Coolifornia

As a Textile/Surface Designer, I have to consider how physical limitations of manufacturing and printing processes restrict the printability of various product designs. My goal is to maximize the level of detail and range of color for each artwork, working within the printability limits of different re-production methods.

I took a printmaking class at ArtCenter with Erik Sandberg to explore how our digital art concepts are constrained by physical limitations of various printing processes. For my final assignment in the class, I choose one of the more difficult types of screen-printing methods—hand-pulled four-color process CMYK—to test out various color, texture, and detail limitations. Although I did not perfectly align or register each of the four color layers in my prints, I love looking closely at the print details to see how the halftone dots layer together to form rosettes, grids, and various patterns that make up the image.

As for the content of the image itself, I layered California lifestyle vignettes—swimming pools, picnic blankets, fruit smoothies, sunglasses, night drives—reminiscent of “that summer feeling”.

Coolifornia
Off-register CMYK silkscreen print on paper
Edition of 10
9 ¾" x 15"
2015

Details of print below.