Creatively speaking, I?ve happily discovered a brand-new world. After just six weeks in a Printmaking I class, I?ve seen a wide-open horizon with infinite possibilities for creativity.
I can truly say I?ve never been this excited about learning and developing any creative process I see so many possibilities in the printmaking processes I?m learning. As a craft and a new voice for creative expression, printmaking offers so very much. I didn?t believe it was possible to feel a level of enthusiasm and passion that would exceed what I felt for photography from my first class and in the twenty years as my chosen art and profession.
In my observations as a novice, what makes printmaking so fabulous is the opportunity to bring together all of the creative venues in which I like to work. Printmaking offers infinite potential to dovetail poetry, drawing, painting, and photography, as well as 3D artwork and print surfaces.
With printmaking, the sky is the limit. As I learn and become more skilled in the various processes, I hope to add them to my creative toolbox. Then I?ll be free to? incorporate many facets of creativity into one new and unique piece. Printmaking seems much like writing symphony or opera music. In these musical forms, a composer writes for many diverse instruments and voices, bringing more and more depth and richness to the final score. With printmaking, as in a symphony or opera, the whole becomes much greater than the sum of the parts, particularly if the parts stand strong and fully-bloomed on their own.
Another aspect of printmaking that I love is the hands-on nature of many of the processes. Though digital printmaking has advanced in popularity and creative capabilities, there are many techniques which remain a ?hands-on? endeavor. The printmaker is actually physically involved with the materials and processes. And, I am passionate about working with my hands.
One day, I look forward to having a command of the printmaking language so that I can develop my own vision and style to therefore express my ideas, using all the types of creativity I love. Printmaking is so exciting and brings a great, new joy to my life. I wish for the time and opportunity to learn it and make many, many prints, and then teach it to my future students.
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