Stanford Lithography 2024: Prints from 149A Kathryn Kain’s Class, Spring 2024 

Exhibition Run: November 4-12 (closed on Election Day, Nov. 5)

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 11am-5pm

Reception: Friday, November 8, 4-5:30 PM

Location: Miller Discussion Space, Across from the Coulter Gallery, (Ground Floor Crit Space)

Artists: Krain Chen, Kaylee Harvey, Halima Ibrahim, Charu Jain, William Pangburn, Emma Reid Talley, and Katie Terrell

Stanford is home to at least a hundred limestones in the large printmaking studio; this is rare as colleges and universities downsize printmaking spaces. I have taught lithography as a visiting instructor at Stanford since 2006. I originally studied with Kenjilo Nanao; a Tamarind trained master printmaker. He studied with and assisted Nathan Oliviera, master printmaker and late professor emeritus of printmaking at Stanford. During Spring Quarter 2024, my students, with much hard work, created the works in this exhibit. 

Lithography is the most recently developed of the traditional printmaking methods. Invented in 1796 by Alois Senefelder, who was a playwright searching for a more efficient method to reproduce words and music. Through trial and scientific experimentation, Senefelder perfected the technique known as chemical printing or lithography. The principle which makes this possible is simple: oil and water don’t mix. 

Lithographic pencils, crayons and inks have a grease content which bonds with the stone after the drawing on stone is treated with a weak solution of nitric acid and gum arabic.  

Unlike relief and intaglio, lithography is planographic and requires no carving or incision into the surface of a limestone block. Image areas are drawn or transferred as if to a sheet of paper. Inherently sensitive to grease and water, the Bavarian limestone allows detailed images to be retained and printed hundreds of times as long as a stone is chemically stable and kept damp while printing.  

This highly commercially viable process took over the printing industry and artists found the autographic medium attractive because limestone is a seductive surface for drawing. Although demanding and labor intensive, lithography allows direct drawings to be duplicated faithfully with proper expertise.  

- Kathryn Kain, curator

VISITOR INFORMATION: The Miller Discussion Room is located on the ground floor of the McMurtry Building, located at 355 Roth Way. Visitor parking is available in designated areas and payment is managed through ParkMobile (free after 4pm, except by the Oval). Alternatively, take the Caltrain to Palo Alto Transit Center and hop on the free Stanford Marguerite Shuttle. If you need a disability-related accommodation or wheelchair access information, please contact Julianne Garcia at juggarci@stanford.edu. This exhibition is open to Stanford affiliates and the general public. Admission is free.

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