Untitled, 1985

Shortly into her stay with Tamarind Institute, Emily grew tired with edition printing, choosing to focus on creating monoprints, and, eventually, monotypes instead. Monoprints provided unique variations, but, like the edition, they used a fixed matrix (an image is fixed or etched into a substrate such as a wood or plate). Monotypes, however, are completely individual unique prints with each impression, a process well-suited to the creative spontaneity and flexibility Mason desired.

“Perhaps not surprisingly,” as Kenneth E. Silver describes, “her route into printmaking was by way of monotypes, unique prints in which most of the medium (ink, paint) is removed in the initial pressing.”