Illuminated

In college I majored in art history and studio art.

Yeah, really useful stuff.

In my studio classes, I focused on printmaking. Lithography in particular, held my interest – lithography the traditional way with the big stones and the physically intensive work to create the image. I liked the challenge of creating textures on a two dimensional surface. I also worked a fair bit in intaglio, and it was easier to create textures on the metal plates with acids and tools found at the hardware store.

As a home print studio isn’t really realistic (with a standard size press), I had to drop printmaking in the forms I enjoyed when I graduated college. I also had to make a living. Since then, the creative side of me has been limited to choosing paint colors, various arts and crafts, mostly with the kids, and fiber arts (which I have loved, but it’s different).

Now, many years after my last foray into the print studio, we are developing a friendship with the family of one of M’s preschool friends. Really nice, fun people. He is an art teacher, and when we last had dinner we discussed a method that has been developed to create litho images using polyester plates and a laser printer and hand held tools to transfer the image to paper. He sent me links to appropriate information to get me started.

So basically I have no excuse not to get back to it.

As such, I’ve been thinking about what I would like to image. What is it that interests me now? What kind of images am I attracted to? What speaks to me? What of my old works do I still like? I’ve also been thinking about the history side of my degree. What were the periods and themes I connected with most?

I feel a bit embarrassed that I can’t necessarily remember some of those details. I’m disconnected from that time in my life – nine addresses, seven jobs, sixteen years of marriage, three kids and many life events later, art appreciation and participation doesn’t happen in expected or even concrete ways.

Clicking through the Internet today, I was reminded of one of my art historical interests – the Lindisfarne Gospels. Illuminated manuscripts of the late 7^th/early 8^th century produced on the island of Lindisfarne in Northumbria, northeast England.

These pages are amazing. Intricate, colorful manuscripts of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The techniques used to create the materials were intensive as the creation of the words and images themselves – the tanning of sheepskin to create the parchment, grinding of minerals and plant material to create the pigments, work by candlelight and no room for error. In the world of Celtic illuminated manuscripts, the Book of Kells is more well-known, but the Lindisfarne Gospels are what hooked me.

And it occurred to me that my affinity for illuminated manuscripts and printmaking and works on paper ties in to my life now in a way. I work with words, print, and paper, and as dry as the subject matter can be, the process of creating a document is still a creative one.

So maybe I’m not so far away from that time when I would look at a space or a scene and see that space or scene, but also see the light and the shadows and the structure and the composition and the texture. Creativity is a muscle that I need to exercise more and frequently. Maybe I can light that creative spark again.