ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Enfield states that all boundaries have been broken. With a little help from people in different fields, an artist can work in whatever medium he or she feels is appropriate for each project. Throughout history artists have been collaborating with others to help produce work. This is nothing new. Several artists in this book make their living providing printmaking services to others. It seems like the digital age helped in reinforcing this collaborative. The access to images through digital negatives has opened up exciting new possibilities to all artists.
The application of ceramic and enamel to metal began in the 1750s with the appropriation of images from copperplate engraving. Then, in 1854, Leron de Marcarson, a Frenchman, filed a patent for a process of vitrified photography onto porcelain. Around 1860–70, when gelatin was first being used in photography, photo-ceramics became popular. A layer of light sensitive gelatin emulsion containing colored enamel glaze was coated onto ceramic pieces, exposed with a negative, washed in water to develop the image, and then fired. The primary use of this process was to put images on gravestones.
Now, artists are making images through photography and utilizing any medium that speaks to them for any given project. It is very exciting to see all of the work being done today and Enfield has included a lot of it in her book.
