Maybe a little too much talking?!

I felt that we have been doing too much talking lately and not enough work. I think people seem a bit worn out. Some of the art students are getting more taken up with another exhibition thats getting closer. Part of the problem is that we don't always have everyone present at the meetings. Then to get people on the same page again, we have to re-cap. This is the nature of working with a group I think.
One of our lecturers is going to join the group for a planning session, just to see how were going and possible add some suggestions.

Seeing as we have been working with the idea of using aspects of street art as part of the exhibition, I brought in this book to the group. It has some really diverse ideas and takes on street art. 

Monotype printing

Earlier in the year, I tried mono type printing for a project. I was lucky that when choosing a project for community based practice after, that i was able to join the screen printing group.

These prints below were made by using lino ink, a roller and acetate . I drew/ created the image using pieces of cloth, rubbers and other utensils with useful heads! Its a really interesting process actually, and really easy to get completely emerged in it!

Let's have an exhibition!

Now that we were all to grips with the process of printing, it was full steam ahead and we starting brainstorming ideas that our group could build on. At this point, we were completely sure that we could handle the idea of a full scale exhibition, and the general mood was very daring. We looked at many different themes and issues that we could work from. For example:

• Graphic design,
• Pop Art,
• Cyber bullying-both sides of the story,
• Slogans,
• Storyboards,
• The Strawberry festival,
• Old stories and histories associated with Wexford, i.e Selskar Abbey, Loftus Hall and the Old Jail.
• The idea of printing on cardboard boxes and stacking these.
• Street Art
• Printing on Mirrors

Also, seeing as we have only a limited number of screens, we were looking at the idea of making our own table top screen printers.

This video is a good basic overview!

From the moment cyber bullying, Members of the group all seemed very enthusiastic to run with that idea. Cyber Bullying is a major problem among many age groups right now, especially with the rise in popularity of sites like Faceboook, Bebo and the fact that many children from a young age seem to have mobile phones days. Everyone will have heard of the horrible cases of young people being targets for this kind of abuse, after all, the internet is impersonal. It allows people to make remarks and insults, and hide once they turn off their compter screens. They don't have to look their victims in the eye or see the damage they can cause. As for the victims, seeing as the internet is both impersonal and public, the bully can take on a life of its own and so many people can join in, see comments made, and add their own. Some members of the group who had otherwise been quite up until now made lots of suggestions of slogan, logos and imagery we could use. One member of the group, (who has also become a great printmaking tutor), suggested that we print on cardboard boxes. Then use these to create an installation. 

now this was a brilliant suggestion! A very new venture for a group that generally prints on T-shirts, posters, caps and mouse pads of course we can still incorporate these at different stages of the project.

Coordinators of the group also suggested lots of different ideas. This is a creative, and they are at their best when they can design themselves. Once they have that solid idea, theres no stopping them!

These are some of the ideas,quotes and concepts suggested:

"When you tear cardboard apart, it can be stuck together again. People are not so easy"

"When i'm bullied I feel boxed in"

"Can you think outside the box and end cyber bullying"

"Boxes are fragile, so are people"

"It's boxing day everyday when I'm being bullied"

"I'm a real person don't put me in a box"

The idea of pushing people into a box, or blocking someone in. This came back to our discussion about how impersonal but public the internet and social media. We we thinking about the idea of highlighting that there is someone at the other end of the screen, someone who's feelings are hurt.

Maybe there are too many box references....

These two videos I found interesting, seeing as he prints on a large scale by hand, and he prints on discs. I also liked the finished poster, especially the highlights in yellow. We are thinking of colors and materials now so its something to keep in mind.

Metallic Drawings

One of the coordinators of the group saw the drawings that Celt had and said, "Those would look brilliant if you put them through the machine over there". He brought us over to a machine that would change the drawings from graphite to a metallic effect. We could choose from lots of different colours, all we had to do was photocopy the original, and feed the copy into the machine. We were amazed, the effect really worked well with heavily detailed drawings, but I would be interested in working this into the printing project if we could at all.
This was the finished effect:

Just an example of some of the many things we can do, and how diverse skills within the group can be used.

The video below is extremely similar to the one we were using.

