What's in a name? That is not exactly the question but rather, "Why the Black-Eyed Press? or What does the name mean?" So many people are asking that I thought today I'd try to explain.
The name first occurred to me while looking at a relief print I did in college of a black-eyed susan. I had so much fun creating it and the two other prints in the triptych for intermediate relief printmaking. The triptych was supposed to be about my life. I decided to look into the connotative meanings of flowers. The black-eyed susan stands for encouragment, something I like to give to those around me. It's good it wasn't the literal translation from the Latin from the genus Rudbeckia: meaning rough and hairy.
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| Encouragement, relief print Samira Gdisis |
Creating the print was an encouragment to me. It hangs in my home workspace, reminding of why I am passionate about printmaking. I like the way the work allows me to focus. I like the feel of the linoleum tool pressing into the soft plastic. I love the smell of the ink and the paper when I print. I don't know if I can explain it well here. It may be something one needs to experience to understand. It might just be something to experience yourself by visiting us next month when we officially open for business.
The second reason that I loved the name is that as an artist and a perfectionist I am very hard on myself, in art and in life. Perfectionism is a never-ending figurative black-eye and as my colleaque Kelly Witte said once, "If I want to be an artist, I have to be hard on myself. The world will be." Kelly is an amazing artist using bold and saturated colors when she paints. She is an exceptional printmaker also, who creates in a technique called reductive relief. Each color is printed separately from a plain onto the paper, cutting out material between colors that is no longer needed. In the end you have generally just the outline of the image remaining and the plate, a piece of carved linoleum is generally ready to be tossed out. Several printmakers I know say that is their favorite part of the process.
I don't know how to explain the other reason here. It would probably be better in a picture. Let's just say at some point every printmaker has an itch on an eyebrow while working with black ink.
