SUPPORTING STATEMENT - Part 5 Project 15 Developing a series of 4

combination and experimental prints

There are certain pieces of music, especially from the classical genre that have a profound effect on my emotions and sense of self & I've been waiting to explore this sensation further for quite some time, to develop those ideas using mixed media in print. I wanted to produce work from my own interpretations but without overly influencing the viewer, pieces to subtly hint at rather than force a particular reaction.

I chose 2 orchestral & 2 piano pieces, all strong well known works. Initially I wondered whether the fact they’re all well-known might interfere with an unbiased response from both me & those that looked at my work. But concluded that precisely because the pieces are so well known it may help to make connections between music & visual art.

Samuel Barber's, Adagio for Strings makes my heart soar, throwing it around like a fairground ride as it pushes & pulls its way from start to

finish. When I listen to the music I experience a great fluidity & felt I could best describe this using a non-rigid fabric support. I chose 100% white cotton which I then died using tea & coffee. Drying it on a metal rack produced a coincidental, horizontal line effect mirroring sheet music perfectly. I added splodges of homemade walnut ink in acknowledgement of the impact the music. Lastly, using Monoprint, I inscribed type lines, drawn as I listened to the piece in 3 separate colours.

Debussy's, Clair de Lune is in contrast a soft melody full of promise & love but with undertones of mischief. It’s from the 3rd

movement of Suite Bergamasque, the word bergamasque referring to a rustic type of dance. Debussy himself was inspired by Paul Verlaine's poem, 'Moonlight' which somehow makes my artistic response in turn even more appropriate. With the moon so prominently featured in the research I’d done about this piece, I couldn’t help but be influenced & the round shape with suggestions of a pitted & varied surface came to me without conscious realisation, created through the use of a simple Collagraph plate. The overlaying line was inspired by watching mulled Cider warming on the hob, the sugar coming alive in the heating liquid and creating independent movement. I went on to experiment with Drypoint, using it with tapering line to describe my emotional response.

Page 1 of 2 - Angela Mullins S/N: 490396 - Printmaking 1

SUPPORTING STATEMENT - Part 5 Project 15 Developing a series of 4

combination and experimental prints Pietro Mascagni's, Cavalleria rusticana Intermezzo This piece came purely from my emotional response. I simply sat & listened the first time, subsequent times jotting down some key words & so the ideas slowly developed. As I listened I saw ice skaters, lovers gliding slowly & smoothly over the ice, their blades creating intricate & intermingled patterns, no single line, no beginning and no end. I created a Lino plate to mimic this affect and test prints showed I was on the right track (see logbook) However, although they were producing a good sense of movement it wasn’t enough. I made a Collagraph plate

with a symmetrical cog-like pattern, inspired from shells collected from a beach walk years ago. These more rigid and defined lines gave a sense of purpose to the Lino pattern. Inking the piece with silver leant a mystical & softer feel, aiding the sense of movement as it shimmers.

Chopin's, Nocture E Flat Major Op.9 No.2 Valentina Lisitsa plays this piece stunningly well & I immediately fell in love with the music. I wanted to create an abstract piece, incorporating delicacy and finesse, mimicking Lisitsa’s performance. This was the hardest piece to produce technically. I’d not only chosen a very delicate Chinese Mulberry Pape, I was also aware I hadn’t yet used the Chine-collé & was very keen to do so now. I began by creating a Dry point plate from an old plastic folder. But I wasn’t happy with the whole plate & experimented by cutting it in to 3 pieces, eventually using just 1/3rd of the original plate. I used white tissue paper which had coloured square outlines on, residue from another project, almost completely cover the print area, then small black Chine-collé strips mimicking the piano keys & some additional colour which I’d felt from listening to the music. However I don’t feel this is a particularly successful print. The Mulberry paper didn’t work well with Chine-collé, wrinkling quite badly. And the overall design seems to lack definition. I’d been less sure of my finished design than previous work & I wonder if that lack of direction led to a less than satisfactory piece of work.

Page 2 of 2 - Angela Mullins S/N: 490396 - Printmaking 1