Printsy Interview - Bridget Farmer

Website: www.bridgetfarmer.com
Etsy: bridgetfarmerprints.etsy.com, bridgetfarmerbooks.etsy.com
Blog: bridgetfarmer.blogspot.com

Brief Bio
I grew up in Belfast in Northern Ireland, studied Design and Applied Art in Edinburgh, Scotland, then went traveling and ended up discovering printmaking and meeting my partner in Australia. This led to staying in Melbourne, Australia for four years longer than I meant, studying an MFA in printmaking at RMIT and getting a scholarship at the Australian Print Workshop. I have now moved back to Belfast with my partner for a couple of years.

How did you get started in printmaking?
While at art college I learnt how to make monoprints, but the extent of the printmaking world was still unknown to me at this stage as I was studying jewellery and silversmithing, not printmaking. During my degree I realised I wasn't really a jeweller, but I loved all the portfolio work we had to do, so I decided to take that further.
When I arrived in Melbourne I found the Australian Print Workshop and enrolled on a weekend course. I loved it! and from then on I was hooked. It was like a whole new world of possibilities had been opened to me. I had always liked drawing and this was a perfect way to take my drawings further.

Describe where you work.
At the moment since I've just moved back home I'm working where ever I can. It's not ideal, but I keep an image in my head of the studio I'm longing to one day build when I get back to Australia! It's going to be huge and light and lots of shelves and a lovely big old printing press!
What's your favourite printmaking process?
I feel I'm still a novice really, I know there is so much more to learn, so I'm not really sure what my favourite process is. I do love the fine lines achieved with acid etching and the other possibilities such as aquatint and sugarlift using the same form of technique. I want to look more into these, play around a bit, experiment.

I feel I should also explore non toxic printmaking. I've always turned my nose up at it, yet my dream is to build an eco house and live as green as possible. This doesn't make sense! How could I live in an eco house with a toxic studio? So I think I need to readdress this!

What's your creative process for any given print? (eg. sketch first? Pre-planned or free-form?)
I find it very important to go out drawing first. I have to draw from life, although often 'life' is in the form of a dead stuffed bird in the museum. I also like drawing live birds and dogs down at the beach or in a park. Drawing from life (even a stuffed bird) gives your drawings life. I don't think you can quite get the same sense from a photo.
I then use my sketches as a basis for my prints. I have an outline of an idea of what I might want the print to look like but I'm always open for happy accidents. I'm not too precious about the results, sometimes I wish it was slightly more out of my control!

What do you enjoy most about printmaking?
I think it's got to be that moment, just after rolling the press, pulling back the blankets and peeling off your print and seeing it for the first time. Even if editioning, each time I lift the paper it's exciting.

What's your least favorite part of the process?
Sometimes I get frustrated at how long the process takes. I don't experiment as much as I should as a result. Also, of course, the cleaning up.
What are your inspirations (other artists, people, places, events, etc.)?
When I started printmaking I'd just arrived in Australia and I just couldn't get enough of all the birds. They were all so foreign and exotic looking to me and I hadn't a clue what they all were even though I knew most common birds in the UK. So in the beginning I used printmaking as a way to get to know these birds, you'll see all my earliest work depicts Australian birdlife. I looked at how others depicted these subjects and I love looking through links on other peoples blogs and finding new artists and printmakers dealing with similar subjects.

How has your work changed and evolved since you started?
I've only really been printmaking for 4 years and most of that time was learning different techniques, so I don't feel I've evolved a great deal, except in the number of different techniques achieved.
I have however started to really get into making books. I like the craft aspect of this, constructing, thinking in 3D, learning book binding, thinking about cover as well as the content. I find it challenging in a different way. I love ending up with a precious object, rather than an image for a wall.

How do you get past creative slumps?
I hate that feeling, sitting at your desk, knowing there should be something you could do, but nothing happening. I think the best thing to do is leave your desk. Go out. Look at exhibitions. Read peoples' blogs. GO DRAWING!
How do you promote your work?
I have a blog that I try and post on regularly, I take part in the etsy forums, and occasionally I twitter. But I find the best ways are normally through exhibitions and word of mouth. I was part of a few exhibitions in Melbourne before I left and as a result had some local newspaper articles written about my work. This led to people phoning me up and coming round to my house to see my prints and buying. I think it all just takes time to get known. I don't help it by moving countries every 4 or 5 years!

