Pressing Matters of the Heart
Fallbrook monotype printmaker puts it all on the plate. by Sandra Shrader
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. Dixon Fish knows it takes a little luck to make a favorable first impression. Yet, as the master printmaker and Fallbrook School of the Arts instructor, 79, teaches about creating monotype prints, printmaking is a fairly straight-forward process from start to finish; beginning with the creation and inking of a flat plate and ending with “pulling the print” after the print machine’s rollers have done their work. But there are no guarantees that a print will turn out just as expected. And that, Fish said, is the mysteriously exciting part of printmaking, an art form upon which he has largely focused since 2001. “There are ‘risks’ or variables in each stage of the process, whether or not one is using plates that are engraved or etched, woodblock or linocut, or solarplates which I like to use at present,” the printmaker said, adding that the majority of his prints are monotype. “The amount of ink on the plate, how that ink is manipulated or removed from the plate, the kind of ink that is used, the type of paper, how damp should the paper be—all those factors can influence the print image,” he explained. “And more often than not, the end result will convey a different impression, maybe one that turns out to be more meaningful than what was intended.” Born near the base of California’s Eastern Sierra range followed by a childhood spent at desert cattle ranches in Arizona, Fish is naturally inspired by mountain majesty, wide open spaces of sky and land, and the splendid natural world apart from that of human busyness. www.my-sourcebook.com
