(1) Henri Matisse (1953), in: Flam, Jack D. (ed.) (1982) Henri Matisse. Über Kunst, Zürich, S.261 f.
„In matters of art, the real creator is not just a gifted person, but one who has understood how to organize a whole bundle of activities towards a goal, the result of which is a work of art.“
(2) Peres, Constanze (2020), Wie entsteht Neues? XI, Paderborn 2020, S. 9
(3) Haarmann, Harald (2012): Our sense of the pictorial and abstract. Parallels in the History of Image and Art. In: Titze, Doris; HfBK Dresden (ed.): Zeichen setzen im Bild. Zur Präsenz des Bildes im kunsttherapeutischen Prozess. Dresden, Sandstein; S 18 – 30.
(4) Titze, D (2019), see Introduction, footnote 1
1. How did the idea for research come about?
The artist's studio is a laboratory where expectations and knowledge drive the artist's empirical decisions. The decision-making process is a highly personal experience.
The successful and the unsuccessful are found side by side within the resulting picture and form a whole. At the same time, the material reacts to technical interventions and redesign. This creates a systematic approach that I consider to be the core of my artistic practice. Matisse describes this creation as a purposefully ordered set of activities, the result of which is a work of art.(1)
The research potential of artistic practice unfolds by looking closely at this personal bundle of activities. This is not a linear process, but rather resembles a spiral because by doing you experience the same process over and over again on a new level. Each subsequent image is a consequence of the previous one, in the sense that the same components unfold into another design combinations. The theory of the spiral nature of the creative process has other uses in art therapy, philosophy, and linguistics. Regarding Leibniz's theory of emergence, Prof. Dr. Constanze Peres names the emergence of something new as novelty-as-a-repetition-of-the-old. (2) The language analyst Harald Haarmann compares our cultural development with a (circular) movement of memory, (3) which also applies to the emergence of a series of works of art. According to artist and art therapist Prof. Doris Titze, a similar process begins anew as the creative process reaches a new level of coherence and transformational experience.(4)
The artistic work in a workshop unfolds the spiral process in rapid succession. The work material and its demanding properties are the focus of action. Each intervention points to the next. The creative process can be easily understood, considering the manual intervention. This includes clear steps until the artist arrives at a creative moment of creation. Such are: the orientation within the work space, the first interaction with the work material and its properties, getting to know the chemical and physical processes within the work process (technology), first results, the preparation of the material for further processing. The repetition of work steps builds up knowledge that accelerates the work process and leaves room for spontaneous, additional or experimental attacks.
In order to follow my artistic process empirically, I refer to D. Titze's theory about the creative process. From an art therapeutic perspective, the spiral process of creation includes five parts: preparation - the drive of a design, incubation - the creative process promoted by the unconscious, illumination - a-ha experience, realization - orientation within the art-therapeutic process, and verification - examination of the new level of experience that has been reached , which is occasionally also intertwined with realization. Immediately afterward, the same process starts again from the beginning.
The Paper Workshop and the Stone Printing Workshop are my laboratories.
The object of my research analysis is the spiral process in my artistic practice. Papermaking and lithography are the crafts I deal with in this analysis. In doing so, I check the transferability of the results of my artistic activity by experiencing a two-week stay in the paper workshop at the Glockenbach Paper Works and the immediately subsequent stay at the stone printing workshop in the Künstlerhaus in Munich.
Introduction:
The interweaving of two artistic and manual techniques is the focus of my artistic research project. For years, I have been working with the printmaking process of lithography, constantly exploring its possibilities and limits. Recently, the process of paper production has been added as a second essential component, in close connection with the requirements that lithography places on the image carrier.
The starting point for the research process is, on the one hand, my many years of experience in lithography in the sense of body knowledge or tacit knowledge, and, on the other hand, empirical experience and preparation in artistic decision-making ability regarding the aesthetics of artistic works.
In addition, in my research I address the question of the extent to which artistic work and research-based knowledge production are influenced by changing environments. To this end, I accepted two scholarships to various workshops for paper production and lithography in Munich, which allowed me to question the local conditionality of my work.
On the one hand, my artistic-practical research follows a methodology that I have borrowed from the field of art therapy, the five-stage spiral process of knowledge production according to Doris Titze (1). On the other hand, I use autoethnographic methods for the question of the location component.
