Jamie and Richard decided to meet for a walk and then work on an art piece at the same time – not the same piece, but two pieces made in the same location. They were in the same place, but looking in different directions: Richard looking north and Jamie looking west.
Jamie and Richard walked along Ulverston Canal next to the Glaxo Smith Kline factory. This location lends itself well to the different but complementary views of Ulverston captured in the two prints. Ulverston is the home of Printfest and has been a key place in forming and sustaining Jamie’s career as a printmaker in Cumbria over the last 12 years – the same could be said for many printmakers in this region.
Jamie and Richard used their artful way as an opportunity to explore something different. Richard used drypoint etching, and Jamie used monotype:
“The monotype print I made marks a departure for me from etching. Lockdown has served to move me away from the reproduction aspect of etching to try a more one-off approach. Making monotypes is like painting and printmaking in one.”
Thoughts on the three Artful Questions …
Creativity
JB: Creativity allows us to step out of life temporarily and make a unique place for ourselves through concentrating on making things which have never existed before.
RF: It is challenging to answer this question without sounding cliched or naff but for me arts and culture is what allows me to make sense of the world and means my life transcends mere day-to-day existence.
Connectivity
JB: I have missed creative collaboration with others which seems inbuilt in being a printmaker. The pause of Covid has completely re-aligned my priorities as an artist: I am moving away from re-production back to production.
RF: Again not ground breaking thoughts, but like everyone I have missed human contact – physical and spiritual. The last eighteen months have pushed me to make more use of digital techniques and at the same time to value my immediate surroundings and the wider Cumbrian landscape
Place
JB: As busy artists, we all need to pay attention to the tools, materials and chemicals we use, and ensure they have a low impact the environment.
RF: It feels imperative not to forget the lessons learned during the last eighteen months or assume everything we did during that time was “the bad old days.” Digital communication has reduced our need to travel for everything and at the same time made us more coherent as a sector, where previously we were challenged by geography. Not every conversation needs to be face to face.
