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Hereford College of Arts   2006/2007

Penny Hallas

The exciting thing about the AA2A residency was plunging into techniques and processes of which I'd had little experience, putting aside familiar skills and seeing what came out of it.

Although I had a plan of action at the start, I found I was drawn in many different directions as I tried out new ideas and materials. It was uncomfortable and frustrating at times, as I went down dead-ends, or got lost, or found that I should have gone a completely different way to get the effect I'd imagined. As a painter, the most difficult thing for me in printmaking was not having the immediate feedback/reward of a mark or gesture, and having to wait and plan. My inexperience meant that often the work wasn't what I'd imagined.

Finally I found it most satisfying to play with combining printmaking techniques with drawing and painting, where the print could stand as itself, or could be a base from which to explore the many other pieces of work it could be or become. Through most of the images, whether they were part of my initial plan, or grew out of the process, there are recurring themes and motifs: mouths, eyes, drapes, weaponry, birds, insects and above all the head and its manifold nature. It is a container for everything that defines humanity: a barrier between the outside and the inside but also a continually metamorphosing site of interaction between the two. It has its objective life as an organic thing in the natural world; but it also has that quality of an uncapturable immaterial entity in a constant state of process.

Heartfelt thanks to Hereford College of Art, especially to Roger for making me welcome in the workshop, tolerating my ignorance and always being ready to share his knowledge and expertise.