History of the non toxic printmaking method :ElectroEtch

SUMMER 1989 : First Experiments with anodic etching as a non toxic printmaking method with zinc and zinc sulfate at 12 volts. Gases were generated and the etch was too rapid and too strong.

SEPTEMBER 1990: First Patent Application Filed

MARCH 1991: Disclosure of basic principles of ElectroEtch including Electron micrographs showing differential crystal structure (Microtint) in "Environmentally safe etching", ChemTech 21, #4, 210 (1991)

APRIL 1992: Grant of US Patent 5 102 520 . Discloses basic principles of very low voltage electrolytic etching in a vertical tank. Shows etching liquid agitation by air bubble injection.

MAY 2, 1992: US Patent 5 102 520 designated "patent of the week" by New York Times

MAY 12 1992: Grant of US Patent 5 112 453

SUMMER 1992: Publication of article "Environmentally Safe Etching" in Journal of the Print World.

Discovery of Edge Focus Effect: The etching is intensified at plate edges, ground edges and lines previously etched very close together. This allows range of tones by open biting these areas.

OCTOBER 1992: Exhibition of ElectroEtch prints at B.Beemesderfer Gallery, Highland Park NJ

JANUARY 1993: Publication of "Etching and Tone Creation Using Low-Voltage Anodic Electrolysis", Leonardo 25, #1, 53,(1993) showing art work

MAY 1993: Award of Charles A. Lindbergh Grant in Arts and Humanities. During this time we studied the mechanism of the process. At very low voltages not only does the metal dissolve from the plate, but tiny particles peel off the surface. This is how Microtint happens. We created a series of lines, which, except for a "glitter" that showed up on the etched metal surface, looked very similar to their counterparts etched in 1 to 20, 1 to 12 and 1 to 8 acid.

JUNE 1993: Created a mezzotint like surface by pole reversal.

Print created by Don Furst of U.of N.Carolina

Made Xerox transfers and etched using the transferred image as resist

SPRING 1994: Publication of "Electroetch, a safe etching system",

JUNE 1994: The Lindbergh Foundation Board was presented with a portfolio containing 50 comparison plates, including layered images, cross hatching, capturing fine textures with soft ground, creating wide varieties of tones from white to rich black, using ink as well as touche, crayons, permanent markers, oil sticks and litho pencils as resists, and needles, screwdrivers, nails and sticks to penetrate through ink.

JULY 1995: Purchase by Smithsonian Institution of portfolio of 50 plates showing comparison between acid and ElectroEtch. This porfolio was prepared during the Lindbergh Grant

FALL 1995: ElectroEtch Print wins prize at Annual Audubon ArtistsShow in New York . One of the plates used in this print was a worked non toxic photoetch image.

WINTER 1995: Publication of Electroetch II Printmaking Today 4, #4, 24 (1995).

FEBRUARY 1998: ElectroEtch Print shown in Annual Show of National Gallery Museum, New York.

JUNE 1998: One Person Show of ElectroEtch prints at Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, N.J.

DECEMBER 1998: "Setting the record straight", Printmaking Today 7, #4, 31 (1998).

JANUARY 1999: ElectroEtch processor purchased by Stanford University and installed in Enrique Chagoya's etching class. First class taught by Marion and Omri Behr. Here are some of the works of the artists there.

AUGUST 1999: Electroetch at the top (almost) of the world!

400 miles North of the Arctic Circle in Holman on Victoria Island is one of the best sources of Inuit prints in Canada.

The Holman artists have long worked in lithography and stenciling but have not practiced etching because of ecological and health problems associated with acid. Last Spring, they invited Marion and Omri Behr, to install and teach them the Electroetch process. They have just returned from a wonderful 7 days of genuine cultural exchange. This windblown cove in the Arctic Ocean guarded by 5 Inukshuks (stone figures) on a hill overlooking the hamlet is a flowering forest of artistic ideas and imagery. People fly into Holman just to get the best prints reflecting traditional and more recent representations of the history, life and legends of these imaginative and highly adaptable artists.The Inuit have a genius for understanding and adapting to anything the comes their way. The Electroetch equipment, flown in from New Jersey, was waiting, half uncrated on the Behrs’ arrival, within four hours everything was set up and ready to go. Mabel Nigiyok, the eldest artist, preferred to speak the Inuit language, so her son Louie translated the English instructions for her.

The first line etch of stone markers, a musk ox and a caricature was finished the next day as a joint effort and two days later 5 printmakers who had had virtually no etching experience were producing their first ecologically safely made etchings. The excitement of this interchange was electric, what had been scheduled as five 9-5 days, turned into 7 days of 9 AM to 11 PM printmaking – helped of course by the "midnight" sun which made everyone forget the time.Here some INUIT ART PRINTS by ElectroEtch!!

FEBRUARY 2000: Electroetch Demonstrated at College Art Association, New York.

APRIL 2000: Electroetch Seminar at Branchburg NJ.

Professional artists from the United States and Spain enjoyed an interactive two days and produced several prints some of which are shown here.

AUGUST 2000: Electroetch installed and taught at Cultural Moussem, Asilah, Morocco.

Here is the start of a selection of them

MAY 2001: Howard University in Washington DC now has the medium tank for 18" x 24" plates as well as the full size model for 24" x 36". This is a totally non toxic studio and Prof. Claudia Gibson-Hunter will be experimenting with different resists. Watch this space for art work and photos

JUNE 2001:Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, Marion's alma mater is going Electroetch.

JULY 2001:Alaska has an ecologically sensitive outlook so the University of Alaska at Fairbanks will get their system in July and we will set it up for them. U.of A South East at Juneau will get theirs soon afterwards.

AUGUST 2001: We will be demonstrating the system at a joint two week work group of printmakers from New Jersey and a group of Berlin printmakers who will be hosting .

1997-2000: Numerous other recognized artists have worked with ElectroEtch at our studio, they include:

Mohammad Khalil , Master Printer

Robert Conover (deceased), Graphic Artist

Linda Cummings, Photographer and Printmaker

Prof. Gregory Niemeyer, Artist

Please take a look at the Art Gallery to see what has been achieved.