Original Copperplate Etchings
by William F. Cox

Green Man circular hand-illuminated etching.
Archival six inch laser prints: $20
Original monochrome 4" etching: $50.

4818 Gold Rush Rd
Pilot, VA 24138
Phone: 1 [540] 382-3254

New River Arts Council
Floyd County Artisans Index
Internationally acclaimed artist/printmaker William F. Cox has delighted audiences with his intricate original copperplate etchings for the past thirty years.

Winning numerous Best in Show and First Place awards over the past quarter century, his etchings can be found in permanent collections such as the State University of New York at Buffalo, the Library of Congress, and Vatican City, as well as countless private collections worldwide.

A former teacher and artist-in-residence, he lives and works in the rural mountain setting of southwestern Virginia with his family.

Etchings and color laser prints are floated on 10" x 12" mattboard and shrinkwrapped. Museum-quality matting and framing is also available.

At right: Brotherly Counsel, a 4" circular original etching, is $50. An enlargement of the village from this plate shows the minute details of these prints.

Copperplate etching is the second oldest family of printmaking, the intaglio process, which dates from the mid 15th century. Well-known masters of this medium include Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt, Wm Blake and M. C. Esher.

The process involves scratching a copper plate thru a thin resist to expose the metal. What the artist sees is a negative; bright metal against the dark wax background, and reversed left-to-right. After the drawn plate is submerged in acid to eat lines into the scratches, the wax is removed. Ink is forced into the lines and carefully wiped off the surface to leave ink only in the lines of the image. Dampened acid-free paper and a felt blanket are placed over the inked plate and slowly rolled under tremendous pressure through the press to transfer the image to the paper. The resulting image has a three-dimensional raised line embossed effect characterized by greater permanence and quality of detail than the best pen and ink drawings.
Etching is the most time-consuming form of printmaking; each plate takes from fifty to hundreds of hours to make. The hand inking and wiping process has to be repeated for each individual impression of a copper plate, taking from twenty minutes to an hour or more.

At left: The Visitor - a 3" x 4" original etching, $45. Numerous other designs are also available. For a free catalog, please request by phone or mail. First class shipping is $5 for the first print, $3 for each additional print thereafter within the same order.

Last updated 970122 by Alex Funk DESIGN