Photocopiers and Printers Are a Tool That Can be Used in Creative Art

Copyright (c) 2011 Alison Withers

While the use of photocopiers and printers is usually associated with use in office, educational and commercial situations for reproducing documents there are also ways that they can help creative artists.

The quality of copiers these days makes it easy to copy a three-dimensional object laid onto the glass plate and often produces some surprising and unusual image, or highlights features that wouldn't be noticed with the naked eye.

One of the most famous users of photocopiers to create unusual pictures is the biologist Dr Thomas Eisner, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Chemical Ecology and Director of the Institute for Research in Chemical Ecology at America's Cornell University. He began to explore the possibilities of the photocopier after developing Parkinson's Disease.

His experiments produced some striking pictures using natural objects, from freeze-dried insects to flowers to shells. He has said that he worked by first imagining how the various parts of a picture might fit together to make a complete image.

He then arranged the images on the plate, with the side to be copied facing downwards because the copier views the image from beneath and covered them with a black cloth to eliminate any light from interfering with the final image.

One of his most famous pictures, created from an arrangement of shells to depict a fanciful figure he called "The Naturalist".

Eisner's work illustrates how the photocopier can be used as an active ingredient both to teach creative art in schools and colleges and by artists themselves in their work.

Another possibility is to use a basic photocopied image and then enhance it to create unusual effects with the help of paintbrush or pen with ink or paint.

Adding a border to an image before photocopying can create some 3-dimensional effects. There are borders available in desktop publishing software or, borrowing from Dr Eisner, an actual frame could be used in conjunction with the original document. The frame should be laid reverse side upwards onto the glass plate first, followed by the document design (face down)

Photocopierscan also be of help to artists in creating a collage that they then want to use as a single image.

For groups and organisations wanting to put out eye-catching publicity the combination of using clip art, borders and unusual fonts to create an original document on the computer then reproduce it as a poster, flyer or leaflet is more affordable than getting it professionally printed and the quality of reproduction, depending on the printer settings and the weight of paper used can result in a very professional-looking job.

The frame should be first, laid reverse side up onto the glass plate, followed by the document design (face down).

Hand-adding spots of colour to black and white images or playing around with the lighting are just a couple of possibilities.

The possibilities for using photocopiers within the creative arts are limited only by the imagination, inventiveness and creativity of the artist or designer. There is no reason to limit their use to reproducing documents in offices and educational establishments.


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Printer/copiers are not only for use in reproducing documents in an office, commercial or educational setting. They can also help creative people develop their art. By Ali Withers on behalf of Firstcopy, Cambridge, suppliers throughout East Anglia.