In this sense, the artistic artifacts are images of the research process and material-technical test series, but at the same time they are also the results of a creative process based on embodied specialist knowledge.
(2) Peres, Constanze (2020), p. 11
1st phase - Preparation
The demand to carry out the experiment and the preparation of the working material
5th Phase – Verification –
Checking the new level so far gained, the search for a balance between solid ground and new experience
Paper:
Decision on quantity, paper fiber and 10 colors. The paper pulp is soaked, chopped and colored. The kozo fiber is boiled and pounded to the desired consistency.
(3)Term (from Greek mythology) for goddesses, inspirers and promoters of poetry, art and science. I use this term to describe my personal drive for creative work, the susceptibility to certain sensual material experiences and the inclination towards certain forms and motifs.
1.1. Preparation phase as preparation for the experiment: The drive for my workshop trip focused on the following motives—checking the specialized knowledge, searching for expanded forms of drawing in the medium of papermaking, optimizing the work material and collegial exchange. There is a willingness to reconstruct forgotten traditional skills and to deal with failures and frustrations.
My destination is Munich as a cultural metropolis, where two workshops outside of academic ones
Educational institutions for papermaking and lithography are available to me. The subsequent spiral phases are divided into two work stays to deal with the relevant materials—one for the paper workshop (paper) and one for the stone printing workshop (stone).
The two artistic approaches differ in relation to the different characteristics of the material, the time it takes to achieve the result, the actions to be taken when a “mistake” is made and also in relation to my personal experience. In lithography, I can fall back on well-founded basic knowledge from my 7 years of printing experience. Papermaking is still more in the spontaneous and experimental stage for me because I have been in a learning phase here since 2022 and up to then I had only mastered the technique of sheet making. The stay in a lithography workshop took place directly after working in the paper workshop.
Paper:
After 3 long days of work with a feeling of desperation, I looked for a retreat and visited the collection of the Lenbachhaus. I saw a painting by Asger Jorn and his courage put in it. When I saw the application of paint and the combination of effects and colors, I had the a-ha experience. It gave me a sense of freedom in relation to the main creative components – drawing, color, shape. So I picked up the most obvious component of all three – the line. I began to approach the sheet of paper graphically rather than technically. I surrendered to the element of surprise in the images by no longer using the paper pulp as an effect, but as a "Pen for drawing and composing" started.
The moment of verification begins when the artist steps back from the experience to consider his results with new eyes and a fresh mind. The process is complete and mostly lies in the immediate past.
Verification can also take place in the middle of the process, by the artist using the new within the framework of the practiced “old knowledge” (body knowledge, artistic concepts, compositional principles) and checking its legitimacy.
The process of verification is a two-way process, where the new and the old check and adapt to each other. Usually, the Verification Phase occurs no later than an exhibition, where the “new work” hangs next to “an old” or someone else's work.
After compiling the drawing, the a-ha experience and the ink painting, the result of the verification phase was this:
a kind of self-portrait in 3 parts –
- drawing (thought, head),
- A-ha experience (gut feeling)
- Ink painting with muses (3) (solid ground, earth)
Stone – creative search:
In the creative process, the artistic idea served as a vision or idea of what the final artwork might be. The creative drive arises out of the knowledge about drawing, composition, form, and the possibility of freely combining these individual elements. This sophisticated artistic way of working forms the basis of my painting, from which new ideas and works constantly develop.
Parallelly to the development of an image, a technical “problem” arises: the new studio has different working materials, such as printing ink, rollers, and chemicals. In addition, the climate in the workshop is much warmer than usual, which means that the stone and the ink react differently during printing. As a result, I have to change my strategy by focusing on a large colored and 5 small black and white stones instead of many color experiments.
4th Phase – Realization -
Specifying and clarifying the solution aspect, practicing and testing the solution idea
The “illumination” according to Titze marks the “a-ha experience” with a creatively satisfactory coherence of the elements, i.e., the moment in which a solution to the artistic problem under investigation appears. In this case, the search for a balance between solid ground in the new experience and the solution to the problem that has arisen causes the aha experience.
