Ghana Ceremonial Mask Limited Edition Print

This was actually one of my very first major printmaking works. I drew inspiration from African masks for the design—drawing in particular from Ghana as my brother worked and lived there for a few years. I experimented with line work both as tightly interwoven threads, loosely stacked hairlines, and thick wide bands to frame the space around the mask. I gently scratched the design into a zinc-metal plate. The plate was then bathed in acid to create intaglio etching marks. The scratching and acid bathing was repeated until the plate could hold ink within its recesses. Ink was rolled onto metal plate, placed over high quality printmaking paper, and run through hand-controlled printing press. The paper was then pulled from the plate and left on the blotter to dry.

Each print is titled, numbered, signed, and dated in pencil on the front. Only 25 editions were created, and due to subtle variations in the printmaking process, each piece is truly one of a kind.