The Process of Printing with Ashley Schick

by Jonathan Williams
 After receiving the distinction of becoming one of The Creatives Project's resident Artists-in-Studio for 2012, Atlanta printmaker Ashley L. Schick is once again campaigning for votes. With one of her prints ("Return the Gesture") being chosen as one of 20 finalists for Akua's Fade to Black Small Print Competition, she could be representing TCP in a big way, which would obviously make us quite proud. But that's only one of the many projects this SCAD-Atlanta graduate has going on right now. After you go vote for her print (voting ends at 2 p.m. April 30), you can read this interview she did with The Creative Process. But GO VOTE FIRST.

Photography by: Neda Abghari

How did you get involved with The Creatives Project and how has it benefited you as an artist?

I heard about it from a friend who's an artist and it sounded like a really great opportunity. I like working with students and the opportunity to have studio space at the Goat Farm sounded awesome. I graduated in June, so I lost my studio space at school. I applied and was lucky enough to be selected. I've been able to work at the Goat Farm and meet the people there and I've also been able to have a mentorship with the One Love Generation, which has been phenomenal. To be able to spend time with the high school students and see where they are on their artistic paths and be a role model for them has been really rewarding.

Considering that you teach and create, it sounds like your TCP studio space almost doubles as a classroom.

We did a studio class with the students. I'm a printmaker by training and printmaking is a very equipment intensive process. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a little press from a friend and I've been able to use water soluble ink, so it's not a process that uses chemicals or acids or anything. I demonstrated that process to the One Love Generation class. But for myself, I use the space as an artist studio.

You also work with accomplished sculptor Brian Dettmer. Tell me a little bit about that.

I am his studio assistant. I applied to be his studio assistant through the Working Artists Project, which is through MOCA GA [the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia]. They pay for the artists who win the Working Artists Project grants to have a studio assistant, so I got that opportunity. Then we burned through the hours that MOCA GA would fund very quickly because we did tons of projects. Then he hired me as his assistant independently. It's been really great. He's been a great mentor, directed me to different show opportunities and I've gotten to meet different people in the community through being his assitant. Just seeing how a working artist structures his studio time, press and publicity and even archiving his images and files has been a great learning experience.

Also, in the meantime, two of my classmates and friends from grad school, Laura Cleary and Shaun McCallum, and I have purchased a printmaking press and are starting our own professional print shop, Straw Hat Press. We're in talks with the Goat Farm to have space there and I probably wouldn't have gone to the Goat Farm without the TCP opportunity and making friends with everyone there. We'll also be demonstrating some intaglio printmaking from 1-4 p.m. in the Wieland Pavilion Lobby of the High Museum during the Print Fair, May 12th and 13th.

Goat Farm inspired paper cuts from the "On The Farm" series

Tell me a little more about the Akua contest.

I've been making these little prints in my TCP Goat Farm studio and using these non-toxic and low toxic inks. They had a call for works for small prints and there's a contest related to it where if you're chosen as a finalist your piece can be voted to be first, second or third place to get materials and a workshop for free. I was selected as one of the 20 finalists and during the month of April you can vote for my piece on their website.

Do you have any other creative projects in the works right now?

The print shop is taking up a lot of time. Another thing that lead us to starting the print shop, besides getting the press, was I've been able to work on this collaboration with Kiki Smith and Valerie Hammond. They're doing a print publishing collaboration, among other things, so I get to work as a printmaking assistant/master printer role for these print projects.

Justin Rabideau's creative process.

With his current show Waste Not, The Creatives Project Artist-in-Resident Justin Rabideau uses discarded wood and other items from home renovations to create sculptural works that resemble warped snow sleds, twisted railroad tracks and other mangled forms of metamorphosis. Showing at the Barbara Archer Gallery with the paintings of James Bridges through March 24, the show is a look at transitioning from one phase to another, with the found materials themselves inspiring their own backstory. As Rabideau prepares for his own transition from this show to his next projects, he talks to The Creative Process about his inspirations for this show and other upcoming events.

image courtesy of Romy Maloon & Creative Loafing Atlanta

Your work overall seems to often deal with themes of metamorphosis and transitions. Much of the work from this particular show has elements of things like bridges or, from my perspective at least, things like roller coaster or railroad tracks. When you were assembling this body of work for this show, were those subjects on your mind?

Metamorphosis and transition are definitely driving themes in my work. I like to think of an object or material as having a life. There is a past, present and future associated there. We imprint our lives onto the objects and materials that surround us. These materials change as we do; they develop their own languages, characters and histories. I try to tap into these ideas as I create my work. We all carry around our own life history with us, where you may see a bridge or railroad tracks I see the references to dilapidated houses or the way in which wood buckles and morphs with exposure to age, weather, time.

The idea of using discarded and found objects is a folk art tradition. Who are some artists, visual or otherwise, who have used similar materials, techniques or ideas that may have informed what you are doing now?

It would depend on what you mean by a “folk art tradition.” There are many artists out there that use found materials to create. I'm not certain it is purely a folk art tradition, but I do love and respect many folk artists. Robert Rauschenberg, Rachel Whiteread, Ai Weiwei, Martin Puryear, Duchamp, Sarah Sze and the Gee's Bend Quilters have all been influential artists for me.

You’re originally from Upstate New York and recently moved to Atlanta. What brought you to Atlanta and how have these different environments influenced your recent work?

