A Second Pull is a title that refers to both the act of pulling a print and the revisitation of the Fine Arts Work Center Invitational Print Project. The monotypes in this exhibition were made in the Michael Mazur Print Studio with the curators. At the end of each day of work, we selected one print from each artist for the exhibition, with the balance going home with the artists. The sale of prints in this exhibition help to support programming at the Fine Arts Work Center.

A monotype is a unique and spontaneous printed image. Ink is applied to a matrix that has no repeatable information etched or engraved into the surface. The matrix or plate is then covered with dampened paper and passed through the press under great pressure, creating an image that is reversed and somewhat difficult to predict since the transfer happens undercover.

The moment of the reveal is often surprising and mysterious. The plate retains the ghost of the image and is easy to rework. The creation of a series of images can happen quickly. Working with the monotype requires the artist to be open, adventurous, and respond to what is happening. In this way, monotypes are both studies and finished pieces. Approaches used by the artists were as varied as the artists themselves. Artists started with sketches or worked from their memories. Tools used included brushes, rollers, brayers, rags, hands, and solvents. Each of these tools provides a different outcome, and the artists discovered ways to work with what each does best. Images became both additive and subtractive. In some cases, the feel and the ability to control the opacity of the ink itself became a way into the imagery. In some cases, the prints themselves were reworked and passed through the press multiple times.

Michael Mazur was responsible for creating our print studio and for mentoring artists in the monotype process. To paraphrase some of Mazur’s wisdom about the spontaneity of the medium: “the speed at which you need to work to avoid ink drying on the plate makes you give up some control, the best monotypes are those where something unexpected happens, a piece is finished when you first sense it’s finished…if you keep working on it, you begin to ornament it in a way that it very often doesn’t need. We thank the participants for their generosity and hope that the experience was valuable to Them.