Back to Work.
For several months now I’ve been consumed by the minutiae of a new new job in Alabama. How do I ship this box? Where do I get that form? Where did those business cards come from? Why does everyone have/understand/need/produce that thing that I don’t have/understand/need/produce?
And then, suddenly, NOVEMBER. And a deadline. Last spring, when the fall seemed like a hollow echo chamber full of time and possibility, I committed to producing a print for a mapping-themed portfolio for the Codex Foundation. My portion of the project is due today, December first, 2016. Sometime before Thanksgiving I emerged from my office, let my eyes adjust, then dug my apron out of a box.
I started thinking about, if not producing, this project in the early fall. During that time, I was separated from my family and awaiting the approval of Ben’s visa application. That separation became the focus for the print.
Each print for this portfolio needed to be the same size: A3 folded to A4. I wanted the act of unfolding to physically separate three points. On the front, (detail below,) they would seem interconnected and self contained, but inside the folio those points would be relocated on either side of a chasm.
The lino chasm began:
A very well used block:
And the finished lino print:
I gathered the text from several of the many visa applications Ben and I have filled out and submitted over the last five years in the UK and the USA.
It feels great to work in metal again, to be able to edit and alter my plan on the press. The type above turned out to be too small. I reset, proofed, and made a new plan.
Adding some line images from polymer and a bit more type:
And here it is, the interior complete:
Other deadlines are on the horizon. Next up: a piece for a Shift-lab exhibition at the Seager Gray Gallery in February. More on that soon, but here is a teaser photo of a mystery object with gold on it.
Over and out, blog friends!
6 comments on “Back to Work.”
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Big Jump Press 
Great to hear from you again! And I love the print.
Thanks Su! I have been thinking about you! I hope all is well,
Best wishes,
Sarah
Goodness, how I can relate to families created across borders and oceans. Related very much to the content, the language used on immigration forms, the graphics. Lovely. (We travel with an entire mini trunk of paperwork.)
Ha ha so do we! I think we could produce an array of critical documents faster than anyone I know. Thanks for the kind words, and best wishes!
Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Big Jump Press? Why would I ever want to do that?
Never!