If I was back in my student days, this would be the book I would dream of, instead of learning on the job, or draining the library of many books within this catagory and never finding one which actually answered all of my questions.
For me, it is the consistent surfacing of an author writing a book with such experience which I find most supportive. In every area of life, it is reassuring to learn of one who has gone before, paved the way, knows our struggles. The tips and notes throughout this book are an obvious evidence of this - for example, the last pages of the book cover exhibition notes. Comments such as the quality of frame used to house the print are covered - why this matters.
Where to get your copy
You can purchase from many retailers, including Bloomsbury themselves, the publishing house.
