Ireland Trip

A small group of us from print making got invited to go with David Ferry on a trip to Ireland, where we would go with him to an independent university in the Burren, set in an amazing landscape, built around an old Fortress, we were given a studio to set up a print department, Laura who is trained in solar printing would teach us the process and then teach students wanting to participate from the university

We spent the first few days exploring the environment we were in, in keeping with David's original idea of a synergy between a journey and the film the 'Seventh seal', we first took a journey up a mountain behind the university, and then watched the film. On our journey we all walked separately, we all took a different route, we all wondered off, stopped to draw, photograph, ponder, it felt never ending, it was exhausting, then finally we reached the top and we all congregated together. The landscape was incredible, like huge slabs of slate, all fitting together almost like a puzzle, I took a number of photographs, of us all stood in this vast space.
The film reflected a lot of the same experiences we had encountered on our journey, the idea of going alone and then meeting others, of experiencing something more somehow when with others. I feel an experience is heightened through sharing with others, it was interesting that the landscape almost looked like a chess board. I wanted to channel all of this into the print that I made, I wanted to include the people on my journey.

We were first taught about how we could make either a relief plate where we might draw or paint straight onto the plate and this creates a strong image, where once the plate is exposed under the UV light we could create an image that is more like a lino plate. Alternatively we could make an intaglio plate, where we would put down an aqua tint first.
Firstly we began by setting up the studio and creating a print studio within the university.