By Grace Barron, V Form

My Exploration in Printmaking on a Scroll

To turn a single, or in my case double, print into a lengthy scroll (h 82″ X w 40″), my first step was to print out large quantities of both blocks in different shades of purple. Before it came to all of that, I had to have an original print. For the original assignment, the Advanced Studio class went to the Wesley greenhouses, drew from life, and created a print based on our drawings. An experimental print assignment then followed. Looking at my single print, I noticed that the mirrored prints in a scroll would have an effect that would allow the viewer’s eyes to follow a path. While I first looked for a gradient effect with the top prints being the lightest and the bottom prints the darkest, I decided to scratch the idea and make the piece follow more of a random pattern.  I laid out the prints and arranged them in a way that I liked and then glued them to a large piece of paper. I wanted the viewer to see almost a scalloped effect. (Go to bottom of this page to see a larger rendering). 

The point of this scroll was not only to stretch my thinking into creating a piece that I never thought I

could previously do, but also to experiment printmaking and style in a different way. Through my years in studio classes, my personal style has evolved from smooth with minimal marks to rough with clear and sharp marks, an interesting development to explore in printmaking.

Grace Barron is a V Form boarding student from Concord, MA. She lives in Thayer and loves her two dogs, Maggie and Dylan.

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