Judson College :: Academics/Digital Judson

Collecting Memories

I have a hard drive full of photographs. Some of them are good, some of them aren’t. And some of them are just plain awful.

But I save every single one.

Maybe it’s an oddity only I suffer from – well, my poor computer too. (It needs a good hard drive cleaning.) I’m a chronic photo collector.

You know what though, I like these photos. They bring back memories and help me appreciate the little things. Without them, I know I would forget some detail, something that I really don’t want to lose.

I’ve made so many memories as a student. Some good, some bad, just like my photographs.

I think the most important part of being here at Judson is making your own memories. Sure, when you come to college your friends change, your environment changes, you may even change. But I think moving away from home from school, being kind of out on your own, makes you grow up. Gives you the chance to make your own memories, find new, amazing friends, and develop who you are.

You get the chance to meet different people. Make friends with someone you would never have talked to in high school. Try a new hobby. Take a class in something you have an interest. I did that this semester. I took printmaking and it was my favorite! Honestly, I could hang out in the art building all day.

Maybe you’ll find a deeper faith in school? I have. Moving away from my friends in high school and my family I’ve been forced to stand for my own beliefs. Granted, Judson is a Christian school, so there’s not too many challenges, but I’ve had to take my own initiative in going to church and making sure I spend my quiet time with God every day.

Also, I don’t have my mom to yell at me when I need to do laundry. Man, that stuff can pile up.

Excuse me; I’m done waxing poetic for now. Sorry to put you all through that philosophical bunny trail.

Really, all I’m doing is procrastinating. I hate cleaning out my hard drive.

It seems like I’m so busy that I barely have the time to sit down and take a breath. Not that I mind really. I think I’m happiest when I’m occupied, but sometimes I just need to wind down and veg out a bit. You know what? I think that’s exactly what I’m going to do – after I write this of course!

This morning the group heading to New York for UNCSW held a HUGE yard sale, filled with donations from so many generous people at the school and in the community. We had a big turn out and sold more than half of the items we had (which filled up the entire front lawn of Mead Hall).

It was really nice to chat with some of the ladies from the community and help everyone out.

After the yard sale Summer and I sold concessions at the Lady Eagles basketball game. It was a great game ladies! Go Eagles! I just wish more of their classmates had been here to cheer them on.

I can’t encourage everyone enough to stick around sometimes on the weekend. There really are things to do here in Marion, you just have to be creative and have a few good friends with you. Hey, I’m almost always here! You can hang out with me!

This week, while carry yard sale stuff, I managed to rip a hole in the knee of my favorite pair of jeans. I have such trouble finding a good pair that fits, and the untimely death of this pair was a real tragedy. But, since I have the best mom in the world, I will have a new pair this week! She hunted down a pair online and is having them sent to me. She also sent me some of her extra paper for printmaking class – so I think I’m set for art supplies for the next few weeks. Yes!

So I mentioned earlier that we’ve been creating monoprints in printmaking. This weekend I took my camera along with me to document the process with the hopes of sharing it. Keep in mind that most of this is completely silly, because I’m a silly person, and I really actually do love this class. Just so you know.

First off, a little information on what exactly a monoprint is – mono, from the Greek, is “singular” or “alone” – “one,” and print, from the, um, English means, well, “print.” It’s pretty much impossible to exactly reproduce the image more than once. In a sense, it’s a painting on your block, or Plexiglas plate (which is what we used), which is then run through the printing press to produce an image. Sorry if that whole etymology joke wasn’t funny. It all made sense in my head, I swear!

You’re probably thinking, “When is she going to get to the interesting stuff,” by now. Alrighty, here we go…

Step 1 – Well, actually step one is to pick or sketch out your design, but I forgot to make a little image for that. So for the purposes of this post, step one will be to tear down our paper to an appropriate size for the print we wish to make. We measure our paper to ensure even margins on the top and sides and leave a larger margin on the bottom. Unfortunately I don’t have any really good images of this process. I’m such a terribly lax tutorial-photo-taker. Anyways, once you have your paper to size it would be wise to place it in a tray of water to soak while you’re getting your plate ready to print. The damp paper picks up ink better.  Don’t forget to soak your paper and wait around 30 minutes after your plate is ready, like me. Yeah, you’re dealing with an expert here.

