Shadowing, Week 2. 3.5 hours with Jessie Merriam, 4 hours with Laura Brown.
This weekend I shadowed Jessie while she taught a 3-hour woodblock carving class to a group of adult women at the Women’s Woodshop in Minneapolis. There were eight students, and the theme was pet portraits (or other animals). Each student had brought an image to work with (one person brought a drawing of a dragon). The students learned how to transfer their design to prepared wood blocks, and then how to correctly use woodblock-carving-specific knives and chisels to make a relief carving on their block. The students were then able to make several prints and proofs from their carved blocks using water-based ink and barrens/wooden spoons for pressure (instead of a press). It was a really quiet class and a lot of fun. I really appreciate being able to work with Jessie—she is very straightforward, open and encouraging. She brings her humanness to her teaching practice and it makes me always want to be myself with confidence.
With the adult students, many of whom had not done printmaking before, it felt like perfectionism was a big hurdle. The thing about printmaking is it’s easiest to embrace where the process leads you and let it influence your path through the project. Trying to be too perfect is just frustrating because the material has a mind of its own. My biggest hurdle with this workshop was knowing when to step in and help, especially among a group of people who are my peers age-wise. Thankfully most of them were very open about when they needed guidance, and asked.
~
I also shadowed Laura Brown this weekend during one part of her two-day Intro to Book Arts class, which she co-taught with another artist at MCBA. The students were mainly middle-aged or older adults and they were learning introductory papermaking, screenprinting, letterpress, and bookbinding. I assisted Laura with the bookbinding portion, where she taught a sewn pamphlet stitch book and a meander/accordion fold book with hard covers, using materials they’d made during the previous sections of the workshop. For instance, the sewn book had a handmade paper cover, and the accordion book was folded from a screenprinted broadside they’d designed collaboratively.
Laura is a gift to work with—she is a master at leading with humor and grace. I learned a really valuable lesson from her this weekend, one which she explained while showing the students how to fold the paper for their books: the difference between perfection and precision. Perfection is not only subjective, it’s frustrating to attain and not always healthy to expect. Reframing your language as you teach and make art can make all the difference. By asking for precision, rather than perfection, you are setting a goal. If that goal isn’t reached, that’s okay. As an instructor, this is super helpful because it allows you to balance teaching skills that require precision and accuracy (like paper folding) without putting unnecessary pressure on students to be perfect while they’re just learning a new skill.