Eleanor Wade in an Expanded Field Final Project

An Exploration in Sustainable Creativity:

This project is the start of an ongoing exploration of various printmaking techniques by using found, collected, or natural materials. It is my hope that in repurposing different materials and applying printmaking skills, I can both advance my understanding of how to create sustainable , and become an advocate for the importance of environmentally-conscious creativity. In starting small, for example, finding new uses for what would have otherwise ended up in a landfill, or perhaps making work that could spark a conversation about the greater significance of our dietary choices, this collection of experimental projects documents my efforts to continue to explore the creative process with the end-goal of in mind. In combining my interests in printmaking and environmental conservation, this project will take a closer look at what it means to repurpose and highlight some of the methods that can be used to achieve this goal.

My exploration in sustainable creativity began with inspiration from a number of influential artists, working in several different fields and disciplines. Among them are Laura Berman, Andrea Zittel, Diane Burko, Joseph Beuys, Ana Mendieta, Andy Goldsworthy, Michael Rakowitz, and Dong Yuan. Although they represent a vast array of interdisciplinary work, each of these artists fit somewhere into the common theme of brining art together with elements of the natural world. While some focus more on their role in advocacy or making a statement, others choose to reflect the beauty of ecology through their aesthetic decisions. Ultimately, their work is representative of some aspect of the larger movement of through art.

Keeping these practices in mind, my project will explore a number of these topics in order to continue down the path of sustainability in the world of art. Below are the journalistic accounts of my experiences working with found, collected, or natural materials, and how I have furthered my exploration of sustainable creativity. Finally, I must note that this exploration is never finished, but rather just the start of an ever-evolving search for ways to push the boundaries of what can be used to create art, and maintain a balance between humans, animals, and ecosystems.

1 JOURNAL:

Experiment I: Making Paper

There is always an abundance of unwanted paper. I really enjoy the idea of blending it up and making new paper out of what would otherwise be discarded (likely recycled, but occasionally thrown away).

Step One: Collect. The first batch of paper (I should note that in this first try I had two separate blends) was made from the scraps of my prints from earlier in the semester, my brother’s unwanted college brochures, junk mail, and some old magazine clippings. I blended ripped pieces of paper and water and then poured the mulch over a window screen that I found in my basement. I used the bathtub to do the pouring and pressed a second screen on top of the mulch to form it into paper. Then I set the first two sheets out in the sun to dry.

I really enjoy the color variation in these first two sheets. Although they are mostly the same combination of unwanted papers, the second pour included a very large navy blue college brochure that obviously tinted the whole batch. I also reserved some especially interesting pieces of paper to add in last so that there would still be somewhat large flecks of color on the finished sheets. If you look closely, you can see this detail.

2 The second batch of paper was made from a lot of old magazine pages (this time I discovered my mother’s ancient stash of Martha Stewart Living magazines from 2008 that have been hiding in a trunk behind our couch, I now have permission to blend them all), more junk mail, and a particularly embarrassing watercolor self-portrait from middle school. I repeated the process almost the same, however, this time I blended the mulch much more finely.

Although I really like the texture of the previous paper, the bumpiness has made it very hard to print on. When I tried to print, none of the details transferred. In my second try I also worked to make the paper even more thin and used the sides of the screen to create nice, crisp edges. When dried, I then folded and tore the remaining jagged edges to get these finished sheets.

Experiment II: Printing on a Window

Another unexpected side-effect of quarantine is that my parents have decided to completely organize the house they have lived in for 27 years. This includes a room in our basement that has been the catch-all for everything (including extra slate for the roof and scrap wood, as well as all of my childhood toys and a ridiculous collection of costumes) since they moved in. This is relevant because naturally, when cleaning out a space this interesting, I have found a number of exciting potential printmaking materials. Perhaps the best is an old window from my high school prior to its renovation many years ago. The window has a wooden frame and six panes.

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To begin my exploration with printing on a glass window, I have used rubber carvings from earlier in this semester, and created an entirely new one.

What has been interesting about this process is that it has forced me to consider not only the inverse image (as carving a block requires first an image, then carving the inverse of that image in order to print the original), but also the reverse as seen on the other side of the glass. I have decided to print on the inside of the window, so that the outside reveals these reverse images. For many prints, such as the peonies, lizard, and rainbow above, this is not as much of a concern. However, in multiblock prints the process of layering inks also becomes flipped.

The inside: The outside: In continuing to print on glass, I have found that this process is far more freeing than other aspects of printmaking in that the glass is very forgiving of my mistakes. It is quite liberating to be able to simply wipe away the excess, unwanted ink. The permeance of paper now seems so stressful.

4 I decided to photograph the window in natural light and experiment with the way the images are received with different backgrounds. Although some of the details are lost, the interaction of various colors was also an interesting dynamic.

I appreciate the ways that some colors are camouflaged, while others really pop. The translucency with the sun was also fun to experiment with.

Bonus experiment! Another material I found was sun paper that allows you to print with objects and exposes the paper, similar to a photograph. I arranged a number of leaves I found in my backyard on one, and a peacock feather on another, to experiment in printing with the sun. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of detail I was able to capture in the feather.

5 Experiment III: Printing on my Paper

This proved to be far more challenging than I had originally expected. The thick, bumpy texture (as described from the first batch) was really difficult when I tried to print on it, as it took very little ink, and even fewer details. The images were hardly recognizable. For this reason, I decided to use spray paints to continue to layer color and on my paper. When taking a closer look at the random assortment of spray paints we have, I found that my only options were yellow and orange, likely from my a school project of my brother’s.

In the spirit of using collected, found, or natural items, I decided to use some plants and flowers from my yard that I had previously dried and pressed. I taped them down to the edges of the pages. While this worked well in some places, I was very disappointed with the lack of detail overall. For this reason, I kept layering spray paints in hopes that this would add dimension and complexity to these prints.

Finally, I made the choice to quickly doodle on top of one of the prints with a sharpie because I felt that it was lacking interest and detail. I also really enjoy the use of several different styles and mediums on a single piece. The other, however, I left as is with only paper and spray paint.

6 Bonus experiment! In the process of using flowers as stencils, I decided to try to use fresh flowers as pigment on my paper. I did so by taking leaves and petals, placed them in-between my paper and some fabric, and used a hammer to attempt to pound some pigment into the paper. This idea was inspired by a video I recently saw of someone doing the same, so I was interested if this would actually work for me. Although there were some colors transferred onto my paper, it was very faint and almost blended into the flecks of color on the sheet.

Instead, I decided to mod podge the remaining flowers and leaves onto the page. I especially liked experimenting with the rough, natural edges of the page and the plants.

Next I experimented with the second batch of paper I made. The finer mulch and thinner sheets proved to be far easier to transfer ink and detail. I also was able to notice the pattern of the screen as it imprinted on the paper. This detail is also highlighted in the places where ink was only barely transferred. Here is one small print, although I still have much left to explore with this different paper.

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