Step 2 – This photo shows a part of my plate, that I will apply ink to. On the opposite side I drew a rough sketch of my design. If all goes well, I should be able to see my drawing through the ink and then remove all the areas I don’t want any color. It helps to label which side the marker is on, especially if you’re special like me.

Step 3 – At this point we ink up our plates with the first color. In this print, I chose to do the red first.

Step 4 - Start removing the areas you don't want the color. Go crazy because "AGGHH this takes FOREEEVEEEERRR..." Doodle randomly in areas, wasting time. Hi!

Step 5 - Take photos of the Q-tips you've used and think about how they look kinda gross. Use lots and lots of Q-tips and maybe some paper towels. If there aren’t any left at Fred’s, I’m sorry, but the printmaking class bought them all. They were for a good cause, really.

Step 6 – Finish the plate, line it up on your paper, and run it through the press. Once again, lack of detail because I got excited and just HAD to run my plate through the press and forgot to take any photos. But look, it’s the plate after I ran it through and the image with only red! Funky right, maybe? The next step will be to add the black to the print.

Step 7 – AHA, gotcha! Step seven is actually not so much fun. Actually, it’s my least favorite, but necessary part, cleanup. Let’s pause for a collective groan. We use plain old vegetable oil and vinegar to remove the ink from the rollers and work area.

Step 8 – Well, this photo is actually cleanup too, but at least it’s interesting to look at, right? So this is me cleaning off my plate. I then hurried to clean all the red ink smears off my hands. Nobody wants to look like they’ve been in some crazy horror movie.

Step 9 – Now we finally get to the black. This color is much harder to see through once it’s on the plate, so I stick it on the light box for ink removal. This is the part where I go completely bonkers. The black takes me even longer than color does. Apparently I like to punish myself with lots of detail. I think the ink makes me loopy.

Step 10 – Lose it completely and swear to everyone within hearing distance that you will never use this much detail EVER again (end up doing it two times again anyways).

Step 11 - Insanely attempt to remove all the black ink on your plate to get bright white areas. Give up and settle for a more "organic" look.

Step 12 – Alright, once again, no photo because I got excited. Run your plate and paper through the press, peel it back that final time and pray to God that all of your lines registered.

FINISHED! Whew, when did I get so long-winded? I think I might have lost half of you a while ago.

So, I’ve made it through my first full week of school for the spring semester. Classes are getting into full-swing and the work is starting to mass. I’ve spent a good chunk of time over in the Mead Hall (the art building) working on designs for my printmaking class. I’m having a great time learning how to print and making art. I can’t believe how much I’ve missed it! But, I’m still learning, so I do make plenty of mistakes. For example, the following print is a big old mess up when it comes to registration. Each color was printed at different times. Every time you print a color you have to make sure your plates are perfectly lined up or you’ll end up with something wonky like this. Poor panda, maybe I’ll get you right next time.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but I’m part of a group from Judson who will be attending the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW). We’re fundraising to cover the cost of the trip and starting sessions where we’ll be learning the background on issues that will be addressed during the conference. I’m so looking forward to this trip. While we’re in New York we have to go to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). It’ll pretty much be a dream come true.

In the art club we’re holding off on starting activities until everyone settles back in and the business dies down. We’ll probably have our first movie night of the spring the first week or two in February, and every Wednesday after that, like last semester.

Big/Little Sis’ is coming up at the end of this month. I hope everyone is having fun planning tables and preparing for the banquet.

Otherwise, Its pretty calm here in Amberland. Something funny and/or interesting needs to happen that I can share with you all!