INSTANT Publication Workshop

Mark Pawson

The assembled group (a mixture of MA students, past and present, artists and children) were shown an eclectic range of Mark Pawson publications and badges which were made from newsprint, envelopes, found ephemera, fabric and fashion posters, covering a diversity of subjects - plugs, household bills, weather conditions, Japanese fashion etc etc. These designs were printed, repeated, and printed into patterns which were imaginative and highly original.

Mark uses a range of techniques including photocopying, silkscreen printing,  rubber stamping and repetitive haiku-dic style typography to elevate the simplistic pamphlet, leaflet and 'zine' to iconic book status. He also produces packaged badges combining silkscreen print again with found imagery, fabric and kitch logo design. 

Embarking on this workshop at Spike, I had imagined we too would make use of photocopiers, rubber stamps, logos, type, random imagery etc.to make exciting artwork which could be used for publication and we did create our own books, using a range of papers which were folded and bound by stapling and stitching techniques, but these were empty. Unfortunately, here there were no rubber stamps, photocopiers and logos; with our resulting blank paged books having value, but disappointing me overall as I had already been shown most of these book making techniques during my MA at UWE. 

In spite of this, Mark had made and shown us some ingenious book and badge designs and listening to an artist who was passionate about his creations using 'random stuff' collected from the minutae of daily life was imaginative and inspiring.

Mark Pawson
Spike Island
August 2016

Leonardo, Leiter and Lempicka

August 2016

The female form (see 'the human body is the best work of art' Blog - April 2016) is the starting point for the next slice of my creative pie. This 'feminine' theme is relevant as life drawing has always been a large part of my work, so using my sketches, more refined coloured chalk and charcoal images and nude projections as patterns, to create something original makes perfect sense. 

For me, women are an interesting subject to work from, are more pleasing to look at and I am a woman so this 'body' of work (see what i did there) will relate with relevance to me and how I wish to be 'interpreted creatively'. Women have curves, layers and overlaps which repeat and evolve, whereas men are straight, more angular and less rounded.  

Initially looking at the 'top ten' most 'popular' artists in Western culture, I have started choosing the 'recognisable' imagery containing a female subject (which may or may not be the obvious focus in the work). I am hoping that from these choices there will begin a series of digital and printed interpretations of these images. The female subject is the only commonality shared but the chosen images will be ones that are personally inspirational, multi-faceted and beautiful, taken from the Renaissance and beyond.

The intention is to produce a series of outcomes, each containing a part of or all of one 'popular' painting; highlighting aspects of colour, symbolism, female forms which are depicted within and combining repetitive drawn patterns, life drawings and photographic collage to exaggerate the feminine themes. Miss Bugs style and Urban Art has been and will continue to be another inspiration for this. My new work will be interpreted both traditionally, as silkscreen prints and also manipulated digitally, printed on fabric and paper.

Perhaps finding my own 'mythic themes' may be the conclusion for these feminine images, however, for now, I am working with sketches, models, colour and curvaceous forms that have potential, but are constantly shifting and layered like Donald Trump's hair.