Way back when I first took Intaglio at CSULB, the old fart teaching the course explained his background and specifically his relationship to the methodology developed by Stanley William Hayter. As a beginner, I was suitably impressed. The instructor's work was interesting with a focus on deep-bite etching and several colors all printed one time through the press. I bought Hayter's book, New Ways of Gravure, a few years later and was disappointed to see that a good portion of the book was devoted to his philosophy on printmaking and its implementation. I quickly flipped the pages to the techniques and pictures. I did read the serious part of the book and Hayter's approach began to make sense the more printing I did for myself but more importantly, as I printed for other artists.
It is difficult to make an art career based only on prints, especially with the current national focus on craft-like techniques and an obsession with non-toxic materials rather than actually taking the time to learn how to skillfully employ the medium and perhaps respect its tradition. Learning Hayter's philosophy would be noble just as it would be enlightening to sample the opinions of the printmakers deemed to be prominent today, but the true path to graphic enlightenment would be for instructors and schools to impart a thorough and cohesive printmaking education. A few techniques learned well can serve as a stepping stone to effective artistic expression. Conversely, a program based on including as many techniques as possible results in too many students coming out of the academic institutions no better than "dabblers" or hobbyists.
Its late, I'm crabby and this causes me to lash out at artists that like to make flower prints and kitty etchings.
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