Photos by Mary Alice Murphy
The several-day annual Southwest Print Fiesta took place in Silver City, NM from October. 9-12, with various demonstrations , print makers selling their products, classes on print making, and getting to know the processes and the results.
The print market took place in the Main Street Plaza, where booths were set up to give information, on organizations, sell prints, as well as provide food for hungry shoppers and print makers. The feature every year is the Steamroller print process, with Janey Katz at the wheel.
On Saturday, the print maker whose prints were being created with the steamrolling process was local artist Fred Barraza. The photos show the process of inking the "negative" of the print, laying out a large thick piece of plywood, placing the "negative " in a marked area, carefully adding the paper that will be printed on, making sure it is in good contact with the ink, placing a rug on top, and then another layer of plywood and a slow drive of the steamroller over the print, and then stopping and backing ever the print . Then comes the slow, careful removal of the various layers, until a slow reveal of the print. In this case, all four prints of the same negative, reinked each time, came out well, much to the delight and relief of the artist.
To pause the slide show, mouse over the image.
