Abstract

This paper maps the intersected development of print for glass and ceramics. It then offers case studies that firstly unpick some of the qualities that print can offer the artist working with the ceramic surface. As a counterpoint, the potential of glass as a carrier of print - ‘on’, ‘in’ and ‘of’ glass - is described, with reference to works by artists.
There is a 250-year history of the intersection of printmaking methods with glass and ceramics. Print offers the potential for an added layer of meaning to be applied to the surfaces of objects made of glass or ceramics. Of course, in the industrial context, reproduction was a benefit of printing onto decorative and functional pieces. For the contemporary artist working in glass or ceramics, repetition is perhaps less important than qualities and metaphoric potentials.
For example, the screenprinted ceramic surface offers great potential in the overlapping of printed coloured enamels. The qualities of digital transfers offer another, less bold, form of aesthetic but one that is very suitable for photographic imagery. This paper considers how prints look on ceramics and why. It also argues that the printed ceramic surface offers many subtleties and qualities that could easily be overlooked. The case studies offer examples of these qualities and the ideas that they can help to express.
Whereas ceramic offers a ‘surface based’ arena for the application of printed imagery, the properties of glass allow other possibilities. Like ceramic, print can be applied on the surface of glass. However, print can also be applied in the glass and be actually of the glass. This offers great metaphoric potential for the artist.
The paper draws on the author’s books on printing for glass and ceramics as well as upon new artwork in ceramics and print.