EDWARDS, John

Born: 1952, in Pittsburgh, PA
Medium: Mezzotint

John Edwards began the study of printmaking and other art techniques as a student at City College of San Francisco. After receiving an Associate of Art in Fine Arts there, he went on to the University of California at Berkeley where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in a dual major of studio art and art history, with an emphasis on printmaking and painting, and modern art. Further studies included numerous workshops at Berkeley’s Kala Institute on papermaking, wood engraving and mezzotint, as well as at the Yale University Summer School of Music and Art.

Since 1988, John has also been a workshop manager at Kala Institute, a master printer for Vorpal Gallery in San Francisco, and an instructor in color etching at ASUC in Berkeley. John has done much of the printing for the world-famous mezzotint artist Yozo Hamaguchi.

An exacting and laborious process, mezzotint is a variation of the intaglio print, created by the transfer of ink from below the surface of the plate by use of a press. First, the entire metal plate is indented with a toothed steel rocker tool. Worked in all directions, this tool creates a regular texture over the surface of the plate. Each pit will hold ink and were the plate to be inked at this stage, it would print almost solid black. To make the design the artist burnishes out some of the pitted areas. The final result is almost always a light image on a velvety black background.

John is fond of working in particularly small sizes, which require the viewer to step very near to see the unique creations of this talented artist. The themes vary from landscapes to more abstracted shapes and forms. John is particularly adept at the difficult task of creating color mezzotint images, where each color requires a separate plate.


Exhibits:
Washington, DC
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento
New York City
Los Angeles Printmaking Society
International Miniprint Exhibit, Napa
Mini Engraving Traveling Exhibition, Spain
San Francisco
Berkeley, California
Yale University in New Haven, CT
Emeryville, California