Reduction Cut - her name is december

The Holland Project, a local non-profit organization in Reno, Nevada that promotes artistic and musical events for young people, began the Holland Editions project about two years ago. This will be their third year producing the Holland Edition; a collection of prints by 12 artists in the Reno area each one featured in it's own month. Megan Berner, a printmaker and the organizer of this project as well as a board member of the Holland Project, was kind enough to invite me to participate in this years print portfolio.

As often happens I came up with a beautiful concept very soon but wasn't sure exactly how I would create it. There are so many options with printmaking and each method has pros and cons. The original idea called for creating a copper plate etching and then doing a drypoint and monotype on top to get some extra color and detail. Instead I ended up at the Black Rock Press with one mounted linoleum board and a solution - reduction cut block printing.

"her name is december" by Rachel Kaiser

Thanks to Megan Berner for the photo.

Relief is very direct. There is less process than with most intaglio techniques when creating wood or linoleum blocks. A reduction cut, sometimes called a "suicide cut", was a technique used by Pablo Picasso among other artists to achieve multiple colors from the same block instead of multiple blocks. Beginning with the first, lightest color, make the entire edition of prints. Then cut into the block a second time and print the entire edition again, rinse and repeat for the number of colors the image contains. For myself there is usually a  10-15% loss when creating multiple color prints, and that was true this time as well. The only way to get a copy of this print is to purchase the Holland Editions Portfolio. I must say I like it very much and hope to continue creating work like this in the future.

Inexpert photo by Rachel, see a few more details in this one.