Interview with Nicholas Wilson

Biography

As a professional wildlife artist, I’ve been painting, sculpting and printmaking for over forty five years.  While growing up, my greatest fascination involved animals which lead me to drawing initially. Without any formal training in art, I was able to pursue my interests as opportunities arose during my life. I was hired as staff artist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson AZ where I learned anatomy and behavior in the native species of my area. As a result, I have my work in many museums and collections including the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., The Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma, the Booth Museum of Western Art in Georgia, The Leigh Yawkey Art Museum in Wisconsin to name a few. I’ve also been enabled to travel extensively abroad in pursuit of subject matter for may artwork. I currently live with my wife, Debbe, in Tubac AZ.

Why do you like to print? 

Printmaking remains one of my primary means of expression in my art. It allows me to get to the core of a thing in the most essential, graphic terms.  A limited edition of images fulfills a certain kind of satisfaction for me.

What is your favorite print medium and why? 

Most of my printmaking involves copperplate etching however, I’ve also produced some editions in stone lithography and serigraphy. Currently, I’m deeply involved in wood engraving which I find especially interesting. It is certainly my favorite.

How long have you been printing and how has your work evolved? 

I started with linocuts while still in high school but then began my etching seriously back in the 70’s.  From simply experimentation and many failures, I’ve gradually learned the various steps and fine tuning required to create successful editions. 

What inspires you? 

I see myself in certain animal types and express myself through them.

How do your promote your work?

I’m represented in galleries as well as on Etsy.

Are you working on any particular projects now?  

I’m constantly trying new things in an effort to improve my work and provide a substantial statement in my life. Right now I’m focused on my paintings and printmaking.

Tell us one random fact about yourself 

I’ve painted gigantic murals in New York, huge bronze sculptures for an Art Museum in Georgia plus numerous paintings in all mediums yet I find myself constantly returning to my printmaking for the shear joy of it.

Check Out Nicholas' Etsy Shop and Gallery

Interview with Richard Pendry of Beyond Thrilled Screenprints

Biography

I trained originally as an illustrator, but when I left college I found working freelance and the process of selling my work quite dispiriting. Now the internet makes it much easier to get your portfolio of work in front of people. I got sidetracked several times, travelled a lot and ended up in a variety of different jobs. For the past 10 years I’ve mostly been designing games for the web using Adobe Flash. It’s fun but does result in staring at a laptop or PC screen a lot of the time. I’d always wanted to get back to illustration and particularly printmaking, so I splashed out on some basic screenprinting equipment last year with the aim of doing something more hands-on. 

Although the early stage of the process may still involve using a computer, I really enjoy the physical, inky side of the printing process - pulling the squeegee across the screen. I’m learning fast by making mistakes and starting to be happier with the results. I recently returned to live in London, where I print out of my spare bedroom, though I’m hoping to be able to use the great facilities at Print Club London in Dalston over the next few months to produce some larger prints.

Why do you like to print?

I like the physical process of printmaking - it contrasts with my other computer-based work. I also like the way that very often laying down the final colour of a print can make all the difference - an image you were starting to have doubts about can suddenly come together when you add the final colour.

What is your favorite print medium and why?

At the moment I’m very much into screenprinting, which I think has huge scope for experimentation. I’ve done a fair bit of printing from linocuts in the past, which suits my graphic style. And I’m intrigued by stone lithography which I’d love to try at some point in the future.

How long have you been printing and how has your work evolved?

I did some basic printmaking years ago on my degree course but I’ve only really been getting into screenprinting over the last year. I’m naturally most comfortable working in black and white so I’m having to learn a lot about the use of colours and adding transparency to the inks to create new colours in overlay. I’d like my work to loosen up a little now, and I plan to experiment with drawing straight onto the screen and using resists next - I love the way David Weidman used glue and touché to create his painterly screenprints.

What inspires you?

At the moment I’m inspired by the work of David Weidman, Jim Flora, Charley Harper, Little Friends of Printmaking, Sasha Barr, Neither Fish Nor Fowl, 1950s cartoons and their background art (check out the beautiful “Cartoon Modern book by Amid Amidi), Mambo Graphics, Saul Steinberg, Ronald Searle, Tim Biskup, Rex Ray, Bjorn Wiinblad...

