In a year-long process, artist Josephine Halvorson explored the intricate multistep process of creating a sophisticated colour print with Wingate Studio and master printer James Pettengill in New Hampshire. The relationship between the artist and master printer has a rich history, critical to the foundations of printmaking itself. The master printer’s expertise and technical knowledge of certain processes are critical to guiding the actualisation of an artist’s work, both physically and aesthetically. “Fire” is Halvorson’s first etching and her painterly background, affinity for everyday objects, and close in-person observation is evident in each step of the process. The wood-burning stove is located in the printmaking workshop and is a Jotl, a brand that Halvorson’s parents sold during her childhood. She experimented with a variety of techniques including: drypoint, soft ground etching, aquatint, spit bite, sugar lift, modifying the copper plates repeatedly. After each modification, an image, or proof was printed, its visual effects analysed, and subsequently revised.
The artist and printers explored multiple printmaking processes, including spit bite and sugar lift. Instead of submerging the plate in acid, spots are dropped or spattered on the plate (spit bite) or drawn directly onto the copper with an ink and sugar mix (sugar lift). After undergoing multiple revisions, all five of the plates, four isolated colour (81.13.2021-81.20.2021) and the soft ground, modified with spit bite and sugar bite, were printed together. Halvorson altered the black line plate so spite bite would appear around the door and on the upper face of the stove. Other alterations included removing the black line from around the fire. Using a narrow tongue of metal, she smoothed the copper below exposing areas of pure white to achieve a gentle, gradual effect. This technique, called burnishing, creates a watercolour like effect. The alterations and notes on the margins of the proof informed Halvorson’s final etching. The proofs, 43 in total, will serve as a valuable teaching tool at the MFA as they demonstrate the varied and nuanced effects of each technique, while annotations reveal how essential dialogue between artist and the studio as they work toward the life-size final proof before the edition.

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