Along a dirt path some six miles outside of Ann Arbor sits a white-washed house. It seems to be in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by a carpet of russet-colored fallen leaves. Pristine exterior withstanding, the building's inside is lined with a clutter of items strewn about from constant use.

Crawling, reaching plants sit in the corner, looking as if they are impossibly climbing upward into the sky. One wall is covered in a flurry of rectangular sheets of paper, some colored with bright hues: blood red, royal blue; others covered in black textured dots and lines. Various drafting tables are set up along the walls, the heavy arms of drafting lights hanging over them, the surface of the desk covered in cans filled with brushes, oil pastels, measuring tape and etching tools.

Upon entering the house, immediately noticeable is a giant printing press made of gray metal. It's about eight feet long, complete with knobs and screws and a turning wheel. The press itself is covered in metal plates with lines and images etched into them — printmaking plates.

This is the thinking space of printmaker Takeshi Takahara, former School of Art & Design Professor and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus. He faces this room every time he seeks to create a new piece, his mind perhaps as cluttered and active as his drafting desk.

Takahara employs a printmaking technique known as intaglio, using etchings in metal to produce a printable image and capture his thoughts and feelings taken from past experiences, often based on his travels.

His latest exhibition, “The Four Corners,” (on display in the Residential College Art Gallery through Dec. 4) focuses on the Southwest United States, known for its stunning red and orange rock formations and supernatural forces. It was Takahara’s goal to encapsulate the feelings of this area in his intaglio prints. The selection of this unconventional method of expression may appear to be unusual on the surface, but for Takahara, it pays off in the long run.

Intaglio, along with lithography, silkscreen and woodblock, are the four basic printmaking processes.

Growing up in Japan, Takarhara always saw woodblock as the most popular form of printmaking. Still, he always had a desire to work with other material and soon discovered he preferred a stronger, almost impenetrable surface.

“Metal is very hard and it’s very resistant,” Takahara said. “I like that dynamic between my vulnerable idea versus the solid metal.”

Although he was initially attracted to the materials of intaglio printmaking, Takahara would have to learn to be patient, for the steps of the technique are undeniably time-consuming.

In intaglio, a copper plate is coated with an acid-resistant, asphalt-like substance into which the artist scratches a design. An acid bath exposes the lines, their depth determined by how long the plate is left in the bath. These three steps are repeated multiple times on the same plate to create variations of lines. The asphalt-like substance is cleaned off, which exposes the etched lines. Ink is used to fill in the grooves. Finally, the plate is put on a press bed and paper is forced to pick up the ink from the grooves, resulting in an image.

This prolonged and meticulous process might seem excessively laborious and drawn out, but it’s the perfect medium for Takahara to fully realize the ideas in his head. The process also suits his tendency toward constant revision. He claims he’s in a perpetual state of reevaluation and correction, never truly finishing a piece.

“People assume when you have an idea, you get the result right then, but that’s not the case,” Takahara explained. “The artist is changing (his or her work) all the time before arriving at the final product. That’s exciting to me.”

Even though Takahara views the length of the procedure as an advantage now, that was not always his view.