The tutorial was with Jonathan. I'm going to have to start recording my tutorials so that I can listen back as the discussion is so interesting that I never manage to write enough notes!
We started discussing the reflection I wrote at the tend of last term. Jonathan had picked up on something I wrote about feeling really connected and able to enjoy exhibitions on much deeper level. I was musing that maybe it was due to being completely in the zone - 2 days alone in London - but I went to the Bankside gallery at the weekend on a family day out and again, got much more out of the exhibition there than I would have done a year ago. I actively took pictures and notes of the prints that were inspiring me and that I wanted to look into further once home. It felt important to have seen them in the flesh though. We talked about being a bit of a magpie and collecting ideas from other artists.
Jonathan gave me some wonderful feedback on my latest linocut and suggested maybe I was very tough on myself when I critiqued it. We discussed the size and the type of paper and why I had cropped the image as I had and I was thrilled to have him say he though it really worked, the colours and the composition. We agreed the bright reflection was always going to be really hard, especially due to the way I'd cropped it.
We had an interesting discussion about controlling the caustic soda, it doesn't want to be controlled, which is similar to the forest and how nature fights back. As he was saying it my gut reaction was that I don't want to control it, but of course I did! That was interesting, the juxtaposition of my thinking I want to let it do its own thing, but my action was to try to control it around those tree trunks. I really must have another go doing something similar as a two plate reduction. We talked a little about the philosophy of printmaking and embracing the accidental and the unpredictable and going with it rather than trying to control it.
I managed to wax lyrical about the forest for ages about how it's managed but also has ancient woodland areas and conservation areas and is simply enormous! Jonathan asked whether I ever felt overwhelmed by it which I definitely do. ALL THE TIME! To try to get my thoughts into some sort of order I started a 'workbook' where I can put all my inspiration and ideas in one place and try to narrow things down a little. I descried how I'd categorised some photo's I'd stuck in there into things like 'texture' and 'marks', Jonathan pointed out that this was almost like a taxonomy reflecting that of the forest and how it's separated into the different areas. The wild, the preserved and the ordered lines of pine trees, trying to resist human control.
We talked about mistakes and experimentation being important. I've realised that I seem almost incapable of making a print that doesn't have some form of experimentation going on. I also stated that I have no intention of becoming an expert at every aspect of the new techniques that I'm trying. I don't have the facilities for hot plates or fume boxes so traditional aquatinting in my etchings isn't going to be possible, but I have been watching the video's from the maker of B.I.G. (that Jonathan pointed me towards in our last tutorial) and there are lots of rather interesting alternatives (sandpaper for example) which I find much more exciting! Jonathan said it was important to be honest with myself about this approach. Some printmakers can get so caught up in the technical side they forget everything else. I definitely want to keep experimenting and gain more knowledge of the basics of poly plate lithography and etching but will need to keep in mind what I am actually trying to create by using the techniques and ensure I move on if it's not working. I also usually manage to find a use for my mistakes and accidents so I want to keep that approach.
Looking back at my last tutorial I feel like I've already grown as an artist with more confidence to make something that I want to make, rather than what people might want to buy. This feels like a really important and positive step.
We talked about the interim exhibition and the study statement. I think I'm comfortable with it. I outlined the areas I had narrowed down for my context section and Jonathan gave me two books to look into:
Reading: The Poetics of space - Gaston Bachelard & Inscape by Gerard Manley Hopkins
To finish we talked about the forest easily providing a lifetime's work and the comments made by Andy Goldsworthy about not knowing a place after 15 years as that's only 15 winters, 15 springs etc, it's no time at all. It's such an interesting point, generally from a human perspective 15 years is a good long time to explore, but from different viewpoints it's barely any time at all!