Interview with Susie (Printmaking Instructor)

1.What attracted you to print and printmaking?

Whatever the printmaking technique, there's always some magic transformative moment that you don't get any other way. The first time you ink up a lino block; when you wash out an exposed screen; when you first print the chase of type you've been working on. I guess I just fell in love with those cool moments, and keep wanting to learn more.

Also, I appreciate that printmaking is a way of working which is both solitary and communal. There is the design stage, when coming up with imagery to be printed; and the stage in the workshop when you realise your print surrounded by other artists. The workshop community atmosphere is productive as well as pleasant - you can trade ideas, technique and feedback, encourage each other, and keep each other on track. I much prefer this to working alone in my studio for the whole creation of a piece.

2. Do you believe there is too much reliance on digital methods to produce design nowadays?

Digital methods are good at some imagery for some purposes; traditional printmaking techniques are good at some other things. The key is to tailor the method of production to the outcome rather than becoming too attached to one way of working. I do think that more graphic designers should get out from behind a computer and into the print workshop more often - it's quite therapeutic!

3. What do you think are benefits of using more analog processes (prints and letterpress) rather than digital?

Using traditional printmaking methods, and letterpress, often allows for a more process-driven outcome. Having factors outside your control means that 'happy accidents' can lead to new ways of working. Using the wood poster type in letterpress means that the letters print with wear and woodgrain that digital type wouldn't have, meaning that your text has a different feel. Monoprints will give you unique outcome of shape and tone each time. 

4.What do you think are the benefits are of using digital processes rather than analog? 

Depending on the outcome, digital processes can be more efficient, quicker, and less wasteful of resources. You can also achieve imagery you wouldn't get with analog processes, and imagery that can interact with viewers in other ways - for example, appearing on the web as well as a gallery wall. 

5. Do you believe that craft and analog processes create outcomes that are more personal/intimate than outcomes that are only created using digital softwares? Why?

There are many craft/printmaking processes which clearly display the evidence of the hand that made it, which I think does give the viewer a certain personal relationship with the thing created. A woodcut or lino print clearly shows where the block has been carved by hand, which does give you a kind of intimacy with the person who carved it. Knowing that the outcome took time, skill and effort also helps connect with the maker.

6. Do you think there will be a future where print and printmaking processes are no longer needed?

People will always appreciate a physical, tactile object, and imagery which they can have an in-person relationship with. Print and printmaking processes will just adapt and find new audiences, as they always have done - letterpress is functionally obsolete as a mainstream way to disseminate the written word, but is now appreciated in an art and design context for its aesthetic pleasures. 

7. Why is holding on to these analog practices important? Is it a sense of history?

It's definitely pleasing to think about carrying out a process which isn't too different to how it's worked for centuries. Letterpress, for example, connects us to the past through using the type and presses which have been in use for decades, even though we now approach them differently. 

But mostly I think it's worth hanging onto analog practices because they do unique things. The specific look that you get with linocut, for example, can't be recreated digitally. It's important to use a full range of techniques because we want a full palette of colours, textures, linework, tones etc.  

8. Do you think most graphic designers don't realise the importance of these processes?

I think that most graphic designers could use some experience in letterpress and printmaking. You'd end up with a wider aesthetic palette to draw from, which would help you stand out from the pack. Working in printmaking can also result in a deeper understanding of the tools you're working with - for example, working in letterpress gives you an enriched, tactile understanding of typography.

9. Would you personally like to see projects in which analog processes are solely used to produce a graphic design outcome? Do you think this is needed?

Depends on the project! But I think it would be interesting to see a project, with outcomes in multiple forms, where only analogue formats are used. I'd love to see a full brand identity put together using letterpress and printmaking. I think that constraint would result in some really creative work.