Thursday evening, a printmaking and book arts professor from the University of Georgia gave a lecture to share his work and his beliefs about the craft.
In his lecture, Jon Swindler spoke about printmaking and sculpting as a participant in the 2018-2019 SEC Faculty Travel Program.
Swindler spoke about projects that he and other artists collaborated on, his art philosophy and personal style development, all centered around his career in printmaking and sculpting. He began by delving into his past journey with printmaking and how he came to learn how to make the prints function for him. Through critical thought on how he could utilize material for his prints, he was able to gain the traction he was looking for.
“When I heard about this, I just had to go,” junior neuroscience major Kelsey Copeland said. “Like, complicated art? This is my thing, and I wanted to get a different perspective with my minor in sculpture, learning how sculpting and printmaking collaborate.”
Swindler displayed one of his early series from his time working at UGA and described it as something that started out as him trying to create circumstances for failure. Swindler created “anthropomorphic, organ-like” drawings that he would later process until they began to fade and deteriorate, stating he wanted to embrace the decay that print is naturally inclined towards.
“Play is an important part of this for me. I think that printmaking is a form of play, it’s very much an extension of childhood when you’re experimenting with materials,” Swindler said. “And I have two kids, so I see this firsthand oftentimes.”
Another important factor into Swindler’s works is his lack of focus on aesthetic, instead wanting to focus on creating prints with diverse information.
Swindler also emphasized the importance of objectivity, a detachment between an artist and their work that would allow them to continue their work without worrying about its quality. In Swindler’s eyes, what you make isn’t good or bad; it’s a result.
“I really like how he talks about how to play with art, how to be detached, and how to find a resolution for when a print is done,” senior Kayla Dean, who is majoring in art and art education, said. “It’s something that I’ve been struggling with– how to tell when you should stop and just let the art be.”
Reusability is a significant factor in Swindler’s work as well: to him, it is always important to use what’s available, and to make sure that nothing goes to waste. Old paints, harvested lumber from the woods, you name it. He even takes pieces from his older works to repurpose for newer ones.
“I don’t want to allow my art to stagnate,” Swindler elaborated.
Toward the end of his lecture, Swindler discussed the project he has been involved with during his stay at UT. He has been working with graduate students on a project involving pressure printing. In pressure printing, one places a backing sheet behind the press sheet and run over an inked surface, creating a combination of the ink and varying degrees of pressure caused by the backing sheet.
“In relation to all of this stuff I’ve kind of thrown at you, I think at a certain point it’s become difficult for me to separate my practice from all the collaboration that I do, and I think that’s a very good thing for me to maintain a level of objectivity for my work because I want my work to exist autonomously,” Swindler concluded.