Any other comments or advice for others who want to try making hand-pulled prints?
There are lots of print workshops around, find out if there is one near you and see if they have any courses. They may seem expensive but it is well worth it and most of the time the price includes all the materials. Once you have a basic knowledge of how the process works there are lots of things you can do at home. I've just bought a mini press for about £300 and I intend to make collagraphs, which are non toxic and made of many materials you'd find at a local DIY store. Don't feel daunted by all the chemicals and acid, they are not necessary!
Also by working at a print workshop there will always be other people around. I learnt mostly from other workshop users. It's good to feel part of a little printmaking community, everyone helping each other. For me, enrolling on that printmaking course back in 2006 was the best thing I ever did!

Printsy Interview - Anna See

Website: www.annasee.com
Etsy: www.annasee.etsy.com
Blog: www.annasee.blogspot.com
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/anna_see

Brief Bio
For as long as I can remember, I have always turned to art as a means of therapy, entertainment, expression, and an outlet for creativity. After a brief stint studying art history, I realized I missed actually doing art and enrolled and recently graduated from Art Center College of Design. I am now currently embarking on a career as an illustrator and designer.

How did you get started in printmaking?
I discovered it by accident actually. After completing a very small run of a linocut image on a Vandercook press for an assignment my final term at school, I realized that I really liked the result and sought to replicate that post-graduation without access to a letterpress. Thus, I experimented and taught myself how to achieve that result via printmaking without a letterpress.

Describe where you work.
I work on my kitchen table, at my drafting table and at my computer in my small cozy apartment....eventually taking over the whole place with prints at various stages of drying!


What's your favourite printmaking process?
Given my limited experience with more formal printmaking techniques, my favorite would have to be my self-taught method with linocut blocks in which I roll the ink on the block and transfer it to paper via burnishing with a large metal spoon.

What's your creative process for any given print? (eg. sketch first? Pre-planned or free-form?)
I usually have a vague idea beforehand of what I want to create. What I have seen, like a particular kind of bird for example, inspires what I will make. I sketch an image first, working from reference as to ensure accuracy, then scan it into Adobe Illustrator, using the sketch as a template. I then refine and simplify the shapes, play with color, then resize and print it out. I use this to transfer the image onto the linoleum block with graphite (Saral paper). I carve away! Once I'm done carving all the blocks, I mix the colors using my Illustrator printout as a guide and roll out the colors and burnish to transfer onto paper.


What do you enjoy most about printmaking?
The satisfaction of a beautiful finished print is what I may enjoy most but I really enjoy the whole process. I enjoy the patience, concentration, diligence, and often caution it requires as it forces you to slow down and think ahead yet be thoroughly involved in the moment so as to ensure a good print. It's thoroughly therapeutic, like knitting!

What's your least favorite part of the process?
Cleaning up!

What are your inspirations (other artists, people, places, events, etc.)?
I am greatly inspired by nature, specifically what I see in nature, the colors, the shapes, everything, including all kinds of animals, people and the human form. I also am inspired by artists too numerous to name all but I love Mucha, Gaudi, all Art Nouveau, Da Vinci, Poiret, Erte, fashion illustration, Hokusai, Hiroshige, Japanese wood block prints, Charley Harper and the vintage graphic aesthetic. But, honestly, anything and everything can be a source of inspiration!


How has your work changed and evolved since you started?
I think my work is always continually evolving but I've definitely become less timid with my color palette and shape design. I'm relying less on my digital skills and more on my traditional skills and letting that show through. I'm including more texture and pattern and am becoming more intentional with the placement of color and other elements.

How do you get past creative slumps?
I let it rest or "sleep on it" and work on something else or start something new, often in a non-printmaking medium. Hopefully, when I've taken enough of a break from the piece, I am able to come back to it with a fresh set of eyes and get past that slump. There are always simultaneous art and non-art projects going on.


How do you promote your work?
Networking, word-of-mouth, passing out business cards and postcards, participating in competitions as annuals are great advertising and exposure, selling my work at art fairs and Etsy, giving my work as gifts, and having a web presence with my website and blog so people interested in your work can easily find you.

Any other comments or advice for others who want to try making hand-pulled prints?
Just have patience and persevere as it's a lot of trial and error, but the end results are well worth it! And just have fun with it!

