John Howard's Studio Week 3

I went back to John's studio again as I want to get to know the different artists that go in there and also to get to know John himself more as well. I hopefully after this will have an archive of artists working on their pieces and a few medium format portraits of them as well. I wanted to print these on fiber based paper and this will create an artistic, romantic look that shows myself doing an art technique just like they're doing with print making.

This week I met Michael Donnelly who has been a painter in Cornwall for many years and has done a range of series of paintings on still life, landscape and culture. For the last 5 years he's been doing a series on landscapes around Cornwall and wanted to experiment, Michael chose the subject of landscapes as he feels it neglected in the contemporary art space. As well as painting he has now been doing Etches and Print Making and has been coming to John's studio for guidance on the subject. His etches of landscapes are copies of his sketches that he does everyday and thinks it's important to draw all the time to gain skill. He will also use aqua tinting on his etches after he has printed them as this brings out shadows and makes the piece have more depth. I will be photographing John print making and aqua tinting next week.

I also met Duncan who has been an artist in Cornwall for several years, also doing landscapes at the moment, although his are more experimental and he's just practicing the technique. He unfortunately has Parkinson's so it is getting harder for him to concentrate and do art as he needs steady hands but he was an interesting man who told me about previous projects he did around his dad's garden shed and how he enjoys his practice but it's hard to say no because of his illness.

Sarah an Art Foundation student who is friends with John was also doing some print making around the subject of 'figures' and has been print making for years, she enjoys it a lot.

Artists: John Howard's Studio Week 2

I went back again to John's studio where he does the art technique of Print Making and offers tuition as well as freelancers coming in to use the studio for personal works. John is having an exhibition in St Ives this August which is going to show his work as well as anybody that does work in the studio, I will go and photograph that as well to show the final product to my work and to theirs. 

Today there was Lesley Harry who most works in pencil but often likes doing screen prints of her drawings and photographs which are often abstract. She has been in Falmouth since 2010 and specializes in drawing the coastline which she sometimes does on a boat she shares with friends. She told me Lesley also recently took a trip to Norway and did a series of the coastline there and has photographs and etchings which she has re-created into screen prints with help from John, her work is at 'Gallery 49' in Falmouth and 'The Square Gallery' in St Mawes. 

                         
                      

                         

There was also an artist called Nina Packer who is from Liskaerd and specializes in linear drawings. Today she just signed up for a one to one tuition with John and brought some of her old line drawings that she wanted to try and re-create with print making. 

Artists, John Howard's Studio, Week One

For another project I wanted to base my idea on artists and especially looking at artists around Cornwall or those who have moved down to the South for their practice. I wanted to also work with artists who use different techniques and use a variety of mediums other than just painting or drawing. I looked into artists who had studios and found John Howard who has a printing studio in Penryn, he moved down from Birmingham to Cornwall in 1995 and has had his studio since 2007.  His practice involves traditional etching and print making in which he goes through a series of stages before actually creating the final piece. His studio is welcome for graduates and artists in the area to come in and create artwork, he helps them by tutoring them with his knowledge as he used to lecture. John also has a few regular assistants Hannah and Clementine who as well as helping John make mass prints but in their spare time can focus on their own work.

John Howard is preparing a copper plate in order to be etched on
the first stage is filing down the edges to make a smooth base

After filing down the edges, John must polish the copper plate and
afterwards he must put powder on it to make it soluble when washing

He then heats the plate and puts a layer of hot wax before
setting it alight and then it is ready to etch onto

These are all of the rollers for print screening which is another
technique that is used in John's studio

These are  cloths that are especially used for ink as they grab the particles
which makes it easier to spread onto print screens.

Clementine creates etchings in her spare time at the studio
although she did not do an art degree 

These are the printing machines that you put the final
etched copper plate onto to create the final piece

Hannah is a Fine Art graduate from Falmouth University
and she assists John in his practice as well as developing
her own style and work. She is working on a heating technique
where she uses a product that creates ink bubbles.