Week 5 - research

Following on from this week's discussion with Caroline and decision to focus on monoprinting, I looked at some of these ideas in more detail:

• Victorian life - the British empire, travelling to 'exotic' places, collecting taxidermy/decorative items, discovery, zoos...
• Victorian wallpaper/textiles
• Modern interpretations of these
• Birds in flight
• Birds in museums

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• Victorian life - the British empire, travelling to 'exotic' places, collecting taxidermy/decorative items, discovery, zoos...


• Victorian wallpaper/textiles

William Morris: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”

I like this bird/anenome wallpaper as the birds are hidden in the design, being the same colour as the flowers. The simple use of just 2 colours lends itself well to printmaking ideas. It was designed in 1882.

This textile design, also by Morris, looks typically Victorian and heavily designed with lots of colours and detail. I like its symmetry and could experiment with using this in my own designs.

• Modern interpretations of these

Laura Ashley 'oriental garden' wallpaper

modern pass-production techniques allow this to be produced in large quantities at a cheap cost (compared to decadent Victorian designs aimed at the upper classes). I like this colour-way as the design looks at though it's a negative, being lighter than the background. I think the design is very pretty and, though the metallic finish keeps it looking modern, you can tell it is influenced/inspired by Victorian wallpaper.

Laura Ashley 'summer palace' wallpaper

This is more brightly coloured than the dark/drab Victorian designs I have been looking at and looks summery/ suitable for a child's room. I think I prefer the simpler design above, but this is also pretty.

• Birds in flight

• Birds in museums

Natural History museum

Horniman museum

Haunch of Venison (Polly Morgan)

The Booth Museum (Brighton)

Websites I used:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Common_Pheasant

http://www.bradbury.com/victorian/victorian.html

http://www.lauraashley.com

http://www.metmuseum.org

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/galleries/green-zone/birds/

http://www.show.me.uk/site/news/STO1064.html

http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/textiles/index.html

http://www.victoriana.com/WalterCrane/waltercrane.htmlhttp://www.victorianwallpaper.com/16512.html

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/design/textiles

http://www.youtube.com/user/HummingBirdChannel

2 amazing resources

Here are 2 really interesting blogs I looked at over the weekend:

http://www.printeresting.org/

I had fun looking at this site, which left me full of good ideas, like 'ephemera swaps'.

Their 'search' facility is really useful, as I wanted to look specifically at monoprinting, so I typed in 'monoprint and here's what came up. I like the idea of using unusual found objects and materials to produce prints, like trees and even jelly!?Printresting are on Facebook and Twitter as well.

http://community.livejournal.com/printmaking/

This is a space for all livejournal users to contribute to, from complete beginners to experienced printmakers. It's interesting to see the wide range of techniques and levels of expertise, particularly the most amateur work, which is met with encouraging and helpful comments.

Some of my favourite pieces on here combine a mixture of techniques, like this beautiful linocut/silkscreen collage by Megan Frau. Some of the aritsts have even included step-by-step tutorials, and images of work in progress.

Rob Ryan Town

On Sunday I paid a visit to Rob Ryan's shop on Columbia Road.

It was really interesting to see printmaking being put to use in such a successful way; the opening of Rob's shop follows his commissions for Vogue, The Independant, Elle, and countless book covers.

He has also collaborated with quirky jewellery legends Tatty Devine and designer Paul Smith.

Here are some of his original screen prints which he develops from meticulously cut paper shapes:

Currently, his cute little shop is adorned with some beautiful taxidermy birds*. Sleeping on shelves and hanging mid-flight with ribbons, they make the shop look like a museum, and they perfectly compliment pieces like the one below, nests and eggs recurring as a theme in Rob's work.

Rob has released books with Carol Ann Duffy and one of his own, called 'This is for You' (definitely on my Christmas list along with some of this smashing tape)

Rob Ryan shows us how a printmaking blog should really look.

I'm a bit in awe.

Read more about RR

*by Jazmine Miles-Long ...how great is her surname!?

Our 1st encounter with Dr. Leo De Freitas

Dr. De Freitas (I GOOGLED HIM) told us about the history of printmaking techniques from wood cuts in the early 15th century to modern, mass-produced litho prints.

We looked at choice of print technique in advertising and by artists, to achieve certain effect, for example the use of crude wood engravings to evoke a sense of nostalgia.

I looked at some of the key artists he discussed in more detail. These include:

Harry Brockway, William Nicholson, Franz Masseral, Chris Wormall, T.Buick, Frank Martin, William Blake, Thomas Rowlindson, George Cruikshanks, H.Daumier and Graham Sutherland (see etching below)

Research attack

I did some more research about printmaking (using the list of resources on Blackboard as a starting point).

I looked at William Blake who I studied from a literary perspective at school.

In the 18th Century, Blake was considered a bit eccentric; he claimed he saw angels in the trees at Peckham Rye and said the idea for the new printing technique he created came from his deceased brother who's spirit visited him and conversed with him daily.

This new method was called relief etching. It writing/drawing on copper plates with acid resistant medium, then dissolving the background away with acid so the writing/images are raised. The printed images then have to be hand painted with watercolours.

I also looked at Audrey Niffenegger who, (like Blake?) is a polymath*.

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Image from Audrey Niffenegger's illustrated novel The Three Incestuous Sisters which uses aquatint prints

Audrey wrote the bestselling book (and now film) The Time Travellers Wife but also produces graphic novels and children's books which she illustrates herself. She's also a professor at Columbia College in Chicago, and some examples of her printmaking (lino cuts and aquatints) can be seen here.

*New lingo from Dr.Leo de Freitas!

ABSENCE (week 2)

I missed todays print workshop...

The group learnt how to do drypoint printing, which is a form of engraving.
According to Wikipedia "Albrecht Dürer produced 3 drypoints before abandoning the technique". There's no hope for me then. But I'll try it next week.


Just FOR THE RECORD: 04/10/10
How many prints did you make: 0
How many hours did you spend in the printmaking studio? 0
I spent some time researching instead.

Here are some artists and illustrators who use print techniques:

Rob Ryan uses screenprinting. His shop is on Columbia Road, near my house!

This is also a screenprint. By Paul Blow @ No Brow