Serigraphs...
Serigraphy, also known as silkscreening or screen printing, has the deepest roots of any of the printing modes, dating back to cave drawings. The name comes from the Greek serikos (silk) and graphos (writing). It has been used for many types of art forms all over the world, from 17th Century England to the more notable Japanese form (katazome). Silk screening took off during the First World War as an industrial process for printing flags and banners, and later became popular with sign makers. During the Depression, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) even promoted this process as being a fine art form. Even though many people thought of serigraphy as being an art form, the public seemed to lose interest during the 1950's. However, in the 1960's interest for the art form was renewed. Innovators such as Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, Robert Raushenburg, and others, began experimenting in color and textures unavailable in other mediums. This is because screen printing is more versatile than traditional printing techniques. The surface does not have to be printed under pressure, unlike etching or lithography, and it does not have to be planar. Screen printing inks can be used to work with a variety of materials, such as textiles, ceramics, metal, wood, paper, glass, and plastic. As a result, screen printing is used in many different industries, from clothing to product labels to circuit board printing.

The process of Serigraphy is one in which a stencil is used to impose an image on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. The screens that are used are made of a piece of porous, finely woven fabric (originally silk, but typically made of polyester or nylon since the 1940s) stretched over a wood or aluminum frame. Areas of the screen are blocked off with a non-permeable material—a stencil—which is a negative of the image to be printed; that is, the open spaces are where the ink will appear.

There are various methods when it comes to making a stencil. Traditionally, artists made their own stencils by using tusche (a greasy ink) to draw the image directly on the screen. Today, most artists prepare their screens by coating them with photo emulsion and then allowing them to dry. Then, the design is created on a series of overlays, one per color, on which the artist can either place a negative of a photograph or draw on directly. This process enables the artist to incorporate their hand into the process, and to stay true to their drawing. Next, the overlay is placed over the emulsion-coated screen, and then exposed with a strong light. The areas that are not opaque in the overlay allow light to reach the emulsion, which hardens and sticks to the screen. Afterwards the plate is washed thoroughly with water and any undeveloped areas wash away, allowing ink to pass through the screen.

Many of the serigraphs you see today are copies of original work produced from another medium. These are printed using camera-produced screens, and are usually offered for sale by a publisher. These may be done with or without the artist's involvement in the printing process. However, when the artist creates a serigraph, he or she is usually involved in the entire process, and these pieces can become very valuable. They become multiple originals!

The Language of Serigraphy...