Whats an artists proof?
In traditional print making, when prints were pulled individually by hand, artist’s proofs were the first few prints pulled in an edition. The artist used these prints to “proof” or approve the color and registration of the prints. By custom, these prints would belong to the artist to be kept or distributed at the artist’s pleasure. In offset printing today, where the first prints pulled are identical to the last, the term artist’s proof is applied to a small edition of prints reserved for the artist outside of the main edition for general release. In the case of Pat’s print editions, the artist’s proofs are mostly in edition sizes of 25, while the main edition usually consists of 1,000 or 500 prints. The artist’s proofs are numbered 1 through 25 and carry the designation “AP”. While Pat may choose to keep these for herself, she usually makes them available to her collectors. Because of the very small edition size, they are very much sought-after and command a higher value as collectib
