An Interview With Sarah Nicole Phillips

1. Where are you from?

SNP: I am from Toronto, Ontario. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York.

SNP: I started printmaking while studying for my undergraduate in Visual Studies at the University of Toronto. I was hired by an artist to assist her in making enormous monoprints using the studio's 6-foot glass-topped inking table as a plate. The studio was small so we had to hang the 8-foot long prints on the overhead florescent lights. I was immediately enamored by the culture of printmaking and took all the printmaking classes that were offered at the school. I was lucky to have George Hawken as a teacher who expected conceptually dense work, promoted experimental work and demanded impeccable technique.

SNP: Intaglio is my favorite, though I enjoy almost all forms, including potato prints and thumb- prints.

SNP: I am very fortunate to be participating in a one-year artist residency at the Lower East Side Printshop in New York City, which means I have free studio access 24/7. Working at the studio has been such a rewarding experience. I have met and worked alongside many talented artists and have access to wonderful equipment. I am able to spend about 15 hours per week at the printshop. I also have a mini printmaking studio at my home called "The World is Flat" where I make press-less prints with non-toxic materials such as water-based inks.

SNP: Some of my prints start off as spontaneous ideas I have while riding on the subway or eating breakfast. Those images tend to be lighthearted, pun-like visual quotations. Just as many of the images come from a longer process of consideration and exploration of a specific topic or idea. Often I let the process dictate how the final image will actually look, embracing the idiosyncratic nature of how various materials react with each other.

SNP: I do not like the toxicity of so many of the traditional printmaking materials such as the inks, solvents, acids and grounds for etching. Fortunately there are many alternatives being made available at an increasing good quality.

SNP: I have jokingly referred to myself as a free-range printmaker because I don't like to be confined to the strict rules of the printmaking tradition. Having said that, I realize that in some ways I am quite traditional. For instance, I always print in edition and strike my plates when the edition is complete. While working on my MFA at Brooklyn College I was a TA (Teaching Assistant) for three semesters. One of the students called the etching class "The Sarah Phillips School for Alternative Printmaking" after I encouraged the students to move away from the traditional methods of making marks in the plates.

SNP: Besides my residency at the Lower Eastside Printshop I also am affiliated with International Print Center New York, a not-for profit devoted to the promotion and appreciation of fine-art printmaking. I participated in an internship there and since then have worked there when help is needed.

SNP:I consider myself an interdisciplinary artist and will use whatever media I need to "solve" an artistic problem. Recently I have been working with functioning photovoltaic solar cells, imbedding them into images and spinning small motors.