Alan Kitching Talk Review

As far as the Alan's talk went it was fascinating! The work in the modest exhibition was incredibly inspiring, really stretching the limits of the letterpress for a contemporary audience...anyone saying letterpress is dead obviously has hasn't seen his work! In fact its far more alive than about 90% of all digital work i see for sure. Of course, to deny digital advances and practicalities is rather backward, however the recent work of Kitching often involves a pressed original that is scanned into the computer to take full advantage of reproduction and the transference of information.

These pics were taken in a hurry, in poor lighting, behind glass so they don't come anywhere near to doing his work justice but it gives you a flavour nevertheless...



This print was scanned in after pressing and digitally printed on canvas...however Alan admits that the colour intensity was lacking so he had to re-paint the black areas to recapture its impact...digital has it's limitations too...



Using combinations of inks in one pressing...



One of my favourites, but the photo is a poor substitute for reality...



Work for a restaurant menu (extract)...




It seems while digital technology has opened wonderful possibilities to contemporary design it should be in addition to, rather than totally replacing, the skills and knowledge base accumulated over the past few hundred years. I can't help referring to the 'Grand Designs' programme on Channel 4 last week, a couple were restoring the remains of half a castle (...basically a ruin). They could have restored it to it's true form, or they could have knocked it flat and built something entirely new....but skillfully managed to combine old features with uber modern ones in such a way that made the resulting construction truly remarkable.

A far as my project is concern however, I've hit a bit of a bump. At the talk I met up with Rob and Laura who are keen to involve my with voluntary work with the library, more on this at the Monday meeting at 6pm (Might possibly need to email Laura when I'm free so bear this in mind (lauranewport@stbridefoundation.org) However I also managed to speak with Catherine (also tutor at CSM) who informed me that the exhibition space at st bride's is booked all summer. Plus she was thinking of doing something along similar lines but the type conference (May next year) is ALSO along similar lines so she's deferred it till May. Coincidence eh?

Anyhow, Catherine was really interested in the issue my exhibition circulated round, particularly the point of how students see the library and how to convince them to value the resource more. She also mentioned that there might not have been enough time to organise an exhibition in the time allotted, trying to get the work together in this time, plus insurance...it's a lot of hassle and Andy warned me not to get too caught up in curating while not producing anything myself.

Back to square one this may be, however barriers only make for a better project (as long as you don't get lazy Kim!) and I'm still incredibly interested in the ethos of the idea and can't wait to see where it leads me next. All ideas welcome!