A digital scan is made directly from the original, called a direct capture, and transferred to the computer. Using Adobe Photoshop, the file is refined and prepared for printing, then archived on a gold CD to assure consistency for later prints.
Giclee (zhee-clay) is a French word meaning ‘to spray’.
Giclees are printed on 48” wide Epson inkjet printers similar to those produced on desktop printers, but on steroids . . . Giclee printers spray millions of microscopic droplets of ink per second, rendering resolutions much higher than traditional lithography, with crisp contrast and rich intense colors. Prints are large format images on canvas and watercolor paper.
A protective UV coating is then sprayed on the canvas print. Under normal conditions it is said that a Giclee print will endure 75 to 150 years. Thea Swengell, a friend and gallery director, showed me how she uses Giclee prints to display her husband’s paintings in the front Westerly-facing window of their Farnsworth Gallery in Taos, New Mexico. There was no visible difference between a print inside the gallery and the one in the window!
All Giclee prints are Limited Editions with a Certificate of Authenticity detailing pertinent information to each specific Giclee print. Handmade shadow box framing is available, however, each Giclee print has a hand-painted gallery wrap and is suitable for hanging without framing.
Many of the grand museums and galleries display Giclees, attesting the quality of reproduction .
- The Metropolitan Museum, New York
- The Los Angeles County Museum
- The British Museum
- Philadelphia Museum of Art
- San Francisco Museum of Art
- Laguna Art Museum
- Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art
- The National Museum of Art
- The Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC
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