ARTIST DIARY: Summer Riso Residency
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Illustrator and teacher Sadie St Hilaire took part in RRP's Summer Riso Residency 6-10 Aug and shares her photo diary below.
This summer I took part in a week long summer Risograph residency at Rabbits Road Press alongside fifteen other participants. We all had varied experience and practices, but came together to use the Riso facilities at Rabbits Road Press to complete our personal projects; during the week we saw some beautiful zines, prints and experiments being created.
Day 1
Some participants had never used a Risograph machine before and used the residency week to experiment with how to incorporate the process into their existing artistic practice. Others who were more familiar with the medium used the time to try new techniques or complete a project.
Induction Prints
Day 2
“I’m excited to spend the week working and completing one project.”
Working on contrast and aligment
Day 3
There have been so many exciting experiments happening at the press. Some participants have tried scanning physical objects like drinks cans and plants, experimenting with printing on different materials and trying out new mediums like collage and graphite.
Experiments in progress!
“It’s been nice to find out about something really local to me! There’s been a really nice atmosphere. I’ve been learning how the different colours and tones interact with each other. ”
Above: Testing layering methods -From coloured pencil drawing, to SEPARATING layers on the light-box, to the final riso print. This print was inspired by a scene noticed on the way to Rabbits Road PRESS.
Day 4
“I’ve enjoyed the atmosphere and feeling productive, it’s been nice to be around other people working creatively.”
Day 5
Happy faces
Day 6
On our last day, some of the group got together to have a crit, to talk about how the week went and how our printed media turned out. It was nice to hear how each participant had approached the week and what their intentions were. Each person had a unique approach which could be seen in the end products (or product in progress!) One nearly universal thought that was voiced, was that they wished they came with more prepared images, so they could get to printing straight away!
“This week has been very well run, thank you. There’s been a good amount of people and I’ve enjoyed working in a friendly environment.”
Thank you so much to everyone who joined us during the residency. Your creativity, energy and passion was infectious, and made for a productive week. The work produced was so varied and exciting!