Visual Arts Brampton
Serigraphy

Part of The Printmaking Process

A special section, in partnership with the Art Gallery of Peel, part of Brampton's Peel Heritage Complex.

Serigraphy or silk-screen printing is a printmaking process fairly new to artists, yet it has long been a standard procedure used by commercial industries to decorate textiles and multicoloured posters. The exact origin of silk-screen printing is not known, however its oldest related forerunner is a certain type of Japanese stencil.

The term serigraphy was proposed by Carl Zigrosser as a designation for an artist made silk-screen print in order to distinguish it from silk-screen work that was executed on an industrial or reproductive basis.

Serigraph printing is basically a stencil process, where the designs are placed upon a piece of fine mesh screen-like material tacked to a wooden frame, with various film forming materials being used as surface barriers.

A coloured ink is poured into the frame; the frame is placed in contact with the surface to be printed upon, and the colour is scraped over the stencil with a rubber squeegee and deposited upon the paper or other ground through the mesh of the uncoated areas of the screen.

Because of its simplicity in process and execution, serigraph printing has become a popular form of printing, allowing artists to create multiple productions.