Technical aspect of intaglio print and its use in school

Intaglio print, as part of graphic art is a wide field which contains many different views and technical procedures. Every technique requires its own approach and many times its own tools. Materials and tools for graphic art have been developing through time, and can be easily bought today, although mostly expensive. The process and principle of making graphic art and techniques itself stayed mostly unchanged till present day. Understanding of this process can open views of how to combine techniques and how to change traditional tools and materials with more inexpensive and easy to get everyday stuff. The main goal of this kind of approach was to find new virtual and esthetic alternatives of graphic art, but in school the conditions for graphic art are usually poor, there is lack of equipment, some techniques seem to be too complicated, so the approach to make thing easier is quite important. At this stage, the knowledge of processes, materials and techniques can be, beside of experiences, of great help. Technical approach towards the process of intaglio print is the contents of this diploma. From different sources it gives, for each technique in particular the information about its history, characteristics and the description of technical process from the preparation of the matrix till the final proof. After descriptions of most common used materials, tools and preparations in traditional approach of an intaglio print, it follows also some descriptions of the same techniques in simpler manner, which might be used in primary schools. The quality of the expression is not the same as with the traditional intaglio print, but these techniques can serve as the beginning of knowing the intaglio problems, both technical and visual and as such they can serve well. In my opinion, this kind of experimentation does not harm or jeopardize the purity of graphic tradition but can enlarge its varieties of expression. As an graphic amateur and an admirer of art I do not take easy on the subject, but as a future teacher of art, I think that graphic expressions deserve bigger place in schools in its normal, or even better in its simpler form