Interview: Julia Hendrickson on the Print Perspective

Kansas City-based artist and writer Matt Kuhlman interviewed me this summer for a printmaking blog called the Print Perspective that he's starting as part of his graduate studies. The site's pretty minimal so far, but he's got a lot of pieces planned (a write-up on Steve Walters' Screwball Press in Chicago is next). It's pretty neat that I'm his first subject.

Excerpts below:

I gathered a strong sense of surrealism from her work, but not in the typical means used by Dali and Magritte.  She creates such a tight focus on these small objects the viewer’s perspective shrinks down to that scale and causes them to ponder the importance of the objects. [...] Just about everything she makes is very cohesive [...] yet also very simply done as if it took almost no effort to get all the pieces to fall into place. [...]

It is truly rare to meet such a young artist that has accomplished so much and still has plenty of potential to spare.  She even understands the importance of balancing artistic ambitions with realistic needs.  “I’ve also been focusing a lot on other things lately, like cooking and reading and writing,” she told me on her back porch overlooking the picturesque garden below and a patchwork of rooftops fading into the distance.   She seems to know that the best results are achieved by combining several interests into a healthy balance of thought and action.  My advice would be to start paying attention to her now, because at the rate she’s going you might not be able to afford her work ten years from now."

Dang! Pressure's on! You can read the full text here. Our apartment looks much nicer now, artwork on the walls, even (perhaps I'll post some photos when I'm finished hanging the space). Yet, this all reminds me that I need to get/keep/stay crackin'.

Graduate school thoughts have been at the forefront of my mind and the tip of my scribbling fingers these days, but I'm also working on a few new projects, including: the exhibition of some new/ old work at Marwen's Art Fair 2010 (opening Nov. 5th); an upcoming collaborative screenprint (trillium and cotton blooms) with my southern belle, E. Stoutamire from Madison; a hopeful winter WWOOFing trip to Costa Rica; and a handful of silly, comic drawings for a new, secret, yet-to-be named zine with some feminist lady friends, which I can't wait to finish up and share.

Photograph taken by Matt Kuhlman (2010).