How do your promote your work?

I’ve only recently started promoting it really. A couple of shops in London are selling my prints and I’m looking for others, but I’ll be putting some effort into promoting my Etsy store over the next few months, and making more and better use of my blog.

Are you working on any particular projects now?  

I have some ideas for a series of prints - I’ve just produced a print called “Jazz Angel with Saxophone” which I’m quite pleased with and I think there’s definitely scope for a whole series of similar images. We’ll see.

Tell us one random fact about yourself

I just moved back to London after living in Barcelona, Spain for 8 years - I miss the mountains and beaches!

Check out Richard's Etsy Site and Website

Interview with Larry Vienneau of Raven Stamps

Biography

I received my BFA in painting from Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMASS Dartmouth) in 1977. I took a year off after undergraduate before heading to Southern Illinois University where I earned a MFA in Painting /Printmaking in 1981. After finishing school I actually made a living as an artist on Nantucket Island! I opened a shop, sold in local galleries, taught printmaking and painting at the Nantucket Artist Association.  I met my future wife on Nantucket and followed her to Hong Kong where we married and lived for the next year. We returned to Massachusetts where I taught Printmaking and Drawing at Bridgewater State College. In 1989 I was hired at University of Alaska Fairbanks. I loved Alaska and  created large scale landscape paintings. I also met an Alaskan Native Writer and formed a lasting friendship. I illustrated several of his books on Alaskan Native Culture. That is where my fascination for Raven began. My first child was born in 1997, an Alaskan baby.  In 2001 my wife (a documentary film maker) was offered a position at a large market PBS station in Minnesota. So kicking and screaming I left Alaska. My second child was born, a Minnesota baby.  In 2006 I was offered a teaching position in Florida. So we packed up the family and moved to the land of sun and palm trees.  We live in Lake Mary Florida and I teach at Seminole State College of Florida in Sanford Florida.

Why do you like to print?

As soon as I pulled my first print, I feel in love with printmaking! It felt like I was opening a present and I still get excited when I pull a print. It is one of the things that keep me addicted to it. I enjoy painting and drawing but the process of printmaking intrigues me. It is indirect. It is both craft and art. The unexpected and the accidents of printmaking are the things I look forward to the most.  I am a teacher and I think my favorite experience is watching a student pull their first print. I know I have passed on my addiction to a new generation!

What is your favorite print medium and why? 

I am most attracted to all intaglio process although I love relief printing. I enjoy getting my hands dirty; printing an etching plate is good and messy. I have done many color intaglio prints but I LOVE black and white. Like old black and white movies, my prints allow the viewer to use their imagination.   Rich bold values can be very powerful and beautiful. Black and white allows the viewer to be more interpretative.

How long have you been printing and how has your work evolved?

I first printed in graduate school in 1979. Then I was using traditional techniques of zinc or copper, acids, grounds and solvents. I knew these were not healthy so I did not dive full bore into printmaking but worked as a painter and did teach printmaking courses. In the early 1990’s I became aware of new technology of light sensitive polymer plates. Though I wanted to experiment with them the cost was very high and I was in Alaska so the cost was doubled in shipping. In Florida I finally began to experiment with these new plates and was soon hooked. Though I still love to work on traditional techniques I am now nearly 100% polymer.  I always spend at least 20-40 hours to create the perfect intaglio plate. Now I invest that same amount of time into doing my drawing on paper in preparation for the polymer plate. I find inspiration from a traditional or historic account of the raven, next I decide on my title. I spend hours drawing with traditional gouache, ink and charcoal, and then I scan the drawing and rework it with Photoshop. I repeat this process several times so the traditional and new technologies merge seamlessly.  I use a photopolymer process to transfer the original drawing to a printing plate from which I can hand print an edition.  The new technology has allowed my work to evolve in new and exciting ways. 

What inspires you?

As my son will attest, I am a history nerd. I love the stories and belief systems of our ancestors. Raven has played a pivotal role in most ancient creation stories.  Raven is a "trickster" in Native American stories and myths. He's sometimes a hero, a troublemaker, a glutton, a buffoon, a destroyer or a creator. The Trickster alternately scandalizes, disgusts, amuses, disrupts, chastises, and humiliates (or is humiliated by) humans. He also is creative force, transforming the world, sometimes in bizarre and outrageous ways. In some narratives, he is the evil antagonist, the “Devil”; he is also “Creator”, the father of mankind, and a potent conductor of spiritual forces in the form of sacred dreams. 

