20191229 Back at it again lads! (*´∇｀*)
It's been a year and four months since I've returned to a fully equipped printmaking studio. Now that I've finally found the perfect studio to work in, not even the gods can strip away the bone black ink from my hands. While I'm still getting used to the layout, one of the biggest obstacles so far has been the location of my base to the studio. After printmaking for three years in UCSC and living on campus, it didn't hit me how much of a difference being so close to the studio can affect the workflow.
Now that I need to commute from Oakland to SF to continue printing, there's been many occasions where I had to delay printing because I've forgotten the actual drawing itself. Making lists won’t help this time because there were just too many items to be considered. But now I finally feel settled in!
Some "goal marks" planned throughout 2020, to name a few:
->participating in group shows
->organizing and leading a class
->preparing for SF Open Studios in October
->developing new prints for CA printmaking society
->possibly…a solo show (･∀･)
During my three years of printmaking at UCSC, I tend to buy materials whenever there was a bargain or when there was an urge to create a higher volume of work. The rare bargain resulted in a reasonable amount of supplies to work with after graduating. Which left me with an overwhelming desire to get back to a studio since it crushed me just watching my printmaking materials collecting dust for a good full year.
One of the reoccurring issues undergrads at my university print studio faced is the spike cost of printmaking materials in general. Let's face it, it's an expensive -yet one of the most gratifying- forms of art. It's unfair how inaccessible this type of art is (with an arguable exception of Lino printmaking). I've mentioned to my professors that undergrads are often stuck in a "perfectionist limbo state" because there's no room for error because buying more material to work with is expensive. It not only limits the possibility of print form exploration but duals the potential of the young artist.
Moving on with the leftover materials from my undergrad days still idling inside the studio drawer, I'll be working small scale for a while. Finally, I’m not doing printmaking for the grade, I'm doing it for myself.
Here's to a productive and healthy 2020! (ノ^o^)ノ