Verbal Expression Part 4: A Very Testing Day
Back to Gorey School of Art Print Room to test the big plate. Here is the Instagram reel summary of a disastrous day of printmaking.
Guest Talk
After the coffee break, I took an inspired break and accepted the invitation from the Printing and Drawing course to join them to listen to Patrick Redmond talk through his work and how it has evolved over the years. He has moved from accessible still life to more psychological to the use of collage which he came upon during a terrible bout of self-doubt and imposter syndrome during his Residency at Gorey School of Art back in 2018. His collages then inspired abstract paintings then finally a process of using clay, plaster and paint and his work is still evolving. When asked about his work, he said it’s a compulsion, like a killer. He has to do it. I guess he has no choice. Lovely guy, with beautiful work and no relation despite our shared surname from our Norman heritage.
Execution Time
So with the measured out print size (55″ width), papers and calico, I inked up the mouths and arrow and all was good in the world. The School was due to close within a half hour so we were under pressure so elected to just run with the calico sans test. Oh the folly of youth only I’m no longer young.
What a Sh!t Show!
So off we go and put the first two mouths and the dangling arrow on the press and then roll her only for the press to stop rolling because it’s only 40″ long and our print is longer than that so we have to think on the fly. Not a good place to be with 10 minutes before closing and the cleaner hanging around. I might add that throughout the following process I was overwhelmed by imposter syndrome thinking if Patrick Redmond feels it, at least he went to art school! I’ve been a contract marketer/webbie most of my life more familiar with a laptop than ink and really had to ask myself WTF am I doing? These thoughts were interjected with comments from James saying my plan was ‘nuts’, ‘too ambitious’ and ‘scale back’ and I had to agree, this is madness! And what’s more, the end result isn’t even going to be pretty, just a series of symbols that nobody will get unless they read my blog!
Here is an abridged reel of a 13-minute video of us making those messy mistakes which are outlined under the video.
Mistakes…
- Taking the calico away after the first roll so we’ve only have a print
- Replacing the plate with the 2 other mouths and the remaining dangling arrow
- Backing the first half of the print into the press to ‘join the dots’
- So just before rolling, we realised the mouths had to be upside down as the calico was coming in from behind.
- We also had to align the arrow already printed on the first half with the arrow plate on the press.
- Roll and hope for the best
James said he was amazed I got so close despite my lack of testing the bigger plate but reiterated the need to scale back. Disheartened but not defeated I dragged my kit back to my studio and then home to lick my wounds.
To be continued ……