Inkling: Thinking about Ink

Abstract

Something about the haptic and visual qualities of ink.

Something about ink moving from matrix to substrate.

Something about how printmakers are drawn to ink.

It’s an inkling I have…

I want to focus on a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of printmaking, namely ink. Returning to the studios after months of remote learning, students in one of my print media courses were struck by the physical presence of ink on paper. Drawn to actually touch the printed ink film, they wanted to confirm the physical and sensuous qualities they perceived through sight.

The fact of ink on paper might seem too obvious to mention, yet I have an inkling that it is worth revisiting and re-examining ink’s haptic qualities and materiality in addition to, or even apart from, its visual presence. I believe an examination and articulation of the physicality, tactility, and malleability of ink – its inkiness, even its sheer messiness – is worthy of study.