Screen Printing

Screen Printing is a method of creating prints using stencils. A screen is used to hold the sections of the stencil intended to block the ink. The screen is stretched tightly across a frame. The areas not intended to be printed can be blocked out in a variety of ways, including physically cutting material or through photographic processes. Ink is then dragged across the screen using a squeegee or roller and it forced through the openings of the screen on to a surface below. The resulting image generally has very clean defined edges and a high degree of precision is possible. Compared to digital printing there are however subtle inconsistencies to the line that are often quite beautiful. Sometimes the screen can also be evident in certain areas of the print. Screen printing carries many of the same limitations as relief printing (discussed below). A new screen must be made for each color printed, which leads to issues of registration. Many of my favorite artists have used screen printing heavily, including: Charley Harper, David Wiedman and Jason Munn