Black Birds in Greek mythology sometimes have the ability to speak. These talking birds, often sources of wisdom, may be deities in bird form or simply messengers of the deities. Their advice is generally reliable, and humans ignore it at their risk. Birds warn of dangers ahead, reveal secrets, and guide heroes and travelers on their way.  In Nordic legends Raven appears as the first God of premonitions.

The blackness of a raven is interpreted as the symbol of death and an omen of evil. However, ravens are the most intelligent bird on the planet, the most playful of bird species.  They slide down snow banks, apparently for the fun of it. They chase the cars of anyone who struck a member of their flock. They even engage in games with other species, such as playing with wolves and dogs. Ravens are known for stunning acrobatic displays such as flying in loops or interlocking talons with each other in flight. They have intricate vocalizations that borders on language. They also use tools and will even joust with each other with sticks or leaves.  I lived in Alaska for a dozen years and my most lasting and powerful memories are of these majestic birds. By creating these images I feel, somehow, connected to “The Great Land”

How do your promote your work?

Unfortunately I have very little time for self promotion. Teaching and family keep me pretty busy. I use any available time for the creative process. Discovering Etsy has been exciting. I have been able to reach a wide audience and have seen my raven prints fly all over the globe.

Are you working on any particular projects now?  

I continue to develop my raven series, there are still images left to create. I also continue to illustrate stories and books for my Alaskan Native writer friend.  I recently finish preliminary versions for a book cover. We are also going to collaborate on a children’s book.  (Also two of Larry's prints have been selected as a finalist in the Animal/Wildlife category of The Artist's Magazine 28th Annual Art Competition appearing in the December Issue.)

Tell us one random fact about yourself 

I am the oldest of seven children. At sixteen I broke my neck in a diving accident. I did fully recover but that event changed my life. Drawing helped during recuperation and I soon realized I wanted to be an artist. 

I love to make my own artist tools. I make my own oil, water color, and acrylic paints, charcoal, and pens. I make drawing ink from chicken bones and from acorns. I have made several relief presses and have restored etching presses.

I love fly fishing and have built a few fly rods. I enjoy tying my own flies. We camp as much as possible.

Check out Larry's Etsy Shop and Facebook Page

Interview with Stephanie of Extase

Biography

I attended the Ontario College of Art and Design for a few years. I went there to study drawing and painting and was soon introduced to printmaking. I decided to buy my own small press when I discovered it cost the same as the fees for one course. I've recently stopped using that press in favor of a traditional Japanese-style wood table-top that allows me to register multi-coloured prints. I still live in Toronto and make things and sell them on Etsy and at local shows. 

Why do you like to print?

Every print is different and you never know what the final outcome will be. Lifting the paper from the first test print of a block is still exciting! I love the craft that goes into the art form. I find this combination of craft and fine art very satisfying.

What is your favorite print medium and why?

Linocut. For the reason listed above - I love to carve. It's my favorite part of the process. I enjoy carving wood too, but am not as familiar with it as I am with lino. 

How long have you been printing and how has your work evolved?

I've been printing for about four years. At first, my prints weren't very planned out and I would draw directly onto the linoleum. Over time I've learned to develop an image before transferring it to the block - paying more attention to composition and, more recently, colour and multi-colour composition.

What inspires you?

I love learning new crafts and working at refining my craftsmanship. In terms of general inspiration or subject matter, I'm most inspired by animals and the relationships between animals and humans. Isolation, imagination, dreams and nature. There are some lovely paper and yarn shops in Toronto I love to visit that never fail to inspire me as well. Finding random things on walks like a gnarled piece of tree branch or bones or things people throw away that still have lots of life left in them.

How do your promote your work?

I haven't been actively promoting my work at all. I really have no idea how to go about it in a way I feel comfortable doing.

Are you working on any particular projects now?