Printsy Interview - Alfred Stark

Name: Alfred Stark, dakokichidekalb (Japanese for "kite crazy")
Etsy: dakokichidekalb.etsy.com
Flickr: flickr.com/photos/dakokichidekalb

Bio:

I discovered printmaking when I discovered Japanese kites. About five years ago, I finally decided to finish that unrequited fourth grade box kite assignment. Not really knowing how to make a box kite anymore than I did some twenty four years ago, I decided to take a trip to the local library. There I discovered a very influential book titled The Art of the Japanese Kite, by Tal Streeter. In this book I saw the most beautiful, delicate and improbable looking paper kites ranging in size from a small postcard to being several stories high. I was intrigued by their varying size, form and imagery. The images were so graphic and bold. Anyhow, to make a long story much shorter I made a box kite, it flew, and I quickly began trying to figure out how to make and fly Japanese style kites. It wasn't long before I discovered that many of them were block printed. This led me to look up books on Japanese block printing. I found one titled Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints, by Helen Merritt. This book really opened up my eyes and I immediately fell in love with moku hanga. As an added bonus, Helen Merritt turned out to be a regular customer at the local hardware store where i work. Anyhow, I quickly began to buy books on Japanese kites and prints and to experiment making both.

Whats our favorite printmaking process?

I quickly discovered a book on Moku Hanga by Keiko Hiratsuka Moore. This book really laid our the process very well for me and helped my get started. I also take the time to pump Helen Merritt for information at the hardware store whenever I can. Through Mrs. Moore's book and Helen Merritt I was introduced to the work of Unichi Hiratsuka. He was a modern Japanese block print artist who pioneered the whole do it yourself moku hanga techinique throughout most of the twentieth century. His black and white imagery cuts to the core of his subject and is just about the coolest stuff I've ever seen. Anyhow, the strong, yet free flowing black and white style of Unichi really inspires me. Despite what I've heard, I think it's really hard to do black and white prints well. Its hard to simplify and maintain the essence of the subject while making the white of the paper come alive with the black. Right now printing in black and white is what I'm most interested in trying to figure out.

Process-wise I try to keep things simple. For a typical print I either draw from life or use a photo image I have taken myself. This image gets transferred to thin tengucho paper which is then glued down to a maple or cherry block. This image is carved out and printed by hand using a brush or brayer, a baren, water or oil based ink and Japanese paper.


What is your work about?

I try do do prints only from nature. I love to go out and find little images of the natural world which seem to resonate with my somehow. I try not to think about it too much. If I see a particular flower, weed or bird I like I'll do a print of it. Maybe after I do a whole bunch they will start to come together as some sort of narrative, but for now I'm happy just to explore how images from the immediate natural world might translate into black and white prints.

As far as the whole art thing goes, I guess I'm more interested in the process of making nature prints than in wondering if they are art or not. I've heard my kites derided as "craft". I don't care that much, my favorite art magazine is American Craft so I guess it makes sense.

What do you enjoy the most about printmaking?

The thing I like most about printmaking is being able to work and re-work an image many times at the same time or several months apart. It's so cool to be able to use an image which I have carved again and again in several different ways. I can sell a print but I never have to part with the basic piece. I like the idea of being an old man with a lifetime of woodblocks on a shelf somewhere.

What do you like least about printmaking?

I love to share my prints with others. The idea that I can make an image and have several of them all over the country is amazing. I tend not to number my prints as editions. I know this goes against the status quo of the print community, but I feel that if a thousand people want one of my prints then they should get one. If only ten want one then that's fine too. I'm not likely to flood the market with my current income anyhow. I make a few prints, and if I sell them all and I still like the image, I'll make a few more. The idea of a limited edition is a nice one, and seems appropriate for many situations, but for me it just seems silly. It's important to me that I be able to do what I want, as much as I want with any of my prints. I don't want anything "exclusive" about my work. The idea that I'm supposed to limit what I do is somebody else's rule from a completely different world than mine. The fact is I'm really limited as far as the number of prints I can make anyhow because I'm basically poor.

How do you get past creative slumps?

When I can't think of what to do next, I stop trying and go for walks. Having a digital camera helps. I just go out and start taking pictures of whatever. Flickr is a great website for handling creative slumps.

How do you promote your work?

Etsy is my primary means of promoting my work. I feel so lucky to have found a place to put my work where so many people from so many different backgrounds will see my work. I honestly feel like I wouldn't be doing block prints any longer if I hadn't discovered Etsy and Flickr. I mean, having the chance to share work with others is a huge incentive. I don't rely on the feedback so much, it's just nice to know someone saw something. If they like it that's cool, if they think it sucks that's fine too.

