This video features artist Anna van der Ploeg working on the copper plate for her artwork The Negotiators at the David Krut Workshop in Arts on Main using the Spitbite aquatint.
Spitbite aquatint involves painting strong acid directly onto the aquatint ground of a prepared plate. Depending upon the time the acid is left on the plate, light to dark tones can be achieved. To control the acid application, saliva, ethylene glycol or Kodak Photoflo solution can be used.
Read more about other printmaking terms and techniques here
Artist Anna van Der Ploeg’s exhibition Visitor is underpinned by the body of prints made during Van der Ploeg’s 10-day residency at the David Krut Workshop in January 2021, during which she worked with printer Roxy Kaczmarek making etchings and monotypes. An accomplished printmaker, having studied printmaking at the University of Cape Town and having participated in a residency in Japan working with Mokuhanga, a water-based woodblock printmaking technique, Van der Ploeg took to the studio environment with ease. The freedom afforded her by having a team of printmakers to work with, and a professional studio setup, allowed her to take a deep dive into the medium, and she used the short time she had in the workshop to create a relatively large body of prints that draw on the imagery that currently fascinates her.
Visit our portal to view more of Anna’s work.
Read more in our blog post here