Sea Ice Studies by Christine Koch - March 2022

There are two ways to achieve a multi-coloured linocut print. One is with multiple blocks, ie, a separate block of lino on which each colour is printed. The other way is to achieve all colours from a single block, by carving away (ie, reducing) areas of the block after each colour-run, and reprinting the block with new colour after each reduction until the final multi-coloured result is achieved.

It is a technically complex process, the challenge residing firstly in determining the colour map of the image (deciding what to carve out and what to leave, and in what order), and then in the actual printing of the piece, a procedure which requires great care to achieve precise registration, ensuring that the paper is aligned on the block in exactly the same place for each run through the press. Creating a reduction print from start to finish is thus an extremely labour-intensive and time-consuming process, and the resulting editions are relatively small.

The imagery for this collection of reduction prints draws variously from an expedition aboard the CCGS Amundsen, a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.

- Christine Koch