I grew up in Upstate New York in a very rural town. My natural surroundings have always been very influential in my work. I suppose that I am always trying to connect myself to the environment that I am in. I actually came here from south Florida for work. In each environment that I have lived in I incorporate certain aspects of those places. In New York it was rocks and wood, Athens was Georgia clay and pecans, Florida was palm fronds and ocean and Atlanta has been the use of salvaged wood from the homes of the city. I reach out to these materials to tell a story of my relationship to the landscape and the environment that I am in.  

Your work was featured in TCP’s The Second Coming event at the Goat Farm and you are also one of TCP's resident Artists-in-Studio. What exactly does that mean and how has it affected your creative process?

Being with The Creatives Project has been an enormous opportunity for me. As a resident Artist-in-Studio I have been given the chance to create in a dedicated studio space - something that I haven't had in years. The process of creating my work involves power tools and equipment, space and time. Through the residency I have been able to create an entire new body of work in a dedicated workspace. My thanks go out to TCP and all those that support the programming. It truly has been an incredible opportunity.   

This show closes this weekend. What other projects are you working on and when/where will people be able to see them?

Currently I am working on a huge project for the Wonderglo fundraiser that will be happening on March 24. I am creating a sculptural table to seat approximately 250 people for the event. The table is created from salvaged wood and is a unique and custom piece of interactive sculpture. Also I will be installing a solo show, What Remains Remembers, in Florida that will be up from May 15 to September 15 at Palm Beach State College. I will also be leading a workshop in conjunction to this exhibit for the students there in September. I am also working on two collaborative works with some Atlanta artists that I hope will be happening this summer.

The first of many tales.

A few years ago, some girl named Neda Abghari contacted me about some sort of creative project she was working on. It involved her taking pictures of various local artists and musicians, posting these photo sessions online with accompanying interviews and eventually putting out some sort of collected volume of her portraiture documentation of Atlanta’s creative scene.

So why was she calling me? I assumed it was because I had been covering Atlanta’s art scene for a few years for publications such as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, accessAtlanta, Creative Loafing, Stomp and Stammer and others. But she wasn’t looking for press about her project (at least not from me). Instead, she was familiar with my writing and wanted me to be involved with her creative process by interviewing the subjects of her photo shoots. I was impressed with her work, which brought the works of each artist to life through highly stylized and personalized photo sessions. And when I found out my first interviewee would be Charlie Owens, whose wide-eyed comic book-like beauties I had seen around town, I agreed to be involved. (It didn’t hurt that the pictures featured Charlie and a few scantily clad tattooed girls in a grimy bathroom.)

Following the Owens article, I did a little bit of additional writing for what was then known as the Atlanta Creatives Project. After interviewing goofball comic artist Josh Latta, I didn’t hear from Neda for a while, aside from a few emails about upcoming art shows and, later, her new plans for the project.

When the project resurfaced a year ago with  Jung at HeArt,
the debut benefit for its Creative Community Housing Project featuring works by renowned local artists Fahamu Pecou, Bethany Marchman and that girl named Neda, it was clear things had come a long way since I had last been part of The Creatives Project. While her own creative energy was still at the heart of TCP, it was no longer simply an outlet for spreading awareness of local artists through her own photography. Instead, it was a way to not only garner attention for rising talents, but also foster those talents with big-name sponsors, collaborative partnerships and events like Jung at HeArt, where people can enjoy dancing to local DJs, taking in a myriad of artistic styles and help support a creative cause.

Since that event, TCP has made tremendous progress in its art outreach programs. From organizing events like Jung at HeArt to being named as the official nonprofit partner for the Atlanta Arts Festival last September, TCP reached hundreds of artists, performers, fans and supporters in 2011. In addition to placing its first six artists-in-residency into studio spaces, TCP further helped enrich the lives of young artists with programs such as a citywide arts supply drive, which has helped greatly in the education of its artists.

As the year came to a close, TCP held another successful benefit and exhibition at the Goat Farm in October called The Second Coming, which featured works by the likes of TindelMichi, Shana Robbins and Corina Sephora Mensoff in the main gallery and a showcase of its artists-in-studio residents such as Marcy Starz, Brandon Sadler and Jerushia Graham in the side gallery. The celebration also included a special collaborative musical performance featuring members of Jack of Hearts and Bosco, as well as violinist Lindsay Fisher.

It was also around this time that I became part of the creative process once again, plotting with Neda about how my own creative talents could help inform others about this growing project. Considering the talent already involved with TCP, as well as the caliber of events it had recently hosted (many of which included free beer, booze and food from restaurants and sponsors that believe in the cause), I was honored to be back in the fold.

Which brings us to my own Creative Process. Well, I can’t really claim it as my own since there will be so many other people involved with it. But here we are with the first edition of The Creative Process, my column for The Creatives Project where I will let the world know about TCP’s resident artists, mentorship programs, art shows and, of course, parties and other events that bring it all together in fun ways.

Rather than bore you with a bunch of blah, blah, blah about what TCP has planned for 2012 (don’t worry, we’ll get to all that soon enough), I’m really just here to let you know I’m here. TCP has carried the momentum of 2011 into 2012 and somewhere along the way I was swept back into the mix to help carry it forward. And I’m looking forward to being the voice of TCP and The Creative Process of everyone involved.

Stay tuned.