It had never struck me that print might be considered an inferior art form - for all I know, it might be a well-known opinion if you've been through art school? - but I was reading back through Laura Boswell's studio diary blog the other day (still haven't made it back very far) and came across her regretting this but accepting the bias as just the way things are seen. Oh. And then I remembered back to college where I first took printmaking. I was in a ceramics class when the tutor of the sculpture class was saying to our tutor that theirs were the only two fine art subjects (being taught at the college). I wasn't impressed (it was the 'exclusive-us' tone of the comment) but put it down, at the time, to the tutor who was speaking likely having a bit of a thing for the other one. However, maybe it was genuinely how he saw things?
And then there's the hierarchy of print methods. Laura again - she is a lino and a woodblock printer, and suggests that some people out there consider her chosen trade akin to potato printing at infant school. That one struck home - there is no doubt that the public can tend to say, dismissively, 'lino? oh yes, I remember doing that at school'. End of subject, really. Within the printmaking world it's mostly thought of as a learner skill, I think, although the excellence of top practitioners would surely be recognised.
Then collagraph - I cannot credit the person who said this because I was browsing and didn't take note of her name, but she said that in her (school art?) world, the very word collagraph encouraged others to downgrade their opinion of a work of art accordingly - and she knew that 'proper' artists came up with alternative names for collagraph, just to avoid the perceived stigma. Which is a little bit lowering but presumably just one opinion from a good wide range. Luckily there would seem to be enough excellent printmakers out there to champion every print method, from monotype to linocut to collagraph (not to mention all the rest) and, in spite of many colleges and universities shrinking or dispensing altogether with their printmaking facilities, print seems to be retaining plenty of popularity elsewhere.
And then there's the hierarchy of print methods. Laura again - she is a lino and a woodblock printer, and suggests that some people out there consider her chosen trade akin to potato printing at infant school. That one struck home - there is no doubt that the public can tend to say, dismissively, 'lino? oh yes, I remember doing that at school'. End of subject, really. Within the printmaking world it's mostly thought of as a learner skill, I think, although the excellence of top practitioners would surely be recognised.
Then collagraph - I cannot credit the person who said this because I was browsing and didn't take note of her name, but she said that in her (school art?) world, the very word collagraph encouraged others to downgrade their opinion of a work of art accordingly - and she knew that 'proper' artists came up with alternative names for collagraph, just to avoid the perceived stigma. Which is a little bit lowering but presumably just one opinion from a good wide range. Luckily there would seem to be enough excellent printmakers out there to champion every print method, from monotype to linocut to collagraph (not to mention all the rest) and, in spite of many colleges and universities shrinking or dispensing altogether with their printmaking facilities, print seems to be retaining plenty of popularity elsewhere.
A painterly monotype by Kevin Fletcher
A linocut by Laura Boswell
A collagraph by Brenda Hartill
RSS Feed