Karen Kunc demo at Zea Mays

On Saturday, printmaker Karen Kunc visited Zea Mays for a 2-hr demonstration of her unique woodcut process.  Karen is currently a professor a the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.   Her work is in collections at the Museum of Modern Art; the Library of Congress; the Walker Art Center; Worcester Art Museum, and many others.  To read more about Karen, visit her website, here.

I don't generally work in relief, but the spontaneity of her process is really interesting.  I just need to invest in some colorful inks and I'll be on my way!  See more about the demonstration below.

 

She creates thumbnail sketches on large blank index cards rather than in a sketchbook.

 

Then she turns that small sketch into a large graphite drawing onto frosted mylar so she can easily transfer it to her woodblocks.

She works on two 1/2-inch birch plywood blocks that she shellacs. The shellac helps preserve her pencil drawing and prevents chipping or splintering of the wood as she carves.   She trims handmade Japanese paper down to just the size of her blocks rather than worry with a border or registration marks.  I thought it was interesting she always works "dry," without dampening the paper, and keeps her prints in a stack while she's working.  The ink doesn't rub off and the stack helps them stay "wet" between runs through the press.  The inks blend into each other and dry together rather than dry in layers.

 

Karen makes disposable craft paper stencils just over the size of her blocks.  The stencils block out and reveal certain areas of the wood where she'll add ink.  She reinforces the stencils on the back with masking tape, and doesn't make them too intricate to avoid them falling apart.

 

  

She mixes her lithography inks with transparent base to keep them layerable, and then rolls them over the areas of her first block.  Once she removes the stencil she uses her hand and a rag to soften the edges of the ink.  It makes such a huge impact to blend the colors into one another once multiple layers have been printed onto the paper.

Karen doesn't use blankets when she prints; just the bare pressbed.  She remarked that the blankets push the ink into the negative spaces of a block, and she's only interested in printing the surface of the wood.  In that case, her blocks could also be hand printed.

 

She'll continue the process of carving, inking and printing several times between the two blocks to build up areas of color and interest on the paper.  She usually prints in an edition size she can complete in an 8-10 hour day in her Nebraska studio.

What a wonderful experience to watch another artist work through their process for you.  Below are a few of her works she had on display in the shop.