A collagraph is a print made from a plate built up from collaged materials. The artist assembles textures, card, fabric, leaves, sand, glue, carborundum and more, onto a base board, then inks the resulting relief-and-texture surface and prints from it. The name combines the French coller (‘to glue’) with the Greek graph (‘to draw’).
Collagraph is one of the most experimental and tactile printmaking techniques, valued for its rich textures and the freedom it gives the artist in building an image.
The artist constructs a printing plate by gluing materials of varying texture and height onto a rigid base, often card or board. Anything that will survive the inking and printing process can be used, textured papers, fabrics, string, dried plant matter, modelling paste or carborundum grit.
Once the glued plate is sealed and dry, it is inked. The artist may ink it as a relief (rolling ink across the raised surface), as an intaglio (working ink into the recesses and wiping the surface), or as a combination of both. Damp paper is then pressed against the plate to lift a textured, often richly atmospheric image.
Collagraph’s great strength is texture. Because the plate is physically built up from real materials, the resulting print carries a depth and tactile quality that is difficult to achieve in any other medium. Embossed surfaces, soft tonal passages and unexpected marks all emerge from the collaged plate.
The technique also offers enormous creative freedom. There is no carving or acid involved, so artists can experiment directly with materials, making collagraph a favourite for those who enjoy a hands-on, exploratory approach to printmaking.
Because the built-up plate is delicate and wears with use, collagraph editions tend to be small, and impressions often vary subtly from one another. Each print is signed and numbered. Look for the embossed texture and the layered, atmospheric quality that distinguish the technique.
At Byard Art, our print collection includes original collagraphs from contemporary artists, each an example of this richly textural medium.
