Elective numero dos: Printmaking!

Printmaking is the second of my three chosen electives which I am currently studying and I must say it has been quite an insightful area to explore. The creative process of printmaking is one that takes much planning and designing although the physical act of creating prints allows for that spontaneity which is o so important for producing each unique work. A print is never the same as the next which is why I find print so exciting.

So we were given a project brief for the 2 weeks and it is to employ the processes of drypoint and monoprint in regards to exploring the nature of our immediate space. The aim of the project is to develop an understanding of our impact on the space around us and how this space defines us. 

After researching a few thoughts and notions for this project; I finally settled on a concept that is very personal to me. I wanted to look at the contents and ingredients of food due to the fact that I recently discovered Im coeliac as it currently plays a big part in my life. The space within food or the contents are often altered or manipulated and I wanted to explore this idea through the process of print.

I firstly began by creating a drypoint image of a half eaten apple with pills cramed inside it to represent how it how been altered . This image also represents how we as consumers never know whats inside the food we eat. I chose an apple due to irony as something we think of as being so pure may not be as pure as we thought due to food gms.

I then produced a second image along the same lines which was of a genetically modified orange. I opted for a scientific theme for this image when I chose to depict the orange peel twisiting into a double helix. I am quite a graphic person so simplicity is always important to me when it comes to design.

The third print which i designed was quite an abstract one for my normal taste yet I found the resulting piece to be pretty effective. I designed a shopping basket in drypoint and then created some silhouette cutouts from paper to lay down inside the basket, so basically I created stencils for my print. These orange and yellow forms and shapes represent mass consumption in society and how people may buy useless goods that they dont even knows the contents of. I used lettering within this print which blends into the baskets silhouettes as I thought it would make the viewer look deeper into the image.  

My fourth drypoint which I created during the 2 week programme was of a cutlery jail. This print represents how being coeliac confines me to certain foods and how the space and contents of food effect my everyday living. This was by far my favourite design that I created during this elective and it is highly symbolic and personal.

-Theresa