Reflections with: Alice

The bridge between idea and material

Reflections is a quarterly series of interviews in which we look back with a Make adviser specializing in metal, glass, graphics, or CAD/CAM. We review special projects, gain deeper insight into specific techniques, and learn more about what advisers truly value in the creative process. Next up: Alice Schiavone, Graphics Adviser. 

Written by: Pleuni van Keulen 
Photography: Ruud Hermans, Pleuni van Keulen

Make it happen
Some artists take their explorative mind to Make to research and figure out along the way. Others have a very clear idea of their end result. Spoiler: it almost never goes for 100% in that direction, according to Alice. “I like both approaches, to be honest. In the end, I’m here to facilitate, to help make it happen.” If something’s never been done, there can be quite the bridge between an idea and the material. Alice: “We almost never say something is impossible. We’re just going to try and take it from there. Sometimes you have to wait for the result and then reflect. Because maybe you think you’re doing everything right and then something unexpected happens. And that’s okay.”

Added value as criterion 
Make is not a production facility and doesn’t intend to be one. So, what are the criteria to work here then? Alice: “It’s hard to pinpoint it exactly and we are working on making it clearer. People choose Make because they know they need to do the work themselves. Sometimes people come to us because there’s research behind their work, there’s substance to it, or they have a specific technical approach. That’s added value to a project and to us. Besides that, we are also here because you cannot do this stuff at home, or only partially. I think it is beautiful that people can trust and deliver their projects to us. And if we reject a proposal, this sometimes means someone cannot make their project. So, we look very carefully at the project proposals to see what’s there.” 

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Knowledge exchange 
Exchanging knowledge with artists is an interesting part of Alice’s role – and of the other Make advisers. A good example of this is Gladys Zeevaarders who had a very clear idea in mind. Alice explains: “Gladys wanted to print with A0 Toyobo plates with 4 colours on very thin and delicate Japanese paper.” With Toyobo printing you expose images onto a light-sensitive plate which you can print – after development and inking of the plate. Alice: “So, she came with these huge prepared plates. This size and the paper were both new to me. Normal etching paper is like 300 grams, this was 40. To print on this paper 4 times with 4 colours … I really thought the paper was just going to give up, and it worked! I was really impressed, because you have to make it wet and it’s just so delicate. It’s crazy! But it could hold a lot. So, in the end a lot is possible. And if you plan it well, you can make it work. Ofcourse, having some experience helps.” 

Size up! 
It wasn’t just Gladys with her A0 prints who sized up. In fact, lots of big prints were made over the last few months. Limburg, Groningen, Belgium – people have a way of finding Make. Alice: “Herman Knottnerus came from Groningen with some extra large zinc plates he had prepared with dry point. We were able to move the big plates underneath the press, without getting a sort of cutting line in between parts. That was unexpected.” Besides these projects, people also finally got to use the new big screen printer. Alice: “Julius Thissen came to us very well prepared, with super detailed photos he wanted to screenprint on fabric. Some technical challenges arose, because the ink dried very fast and clogged the screen when pulling the print by hand on the big textile table. So, we added water to make the ink thinner and moved to the bigger screen printing table, that provided more pressure. That did the job and the end results were super nice.” Having the big screen printing table doesn’t necessarily mean that people have to use its full capacity, says Alice. It’s also used for smaller screens.

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Lithography autonomy 
So, it’s not all about big, bigger, biggest. Take Noa Mac Donald for instance. After a 60-day working period she had become quite the expert in a smaller sized lithography, creating prints for an animation video. Alice: “Lithography is not used a lot. So, I really like it that someone can be super autonomous with it, like Noa. It takes a lot of time and the process is very precise. You can be experimental with it, but you first need to go through all the steps – a very specific process. Noa is really great at it, so we invited her to demonstrate her skills and work on the extra large litho press at DDW.”

Screen printing on glass 
Something that’s happening more frequently is screen printing on glass, a nice crossover between 2 techniques at Make. Alice: “It’s quite special that you can just do this all inhouse, and we have a high demand for it at the moment. It’s always exciting when we are waiting for the pieces to be fired. Sometimes we don’t know what’s going to happen, sometimes it works out well. For the artists it’s research, but also for us – through all these projects we learn a lot.” 

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Crossover with CAD/CAM 
Working with glass is not the only crossover happening at the moment. Nowadays, Make has a CAD/CAM lab ready for all your computer aided designing and manufacturing. That opens up new crossovers. Alice: “Samantha Thole came in with a clear idea on what she wanted. But she also never did it before, nor did I. She wanted to use zinc or copper plates to photo etch an image and then cut them in a very specific shape. But how do you do that?” After teaming up with advisers Bo (CAD/CAM) and Chad (Graphics), they figured it out together. “There are a number of ways, and indeed you can cut the zinc plates using CNC milling. We tried this on the copper plates first, but that didn’t work. So, now we know! Projects like these are setting some examples for the future. So, I think it’s great that artists like Samantha have the curiosity to come try this with us and see what works and what doesn’t.”