The first analysis immediately after the a-ha experience partly takes place during the creation process. Once the element of surprise has arrived, the artistic instinct to explore further awakens, bringing the new “invention” closer to its artistic considerations and goals. The a-ha experience is transmitted more and more clearly into a visual language in which the old and the new meet. The implementation process sometimes takes months or years after the end of the a-ha experience, or becomes a permanent companion in artistic activity.
The realizations are work samples, notes, statements, or another work of art in which the new components become more and more clear.
The realization phase is often intertwined with the verification phase.
“What all new things have in common is that they arouse wonder and amazement, since they do not fit seamlessly into the patterns passed down and used to. [...] Novelty arouses curiosity, at best in the sense of a thirst for knowledge to learn more about what this new thing is, what is so new about this so-called new, and what it actually means to speak of “new”.(1)
(1) Peres, Constanze (2020) p. 9
Paper:
Paper – technical research:
In the Glockenbach paper workshop, I learned two more papermaking techniques – pouring and spraying. This creates visual effects and graphic possibilities that are still unknown to me. The new, the unknown, was the visual experience.
Curiosity came! The search for a fixed form and line led me to make many work samples with the new effects. When doing, I develop new creative reactions and new hand movements (including new body knowledge). These techniques are much more difficult for me to control compared to leaf scooping and allow for “obsessive” experimentation to develop a new pleasing aesthetic formula from the observed effects. The paper mass becomes the “problem” that requires a solution (control) to develop the intended composition.
Stone:
The limited time of the work stay and the technical problems caused by the climate led to a reduction of the possible image combinations. This created more space to use the previously made pulp paintings while printing. In that way the drawing on the lithography stone met the drawing with the paper. The drawing was embodied in the matter of the two media. Black printing ink met colorful paper pulp, which resulted in a conversation between the two art residencies.
1.2. Preparation in the work process: Upon arrival in the new workshop, the materials for the work were first prepared. These steps include the theoretical and body knowledge that gives a sense of belonging in the new place. The preparation phase builds up a “solid ground for arriving”.
Stone:
I planned small-format and large-format series of pictures from possible combinations with different stones and the corresponding motifs. The preparation includes choosing the stone size and deciding the number of stones; grinding the stone, refreshing the roller and preparing the caustic. The color is selected immediately before printing. All of these actions are part of my artistic craft and body knowledge and a “firm basis for arriving.
I work with painting and drawing, and I analyze the images through my feelings. In this case, the perception is independent of the verbalization because this only takes place afterwards. If the artistic process is viewed as a spiral, the different components such as place, material, tool, knowledge, origin, and action are the performers in this circular phenomenon.
To be able to define my process in the context of the research process, I again use visual approaches. The family constellation method seemed the most obvious to me. I created a constellation in relation to the experience.
Where am I right now? — in the verification phase
Protagonists:
— Myself
— Paper
— Stone
— line/drawing
— materiality
— Aha experience
— experiment
— Archive
— Theme of my art (Muse)
3. Paper
— a new craft, as an unexploited field of experimentation, something very delicate, something impossible to formulate, something that was always there and fueled my passion for playing with painting when I was a child
— thin kozo sheets from Dresden
— colored pulp paintings from Munich
Paper is the focus of my artistic work. It is a material that reacts strongly to water and is open-ended due to its malleability. Paper is made from fibrous materials such as plants and textile fibers. It is delicate, light, and strong at the same time. Working in the papermaking workshop is an opportunity to get closer to the properties of the material and to transform the paper while it is being made. As a result, the question came up, “What images can I create just with the paper?” The processing of paper pulp with kozo fiber (mulberry tree) and colored paper leftovers and semifinished products opens up a wide field for experiments.
This is how research into the materiality of paper began.
Conclusions:
— the protagonist, the artistic himself self, stands on its foundation. The foundation contains the knowledge I have read, specialist knowledge, work samples and my artistic approach to creative creation. Stone and library form the artistic-material foundation of my work.
— The foundation is connected and checked with the muse through the act of drawing. This process establishes the phase of the preposition.
— The A-ha experience is the goal
— The object of Myself connects to the paper through experimentation and materiality
— Experiment, paper, and materiality build a triangle that leads to the aha experience
— The drawing connects the ego with the muse, the A-ha moment and the paper
1. Drawing
— the drawing as the original attitude for thinking and self-encountering (head)
— as a component that unites all media
— A “chimera” that combines the components of lithography, paper and drawing, starting from an original need to unite different elements (where the three components meet and play with each other); the goal is the a-ha experience (gut feeling)
— the narrative picture with highly personal motifs as the building block and basis that carry me in the artistic search movement.
