Central to Abraham Cone’s collaboration with Pigeon Hole Press was testing the limits of material— exploring copper’s capacity to translate brushstrokes, and handmade paper’s ability to withstand thousands of pounds of pressure while preserving his marks. With a practice rooted in traditional crafts such as papermaking, gilding, and weaving, Cone brought an attention to materiality which made his time in the studio unique.

Using soft ground and aquatint, Cone produced a series of etched plates as a repertoire of images and marks to draw from. Printing these plates on paper which Cone made from plants he foraged across Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana pushed the process further, stretching ink, copper, and fibers to their breaking points.

During printing, plates were wiped differently each time and combined with a variety of monotype and monoprinting techniques, creating a series of unique but linked impressions resulting from improvisation on the press.