Artist statement – produce a short written statement of 400 words to discuss and consider your theme for this final assignment and which artists, materials and methods interested you.
Artist Statement
When I first met with my tutor, we discussed areas of my life that might influence my work. One thing suggested was my forestry conservation work. I touched on this with ‘The Pannage Pig’ but until now hadn’t included reference to it in my work. With ‘Lockdown’, missing my work and initial confinement to the garden I chose to explore a log nestled in the flower bed.
My initial response was ‘Tree Rings’, as I began to explore and ‘look’ I found there was much more to this log, cracks, splits, insect damage, rings, saw marks and colour.
I took courage to take my daily exercise to the forest, I looked for stories amongst the trees and rotting logs. Stories of both natural and human intervention.
Research took me down a scientific route, diagrams and words that I’d never encountered before; xylem & phloem. The excitement of discovering artists that use the theory, physicality’s, and stories of ‘trees’, pushing me into a direction that I not thought of before.
Bryan Nash Gill and his wonderful prints lifted from actual logs, drawn to each one by the insect holes and marks within the arboreal rings. Loraine Roy, textile works inspired by the biology and symbolic nature that tells a story and Marita Putetti, obsessed by trees, takes pattern and the paths of negative / positive space to record in an abstract way.
Then there is my late discovery, Dorothy Hanna who along with Lorraine Roy and Scarlett Homeshaw (part 2) work in response to sketchbooks, previous layers and / or materials to hand, rather than making a plan. A method that I’m learning to follow, but sometimes causes me problems when recording ‘why I did something’! Sometimes, it was just ‘because I wanted to!’
If I had to choose one artist that has influenced my work during my print making studies I would quite readily say Hetty Haxworth who’s abstract works are drawn from the form, pattern and light that she discovers on her daily walks and has encouraged me to look and record on my daily walks.
I have determined that my preferred printmaking method is Collagraph intaglio, I really enjoy wiping, mixing and pushing the inks around the plate with brush and cloth, as if it’s a monoprint on a glass plate. Surprisingly, I enjoyed returning to monoprint in this project. I’m not so keen on the use of Chine Colle, but can see its purpose, no doubt it will be something that I can use in future work if need be, I can see that there is place for it.
BILLYDOOPRINT1 