I've been doing a lot of painting recently but I have a strong hankering to get back into printing. I'm thinking about a new series that focuses on the relationship between natural and manufactured objects.

Check out Stephanie's Etsy Shop

Danielle's Paper Wonderland

Danielle Arden, one of our lovely American Printsy members, is about to embark on an artist residency - in England! The plan is to create an interactive environment of "disgusting, creepy creatures that oddly stimulate either childhood nostalgia, or feelings of strange comforts". To raise some financial support for her project, Danielle's got a Kickstarter Page with a great little video showing her work and where it's going. The amount of drawing she does is amazing. Show her some love!

Interview with Margaret Rankin of magprint

Biography  

My name is Margaret Rankin and I live in Toronto up on a hill about 1 km north of Lake Ontario.  I can see the lake from the top floor of the house.  I have yet to make a print of that lake - maybe someday.

In my day to day working life I am a landscape architect, but I started to make prints over twenty years ago.  I didn’t think I was very serious about it – you know – just sort of a hobby, but as I have been doing it for so long, I have to admit I am serious about my prints.

Why do you like to print?

In a nutshell - total creative freedom!  Making prints fulfills an unspoken creative need in me.  There are almost always ideas floating around in my head and making prints of them really, really satisfies me.

What is your favorite print medium and why?

I work exclusively in relief, partly because I do not have a press and partly because relief is a medium that has so many visual possibilities.  Maybe I just like underdogs. I think relief is a slightly neglected process now – too low tech!

How long have you been printing and how has your work evolved?

I vaguely remember making prints in high school and then forgot all about them until 1987 when I was living in Vancouver.  One late summer day I bumped into my former boss on the corner of Davie and Burrard and we had a very short conversation that changed my life. The next thing I knew, I found myself at Emily Carr College (now University) of Art and Design signing up for a Relief Printmaking course.  That course taught me basic techniques and I have been printing ever since.

My work is restless.  I don’t stick to one idea for very long, but I am slowly training myself to work along more cohesive thematic lines (I hope).  

I started out printing the human figure, until someone asked me why all my figures were missing a part of their anatomy – head, leg, arms.  I didn’t know why then, I still don’t and I have rarely printed figures since.  

My main concentration has been landscape.  First I made prints of the beaches and hills near Mabou, Cape Breton where my father came from.  Then I started to make prints based on combinations of rocks and water. Lately I have been printing windblown or heavily pruned pine trees in black and white.

I also love pattern and have made prints based on my grandmother’s quilts, bamboo forests and most recently, prints inspired by the colourful mayhem of Hundertwasser’s work.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by beautiful clean design and the landscape, especially if the landscape has been manipulated by man (must be the landscape architect in me).  I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Japan in 2008 and some of the landscapes I saw there brought me to tears.

I love Naoko Matsubara’s woodblock prints.  They have a strength and freedom that I aspire to, but have not achieved.

How do your promote your work?

I have to admit, not very consistently. 

I do have a blog that went on hiatus for a couple of years so I am not sure if it really promoted my work, but is up and running again and getting a decent number of visits.  My Flickr account concentrates almost exclusively on my prints and people can find my Etsy store link there. To become more visible, I am participating more on Etsy in terms of keeping abreast of the Teams I am on, searching out and connecting with other printmakers. I participate in local outdoor juried art shows here in Toronto and my work is also shown in a local gallery called Upstairs at 111 Bathurst.

At one point, almost everyone in the office I worked at had at least one of my prints – this promotional tool is known as ‘Gentle Bullying’ –it works!

Are you working on any particular projects now?  

I have started a series of prints based on an urban park in Toronto on the Ryerson Campus.  The park is called Devonian Garden and features a pool/skating rink with almost impossibly huge granite boulders weaving through the design.  The juxtaposition of water and stone against architecture is stunning.  I am trying to portray that contrast of mad-made and a natural in large scale prints.

Tell us one random fact about yourself

 

When I visited my sister in Paris, she promptly lost me in the Metro system a few hours after I arrived.  This was before cell phones. I hadn’t memorized her address or phone number and my French is pretty poor, so I was stuck. But I managed to find my way back to her apartment and got there just as she was about to get her boyfriend (a policeman) to launch a search for me! 

Check out Margaret's Etsy Shop and Blog