Making Friends

I have really gotten into the swing of this project, and actually get on with one member particularly well. I'm going to call him Celt here, seeing as he has so many detailed drawings, and many of them are inspired by Celtic art. Drawing has been something I've been trying to keep out of my studio practice for a while now actually, but It was actually really refreshing to get back to drawing for the love of it and for fear of creating a "pretty" image. Celt himself is very positive actually, and just told me that its not a crime to do something you love, and he likes to draw because no one can tell him what to do or how he's doing it wrong. It's for himself.

Making friends in new groups and situations can be hard, especially when you once worried that you would have noting in common with that group. I'm glad to see its not the case here.

We started something one day. I was working from an image I saw in the Liverpool Biennial. I was trying to make a template to print from it, one that might have made an interesting t-shirt design with a wrap around effect. Celt sat down beside me and said, "You should add some gears". I looked at the drawing for a second and said "your absolutely right". An hour later we were still drawing. By the end of the day, we had the beginnings of a collaborative drawing, but not much printing that day! But the collaboration is what mattered. At the end of the session, we copied a version for him, and one for me. We made a deal that after the holidays it would be finished and we would compare!

This is the image from the Biennial that I had been working with.....

This is where I am so far.

It was great fun! Some of the guys who knew Celt better said "Be careful, he's gonna go get that tattooed on him if your not careful!". We have yet to see if he will.

I actually picked up lots of ideas to use when drawing from him. He has his own techniques for shading and working. What I liked was that we both listened to each other  He had an idea and we tried it, I had an idea and we tried that too. No one was in charge.He's such a nice person to work with, and gives you a little wink every time you say something he agrees with.I know this post is perhaps gone away from the printmaking, but I really enjoyed working with him. And actually, I was surprised  I dislike drawing with people watching me, but had no problem at all with working with him today. So maybe this project is benefiting me included in different ways. He wasn't in one day and I can honestly say I missed him. I have no idea why he is seeking help from the group, as said earlier privacy is very respected. All I know is that there is a good bond forming within the group.

My first print!

It takes so much longer that I would have expected to cut a template. This actually took me nearly an entire class to cut. But I was adamant that I wanted something made. Something that I could say I printed. It's a whole new process, and although I have done mono-type printing myself this year, screen system is a really practical hands on experience. It was one of the reasons that I wanted to work on this project to begin with. The physicality of making and learning the steps involved. 

I started with a pretty simple design. A sharp edge and good clean lines create a much better print according to the group.

It feel's like an unfair thing to say, but at one point I did feel that maybe we would teach them more than they would teach us....but boy I was wrong. Within the StudioPrinting, the guys there had a head start on the process, and they made fantastic tutors to us newcomers. Two of the men in the group in particular seem to really embrace teaching us, and are incredibly good at it. As I mentioned in the first post, I really was not expecting it. It's important that we work as a group, and with this project in particular I think it's all about how we work together. No one person is in charge. No one person makes the rules and everyone respects each others opinions.

My very first print, which the guys helped me to print. I made some mistakes but they tell me this will improve with some practice. It's loosely a space design. A very simple nebula in pink with little stars in yellow.

Basic Steps of Screen Printing:

1.Cut your design (We used Newsprint and cutting knives today)

2.Get a clean screen.

3.Use gum tape to seal the sides of the screen on both sides (I will upload images very soon)

4.Use adhesive to stick the template to the screen (with extra care of small, fiddly parts of the design)

5.Flood the screen with the pigment using the squeegee.

6.Allow the first layer to dry before screening the next.

I will have a full photo post on this process.

These were the templates of my design. 

Warming up!

It was a case of hitting the ground running.

We want to get something from this project, all of us. We really don't want it to be a case of being there and working towards noting in particular. Its the kind of group that needs a goal to work to, the entire group together. We as students had been thinking of a few possible directions that the project could go in. The idea of holding an exhibition came up in conversation, and it was put out there to the entire group as an idea. I was actually surprised to the reaction of the group. They were so interested in the idea! I had it in my head that the work that goes on in here, stays here. This idea may have stem from the coordinators talk on privacy.

I did ask if they would prefer to use a different working title than the organization's name for the exhibition. Many just said that they really didn't mind anyone knowing they were in the Studio Project. Others were more cautious I think.

This is a pretty long video, but it gives a good overview of how the process works. That and I am trying to layer more colours.