I have to say the best thing so far about Etsy is finding other artists out there who do block prints. There are some very, very good printmakers on Etsy who blow me away with their work. I've noticed that some of my favorites are right here on Printsy! Thanks to Etsy, my wife and I have a house full of original art work that we'd never have been able to afford otherwise.

Inspirations:
John Porcellino, king-cat.net
The poetry of Mary Olliver
Unichi Hiratsuka, modern master
Tal Streeter, The Art of the Japanese Kite
Onchi Koshiro
Thich Nhat Hahn
Henry David Thoreau
John James Audubon
Thanks, Al, for the great interview, and for introducing us to the art and craft of the Japanese kite!

Etsy Printmaker Interview: Bird Nerd

Name
Chelsea Groves

Website
http://chelsea.sevorg.org/ and http://birdnerd.etsy.com/

Brief Bio
I'm 26 years old and married to a software engineer. We've lived in the San Francisco bay area for a little over a year, but I am originally from South Carolina. We have a dog named Delilah, who is my constant companion during the day.

What printmaking medium do you most often work in?
Linocut block prints

How did you get started in printmaking?
I learned linocut printmaking in high school, starting in the 10th grade and learned more in the 12th grade.

I noticed that from your website that you do art full time. How did you make the decision to become a full-time artist?
I was working as a graphic designer part-time when I began making art for fun. I felt I had to constantly curb and compromise my creativity in my job, and I wanted to make something just for me, something that wasn't on a computer screen, that I could actually hold in my hands. I decided to try selling my creations and it worked out much better than I had hoped. I began making more and more art, and it consumed most of my time. At that point, I was going to my graphic design job only when I was absolutely needed for projects. My husband got a new job in San Francisco, which took me away from graphic design for good. I've been making art full-time since March of 2007.

Describe where you work.
I work in my home in the room which is technically our den. It's one of the largest rooms in the house and has the most windows. It has two desks, one for art, and one for computing. The computer desk also has a sewing machine underneath, which I can pull up when I need it. I tend not to sit at desks, so I also have a daybed in the room, which I sit/lay on while I draw and paint. My prints are made on my dining room table, which is in the adjacent room.

What's your creative process for any given print? (eg. sketch first? Pre-planned or free-form?)
I sketch first, then make a clean, finalized drawing. I then take the drawing and transfer it to my block using contact paper. My prints tend to be very graphic and with clean, bold lines, so I plan it all carefully before I begin carving the linoleum.

What do you enjoy most about printmaking?
I'm not sure exactly what it is about it, but I remember being thrilled after making my first print. In an age where everything is digital and made perfectly by machines, it is so refreshing it carve something with your hands and be able to produce an image. No two prints are exactly alike, and it can be fun to see the small variations.

What's your least favorite part of the process?
When I put too much ink on a block and the print comes out blurry and I have to just sigh and put it in the trash. I guess I don't like the fact that once I've made a mistake, there's nothing I can do to fix it.

What are your inspirations (other artists, people, places, events, etc.)?
I am mainly inspired by art nouveau and Japanese design. Nature is also HUGE for me. I see certain flowers, leaves, or forms in my everyday life and feel compelled to make a print.

How has your work changed and evolved since you started?
I used to make more multi-layer prints, but now I prefer the simplicity of single-layer prints. I think I used to think that if something was more complicated and more difficult to make, it automatically made it better. I have definitely learned that this is not the case.

I've also learned chine-colle, which I've just started to incorporate in my work and look forward to doing more. The most recent thing I've learned is screen-printing, which I use to print on fabric and make bird stuffies and sachets.

How do you get past creative slumps?
I don't really have slumps. Sometimes I find that I have too many ideas floating in my head and I feel like I can't execute them the way I want to, which can be really frustrating. In those instances, I force myself to take a break for a few days. When I return to my work, I am usually more clear-headed and can make things the way I want to.

How do you promote your work?
I don't do very much for promotion. I am on a few sites like Flickr, Indiepublic, and Trunkt. I try to list something on Etsy every day to keep my visibility up.

Any other comments or advice for others who want to try making hand-pulled prints?
My advice is to learn one printmaking technique thoroughly first, and then to move onto other areas you are interested in. There are so many different printing techniques that I think it can be a little confusing or discouraging to try to tackle it all. Once I felt I'd mastered linocut printing, I felt confident to move to screen-printing because I had a good grasp on the basics and what I was trying to accomplish.

Thanks to Chelsea for sharing her life as an artist. It was a pleasure to interview her.

Etsy Printmaker Interview : Fustian

Name
Marissa Buschow in the real world, fustian in the internet world.

