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 Maresi of Das Linoleum

Maresi's Etsy shop and Blog

Biography

After having lived in upstate NY for the past five years, I recently moved to Athens, GA. This town is a wonderful place, not only with a great music scene but an incredible art world too. I am surrounded by lots of art studios, workshops, exhibitions, and other inspiring places and activities. While I still need to connect more with local artists, the advantage of living in a small, artsy community is certainly that my art can contribute to the local life style.

Why printing? 

 

Print art has, of course, some technical advantages (it can be produced relatively cheap and it is easily reproduced), but I am also inspired by the history of printing and print art. The printing press has become such an important medium in our growing world, providing access to books and art for many people who would otherwise not be able to afford it. In this sense, print art is also a political art form that can connect people on the grassroots level.

What is your favorite print medium and why?

Linoleum block printing and screen printing (silk screening) are my absolutely favorite print media. (I am currently only doing linoleum prints, but once I have more space available I would like to set up a silk screening workspace as well.) I like holding on to these more traditional printing forms (in contrast to computer-aided / industrialized printing techniques such as gocco prints), because they express for me a certain resistance to the machine-operated and electronic aspects of life, which at times actually seem to take over our lives. In addition, both screen printing and linoleum printing have a specific aesthetic that is not always totally neat and orderly, but allows for little mistakes, thus emphasizing that each print is – although a reproduction – not a plain copy or a mass product.

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

My first exposure to linoleum printing was during high school, when I created prints that were much praised by my teacher. Only after so many years of academic alienation did I decide to take up linoleum printing again, so I am really very new to this activity, as I have only been printing for the last half year. I am teaching myself as I go along and am an ardent reader of art blogs. Before I decided to take up linoleum printing, I occasionally made silk-screened t-shirts for friends or posters for grassroots organizations I have been working with.

What or Who influences your work?

Anna Heyward Taylor

Bread & Puppet Theater

I cannot actually provide a list of artists who influence my work, but there are many great print artists who exhibit their work online and I like to study their techniques. I am certainly impressed by the style of the political art that the Bread & Puppet Theater in Vermont produces (this is an artists’ collective which does theater and sells posters of their wood / lino prints). Most recently, while on a short visit to Columbia, South Carolina, I discovered the work of artist Anna Heyward Taylor (1879-1956); I find not only her style intriguing, but her life story as well since she is said to have been both an explorer and a feminist.

How do your promote your work?

Since I do not have a Facebook page, I mainly promote my work on Etsy and via my Blog; or friends of mine tell other friends who tell others and so on. When I am in the mood, I also print posters and put them up around town, hoping that someone discovers my art; or I contact artists’ collectives and tell them what I am up to. My interest is mainly in getting to know other artists and sharing my ideas with them; and, of course, I also hope to occasionally sell my art, so that I can invest into more art supplies.

Any good printing tips or funny printing stories (or both??)

Since I am an autodidact when it comes to printing, I cannot really offer any kind of professional or technical advice, but I can share what I have learned from my own experience. Printing is the kind of activity that requires a coordination of your mind and body, which is both challenging and amazing. When carving linoleum or printing the finished blocks I have learned to never do this in a hasty manner, so that I can fully immerse myself into and enjoy what I am doing. And mistakes will always happen when carving or printing linoleum blocks, but not every mistake has to be erased or covered up; it’s those little irregularities that make print art so special.