The final days of the collaborative print residency at Kala art institute in Berkeley, California were full of productivity and decision making. We decided on a title for the series of prints, while also editing the selection from 20 to 18 print works.
We created a narrative in our selection of prints and re-worked the ordering until we felt it said what we intended. This was an enjoyable process to work together on, as we both saw different connections between one print and the next the dialogues the prints had with one another changed and evolved with each re-ordering. The image above was the order and selection we decided on over our final day on the residency. However when returning to the prints back in Manchester and Montreal we edited out 3 prints from the above selection to finally decide on the series below, of 15 collaborative print works which make up ‘The moon and the sledgehammer’ body of work.
The following text was written to accompany the print series:
As part of an artists residency at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley California, I realised a collaborative project with Canadian artist Guillaume Brisson-Darveau. The moon and the sledgehammer is a visual and emotional correspondence between us as artists. This dialogue is motivated by the desire to know more about one another and feeds from the experience of the present. From these playful exchanges a new vocabulary arises, specific to the meeting of two universe conversing to create one. This dialogue implies a particular attention to the others’ sensibility whilst inviting us to redefine our own.
15 collages combining silkscreen and mokuhanga (water based woodblock) form this print portfolio. Kozo and gampi on Stonehenge paper, edition of 6 with 2 AP’s, 2016.
Over the course of working together, in collaboration, for 8 weeks I feel inspired and energised by this new way of working for me. I see a way that we could work together again on a future project. This whole process has provided me with an insight into the way another artist generates ideas and produces work. It has been vital for me to experience this opportunity at this point in my career and has absolutely cemented a new direction in my practice, one of collaboration and of creating dialogue through print. I am so grateful for the a-n travel bursary award in supporting this important project in which I have had the unique opportunity to see how other artists, from the USA and Canada work and respond to the world through print. I hope that in the coming years I will go on to foster new relationships with artists in the international print community to create new works in collaboration.
