Linocutting Linocut is where you carve out a pattern onto either lino or wood and stamp it down.

It was originally used as a wood surface as lino did not exist when this technique was invented in 1860. Linocut printing technique was used first by the artists of Die Brcke in Germany; this was originally used for simply printing patterns onto wallpaper for a different effects. It is an art form which consists of cutting into a surface painting over it and pressing it down on a plain background. The advantages of this is that it has a really nice effect and outcome, as you can mess around with how deep you want to cut the lino, so ca n get really nice depths and textures on the end product. The disadvantage of linocutting is that it takes a long time to cut out and also it can be quite dangerous cutting into lino as it is a slippery surface and can easily slide up and cut you. Also if you do not cut out at the same depth on all your cutting you get random lines on your final printing. How to lino cut: 1) So you have to always start with a blank piece of linoleum and a pencil. 2) Draw a pattern or image of your choice on the linoleum. Can be as complex as you wish but baring in mind the more complex the longer it will take. 3) So once you have done this get your cutting tool and start to cut away the bit on the linoleum that you dont want to see when you press it down on a surface. 4) When you have cut everything out, find the piece of paper you want to press your pattern onto 5) Get some paint and roll it over the linoleum this should stay on the bits you have not cut out. 6) Press it down on your piece of paper and then roll it over on the back with another paint roller. 7) Peel the linoleum off the paper gently and your print should come off on the paper nicely. The benefit of lino cutting is that once you have cut out your design you can keep on printing it over and over again, as there is no end. This is why it is better than something hand drawn etc. Irving Amen was a painter, printmaker and sculpture; he was born in New York City in 1918 and got a scholarship to the Pratt Institute. In 1953, Amen travelled throughout Italy. This resulted in a series of eleven woodcuts, eight etchings and a number of oil paintings. One of these woodcuts, Piazza San Marco #4 and its four woodblocks constitute a permanent exhibit of block printing in colour at the Smithsonian Institution. He had his first exhibition was at the New School for Social Research in New York and his second at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington in 1949. His travels throughout Israel, Greece and Turkey in 1960 led to a retrospective at the Artists House in Jerusalem. He is listed in Mantle Fielding Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers and the Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists by Paul Cummings.