Ciara Trapp - Printmaking

From "Bite & Burnish", Fifth Parallel Gallery, 2026.

Bite & Burnish
Curated by Ciara Trapp & Jayden Thompson

Bite & Burnish highlights the art of copper intaglio printmaking by displaying etched copper plates with their resulting prints. Though copper intaglio techniques are a small part of what makes up the world of printmaking, they embody an understated complexity. With methods such as soft ground, hard ground, drypoint, sugar lift, aquatint, and photo-etching, printmakers hold inexhaustible opportunities to combine and layer techniques to achieve unique compositions.

At the foundation of the process is the copper plate, the origin of each intaglio print. Plates are etched, bit by acid, worked by hand, and ink, once added and wiped from the acid-made grooves, is then transferred onto paper under pressure. In this exhibition, the plate, or matrix, is presented not just as a tool, but as artwork in its own right.

Typically, viewers encounter only the final print, leaving the plate—and the labour embedded within it—unseen. Bite & Burnish offers a shift in perspective by showcasing the prints of eleven University of Regina printmakers alongside their etched copper plates, revealing the relationship between image and source with emphasis of the creative expressive possibilities of intaglio printmaking.

Below photos by Ciara Trapp