Matt and Pete both came to printmaking having worked in various 3 dimentional media. Matt’s artistic endeavors until recently had been focused on sculptural clay. Pete also has some sculpture background, in metals though. He worked small, Matt works bigger. They both were the lucky recipient of Sev Shoon classes given as gifts by Matt’s mom. After years of artistic dormancy (life can be that way), Pete found an outlet on paper (and metal when working on copper). He was also seduced by the image produced by the press and the sense of excitement and anticipation when pulling the final print.

Matt and Pete differ in the way they work: Pete doesn’t usually start with much of a plan while Pete reacts to the surface, making a mark, reacting, making another mark, reacting, making another mark, reacting… until the image is able to sustain itself. He’s found Monotype to lend itself well to a simple, direct, rapid approach to working and likes the immediate gratification. Conversely, he finds copper to be an appealing surface to work on and likes the possibilities for creating print images with it. The ability to work and rework an image is there as well as the ability to reproduce images that monotype doesn’t have.

Matt tends to work with a bit more of a plan, more conceptual perhaps reflecting upon his work in school that involved the disintegration of unfired clay objects. That would be art as transient object or non-object. The idea of making prints is pretty new to him, but he’s sure he’ll come up with a way to adapt some of the processes, currently screen printing, to his way of thinking.

Pete and Matt have both find the environment at Sev Shoon to be a comfortable workspace and supportive atmosphere. A place to retreat to, be inspired, get feedback, or be alone (if that’s what you want).