Websites
fustian.etsy.com
flickr.com/photos/fustian
fustianed.blogspot.com

Brief Bio
I was born and raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in Texas. After a brief episode of floundering about without direction at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, I moved to Lawrence, Kansas, and got my B.F.A. in printmaking from the University of Kansas. And no, I have no idea why I picked Kansas (why do people always ask me that?). Unfortunately I'm not very good at art classes, so that experience was a rather frustrating one, especially as I became more and more interested in birds and biology. I left Kansas, annoyed with art and artists, and returned to Texas where I quickly discovered that, hey, art can be WAY more fun on your own! Especially when you make it about whatever you please! Who'd have thought? In any case, through some mysterious turn of events, I am now living in Auburn, Alabama, where I work for the university's biology department and mess with bluebirds all day. This fall I'll be banding birds while living in a tent in Idaho (no electricity! no internet!! aaaaarrgh!), and past that? No idea.

What printmaking medium do you most often work in?
Almost always I work in relief, especially woodblock. I don't have the facilities for any other kind of printmaking - though I have fantasies! The traditional Japanese style of woodblock printmaking, moku hanga, is certainly my favorite, if only because of its flexibility and portability.

How did you get started in printmaking?
It occurs to me that museums should probably use my example as a success story to get more funding: I wandered into the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, where they had a room full of woodblock prints from artists in Provincetown in the early 20th century (not that I knew what I was looking at at the time). They were so ludicrously pretty that I got a hankerin' to try it myself. As soon as I could, I signed up for a woodblock printmaking class at Smith College and, well, discovered my passion.













Describe where you work
I'm rather poor these days, so I work on a coffee table or, if I need more space, a fold-up plastic table. I have to watch out, though, because my pet lovebird likes to chew up paper.

What's your creative process for any given print? (e.g. sketch first? Pre-planned or free-form?)
I'm one of "those" people: I work from photographs. Most of my prints are about specific species found in the wild, so I want to be as accurate as possible within the limits of the medium. Oftentimes I'll encounter an animal or a bird for the first time and simply become obsessed with it. In order to get it out of my system, I have to make art about it. Other times I use printmaking as a learning process; for example, my sparrow series is my way of cementing tricky identification problems (as any birder knows, sparrows are damn hard to tell apart!). Occasionally I'll work from an unplanned sketch, but those are few and far between.

What do you enjoy most about printmaking?
Getting lots of copies! Isn't that why everyone else does it?
In all seriousness, though, it's because the way I work translates easily to the medium: I'm a fan of intensive, planned pieces, in which 90% of the enjoyment is in the process, not the result. I love losing an afternoon to a block or having to spend hours how to fit all my colors and layers together. If only I got paid hourly!

What's your least favorite part of the process?
Registration. I loathe registration - because I'm awful at it.

What are your inspirations (other artists, people, places, events, etc.)?
In the art world, any and all relief printmakers, especially those that work a lot with nature (if we're dropping names here: Mary Brodbeck, Sherrie York, the people at Tugboat Printshop, a dozen more folks on etsy; dead people: Frances Gearhart, Utamaro, Hiroshige, any of those old school New Englanders). Also, I look a lot at scientific illustration, especially from 18th and 19th century naturalists (the notorious Audubon springs to mind).
In the non-art world, wildlife. There are innumerable beautiful animals out there that go largely unnoticed, whether because so many people stay indoors and in cities, or because they haven't been raised to notice such things. Without that whole "nature" thing, I have no idea what I'd do with myself.

How has your work changed and evolved since you started?
Honestly, I made a lot of crap in school. I blame it on my teachers. Since I don't like to think about that phase of my art-making, I will say that in my art since then I've become much more ambitious with color and I use a lot less negative space. I think it's because I'm getting better at the technicalities of moku hanga, so I'm not as timid as I once was.

How do you get past creative slumps?
I wait it out. Probably not a good thing to do, either. I'm not one of those people who make masterpieces during their bad times, so if my life is going through a rough period, the art's just gotta wait 'til things settle down.

How do you promote your work?
Hmm.... I don't? I'm really bad at that.

Any other comments or advice for others who want to try making hand-pulled prints?
My first printmaking teacher told the class, "Don't worry, your first print is going to be crap." I would have to agree with that - the first half dozen, even! There's so many technical tricks to learn in printmaking that it often frustrates those who want instant art, instant success. Patience! Practice!

Thank you to Marissa for allowing us to take a peek into her life as an artist. It was a pleasure for me to interview her.