As the origin, I describe the motive of the traveller and his migration process. This is a mixture of the daily practice of drawing, the experiment, and my motif. The drawing stands as the head of the constellation. The line is a thought that presents an idea abstractly. Drawing lines on a sheet of paper is an encounter with oneself. The image for the experiment is the result of work in the paper and lithography workshops. It is a mixture of litho drawing and pulp drawing, which play with each other on the sheet. This work corresponds to my spiritual a-ha result, which was the reason for the trip to Munich. The bottom component is an image from the studio. There you can see the motifs that I use most often in my pictures — vessels, body details, mirrors, shadows, mysterious outlines of another object.
This original constellation of the three components corresponds to my "image in the mirror".
2. Lithography
— as basic knowledge, main craft, body knowledge, with the stone as a hard carrier material and the component of physical dynamics
— colorful lithographs from Dresden
— black grain litographies from Munich
Through my long work with lithography, this graphic medium has anchored itself as a basis in my practice. This medium is characterized by the dynamic alternation of powerful and delicate movements that converge in a rhythmic dance and integrate the creative knowledge into the body. Ultimately, with that tact that is difficult to describe, you have a quick orientation compass for what needs to be done to start the creative process. The relationship that develops with the stone as a material is reminiscent of a conversation with a “strong” opponent, but who is ready to serve if I handle him well.
The lithography workshop becomes an experimental space in which I can not only understand all the states of an image, but also play through infinite combinations of images. The printing technique is particularly suitable for printing very painterly effects on the stone in different colors and compositions.
Searching for the best combination, I try out different decision-making approaches, which evolve over the course of the printing day. The end goal is a “good” decision, even if the artwork is far from the already imagined probable outcome, and at best this combination pulls off in an edition of four prints. The decisions are made on the principle of comparing and guessing in the moment.
4. Matter – my tool when creating
5. A-ha experience – an appealing coherence in one picture, the resolution of the problem, the result of the artistic project
6. Archive – the work samples / tests, own recipe books, literature, explanations, theories, self-developed work instructions
7. Experiment
8. Muse
Further project:
Working stays in workshops with different indoor climate situations, in order to:
— gain more experience about the possible deviations within the specialist knowledge;
— explore cultural appropriation through the acquisition of foreign craft knowledge?
— develop the subject of tacit knowledge further through site-specific artistic practice
Drawing and line (realization):
The essence of the drawing lies in its usability and develops an artistic action that is redefined depending on the graphic application.
The abstract properties of the line transcend the boundaries of space, creating an intercultural and cross-technological space for exchange between the pictorial elements. Ultimately, both writing and drawing evolved from the evolution of lines. The line is diverse and at the same time embodies a personal feeling. It can be combined.
Social aspect of work in the workshop:
— the empirical interaction with the material is reminiscent of interpersonal dialogue
— Exchange with colleagues from all over the world based on the passion for the same material
— An exchange between workshops can also take place through the combination of different artistic media.
Tacit knowledge:
— anchored knowledge that allows for firm ground and stability in the experiment
— Tacit knowledge mostly arises from interaction with the material
Some points encourage further experience, and some are deeper reflections on questions
— What distinguishes creativity and art in terms of combinatorics?
— Is there cultural appropriation in the sense of handicraft?
— A multimedia A-ha experience approaches the mirror stage as the ego-former in children, according to Jaques Lacan.(1) Is this moment of illumination where the artist sees himself as a complex whole, surrounded and defined by the surrounding World? (2)
Footnotes:
(1) Lacan (1949) Das Spiegelstadium als Bildner der Ichfunktion, (Hg.) Quadriga, 1996
(2)
If I relate Lacan's theory about the image in the mirror in children, who from the 14th month see themselves as something perfect for the first time, to the social aspect of working in several workshops, the following associations arise:
Can one call the experience of this kind of interweaving of working media the mirror image of the artist?
What does the reflection look like to the artist?
When are only certain body parts visible?
When will the artist perceive themselves as more holistic?
At what point does the overall picture begin to split again, and in what way?