ALICIA BURNETT

Alicia Burnett
[2013, Illustration]

Based in Schenectady, NY

Wolf Jaw Press’ RISD Craft Gallery

Wolf Jaw Press is an independent screen printing studio located in Upstate New York just north of Albany. Founded by Alicia Burnett in 2015, Wolf Jaw Press focuses on celebrating the beauty of nature with small limited edition runs of handcrafted prints. From start to finish, every part of the printing process is done by hand. Working by hand is messy and labor intensive, but it is a rewarding and humbling process that yields breathtaking results.

What are some of the most important practices for your creative process?

The most important practice for my creative process is reminding myself that it’s okay to take breaks and have a life outside of my work. I am much more creative and productive when I’m well rested and happy. Everyone at RISD has such a tremendous work ethic and I think it’s really easy for young artists to fall into the trap of becoming a workaholic. At times it can seem glamorous, romantic, or even required to slave over your work – sacrificing basic self care in the pursuit of creation. I’ve learned that good time management, self care, and stepping away from my studio every once and a while contributes to my ability to think creativity create good work.

How does your current creative practice tie into your time spent at RISD?

I learned to screen print at RISD and I’ve never looked back! I was an undergraduate in the Illustration department where I was introduced to a lot of different creative processes, methodologies, and medias. The illustration department is great; I loved the fact that we were encouraged to experiment and take creative risks as we searched to find a process or media that really clicked with us. In my creative quest, I ventured outside of the Illustration department to take an elective screen printing studio with the Printmaking department and I completely fell in love with the process. The modality of screen printing, the structure and parameters it provided, felt freeing.

Tell us about some of your main sources of inspiration.

The inspiration for my art stems from my lifelong fascination with and affinity for the animal world. From the time I was old enough to comprehend that I shared this earth with other living, breathing, non-human beings called “animals,” I’ve been obsessed with observing and learning about the diverse creatures that walk, swim, and fly on this planet.

I remember as a young child begging my parents for horseback riding lessons. I was less excited about riding the horses and more interested in the simple pleasure of spending time in the presence of such exquisite beauty and unrestrained power. Standing on the ground next to a horse and sharing an intimate moment as two equals invokes a feeling of intense awe and reverence. It’s these kinds of feeling and these kinds of experiences that really inspire me.

Is there a work/body of work that you are particularly excited about sharing with us at RISD Craft this year?

Recently, I’ve been creating a lot of bird of prey prints that I’m pretty excited about. Birds of prey seem to be my current animal fixation at the moment.

To see more of Alicia’s work, visit wolfjawpress.com


DWRI LETTERPRESS

Dan Wood [1994, Printmaking]

Alums also at DWRI:

Lois Harada [2010, Printmaking] +

Hope Anderson [2013, Printmaking]

Based in Providence, RI

DWRI’s RISD Craft Gallery

DWRI Letterpress is a custom letterpress shop based in Providence, RI. We specialize in fine art edition printing, stationery, pencils and paper goods. DWRI is a team of three RISD alumni balancing traditional letterpress techniques with a contemporary aesthetic.

Tell us about some of your main sources of inspiration.

I’ve always been interested in multiples and began working as a press operator in commercial offset lithographic printing for ten years after art school. I was also printing my own work on letterpress presses at the same time and founded Garbaszawa Press in 1994 to print a mix of letterpress and offset books and print for myself and other artists. I reestablished the business in 2002 as DWRI Letterpress focusing solely on commercial letterpress printing. There are so many printers and printmakers who have inspired me along the way, but particularly artist’s like Saul Steinberg who worked on that line between fine art and world and the world off mass production.

Is there a work/body of work that you are particularly excited about sharing with us at RISD Craft this year?

We’re excited to debut our new line of cards for all occasions or just everyday. We’ve also got some great new notecards and stationery sets as well as some editioned art prints from shop and in collaboration with local artists.

Any recent press, exhibitions, achievements or awards you’d like to share with us?

We had a spotlight feature in the summer in the Providence Business News. It was a great platform to share our work and has led to some interesting follow up calls.

Dan has had work featured in Art in Print, a publication specializing in fine art printing. His print “Emanuel 9” has also been purchased by Wheaton College.

Hope completed a stunning animation for local band Mountainess earlier this year. Doe-Eyed Nightling is available to view online and Mountainess performs with a recently released side scrolling animation also designed and produced by Hope.

Lois completed a show at World’s Fair Gallery of two color letterpress prints in June.

To see more from DWRI visit dwriletterpress.net


M. BENJAMIN HERNDON STUDIO

M. Benjamin Herndon
[2016, MFA Printmaking]

Based in Providence, RI

M. Benjamin Herndon’s RISD Craft Gallery

 

My prints and drawings feature abstract imagery in the vein of Minimalism, but with a tendency toward organic, natural forms. The drawings are handmade graphite paint and silverpoint on watercolor paper, and appear like solid masses of black until they’re illuminated, at which point they reveal rippling textures caused by hundreds of individual silverpoint lines and/or polished graphite fields. The prints carry these concerns into their medium-specific qualities, such as lithographic tusche or the vibrating line of characteristic of drypoint.

 

What are some of the most important practices for your creative process?

Experimentation within my self-assigned-parameters of materials and processes is always a guiding feature in my work. For me, the question “what will happen if…” is often what sustains my creative pursuits, and has lead to exciting discoveries as well as inevitable dead-ends.

How does your current creative practice tie into your time spent at RISD?

Many of my drawings and prints that will be available during Craft come directly from processes I first discovered through research as a graduate student at RISD and have since been refining. As a faculty member in the RISD printmaking department, I find some time when not helping students to make a few prints of my own in Benson Hall.

Tell us about some of your main sources of inspiration.

I’m always inspired by the interaction of nature with the built environment, such as the geometries created by sunlight moving across architecture, and mossy stonewalls in forests. These visual indications of time are calming and meditative, as well as being formally interesting and often beautiful. I also find great inspiration in the history of art, particularly 20th century Minimalism and many centuries worth of Japanese design and architecture.

Any recent press, exhibitions, achievements or awards you’d like to share with us?

I’m looking forward to my first solo exhibition of paintings this fall at A R E A Gallery in Boston.

To see more of Benjamin’s work, visit mbenjaminherndon.com