Bill Goldston: “I would love to draw on stones…. Any idea where I can find some? Seriously, I don’t think a sheet of mylar can replace the surface of a stone. Do you? I studied litho at Tyler and was the lithography T.A. at Yale. I know how to process a stone. What kind of paper do you use? What kind of press do you have out there? I recently bought a small etching press and have been printing my own monotypes.”
These are snip-its of a conversation between Lisa Yuskavage and me almost 20 years ago. Challenging, provocative, interesting? Yes, and more. She has more determination than most and studies intensely all elements of printmaking. Her manipulation of modern techniques including digital technologies parallels that of professionally trained technicians. What she doesn’t know she simply teaches herself through practical application of the technique. Practice makes perfect in other words.
Lisa, please tell us about your approach to printmaking and how it has shaped your thinking in your art?
Lisa Yuskavage: My introduction to printmaking came as a young art student. I always looked at art in a completely non-hierarchical way. I had the habit of writing down the medium of any work that I found inspirational and visually exciting. Often the words I was writing in my notebooks were: monotype, lithograph, drypoint, etching etc. but didn’t know what it meant. So I set out to learn these mediums to see if they innately brought something out for my work by the nature of the process. In fact, I realized some of my best breakthroughs as a young person via monotype and lithography.