Lesson video

Hi, I'm Miss Blue, and I'm really excited to be learning with you today.

I hope you find our lesson as interesting as I do.

Let's get started.

The outcome of this lesson is I can experiment with reproducing and curating my own artwork.

Let's go over our key words.

Reproduction, a copy of an original artwork that allows more people to see it.

Edition, a set number of copies of an artwork, like prints or postcards, often numbered to show how many exist.

Let's start with reproducing work.

Let's have a look at this example of a postcard.

Alex says, "I made this postcard using a copy of a cyanotype print I made." Cyanotype is one of my favorite alternative photographic printing processes.

It uses sunlight to expose, and it's a great way to capture natural forms, especially in summertime.

Would you consider Alex's postcard to be a piece of art? Pause the video while you decide Whether you consider this postcard art or not, it raises an important question.

Can a reproduction still be art? Pause the video while you formulate a response.

The World Exists To Be Put On A Postcard, British Museum, 2019, featured over 300 artists' postcards from the 1960s to the present, highlighting the postcard as a legitimate art form.

Many of these works were created by artists for specific purposes, such as documenting performances or installations, and were not necessarily intended for commercial sale.

I wonder if you have any postcards at home that you've collected from museums or exhibitions.

I had the pleasure of viewing this exhibition and was amazed at the range of leading artists that were showcased, including Gilbert and George, Yoko Ono, David Hockney, and Richard Hamilton.

I love how it communicated different themes across political, social, and personal messages outside of traditional gallery spaces.

It highlighted postcards as tools for critique, humor, activism, and intimacy.

The quote, "The world exists we've put in a postcard," is from John Latham, a pioneering British conceptual artist.

He made this observation about how humans try to capture and circulate the vastness of the world in these tiny images that you can carry with you.

He wanted to challenge how knowledge is experienced and recorded, archived, and consumed.

Artists around the world reproduce their work through prints, postcards, and limited editions to reach wider audiences and explore creative ideas.

Here are some examples below.

I love the use of color and how the background changes.

It's amazing how many possibilities there are with postcards.

Some women artists used mail art to experiment and bypass the traditional gallery system, which often excluded them.

Between 1971 and 1973, Eleanor Antin sent 51 postcards of the 100 Boots project to 1,000 people in the art world.

During a two and a half year journey around California, she placed the Wellington boots in various unexpected settings and documented each scene using the postcards to share her work directly with a wider audience.

I'm quite fascinated with this movement of mail art, which is popular in the 1960s to '80s, and amazed at how the movement traveled across continents, particularly playing a role in feminism, like with Martha Wilson, an artist who used mail art networks to distribute feminist performance and conceptual work.

Another artist in Australia, Pat Larter, used mail art to subvert representations of women's sexuality, sending provocative photocopies, collages, and body-based imagery.

In Renaissance Europe, women such as Sophonisba Anguissola made prints and copies of works to circulate their art in social circles available to them.

Artists like Albrecht Durer used woodcuts and engravings to share their designs widely, making art accessible beyond wealthy patrons.

The idea of using woodcuts and engravings to print postcards is a really interesting concept.

Durer designed images that skilled block cutters carved into wood.

Ink was then applied to the raised surface and paper pressed onto the block, which produced the print.

He pushed the medium beyond bold outlines, creating fine lines, shading, and dramatic depth.

Have you ever tried wood cutting before? Perhaps you could take inspiration from this technique of block printing to create postcards.

An easy way to do this is through lino cut or even potato block printing.

Printing multiple reproductions of work can A, make art accessible to a wider audience, B, make art accessible to a smaller audience, C, make art accessible to a limited audience, or D, make art accessible to an audience of one? Pause the while you decide on the correct answer.

If you said A, you would be correct.

Printing multiple reproductions of work can make art accessible to a wider audience.

In the 19th century, lithography allowed posters and prints to spread images cheaply, influencing public culture and advertising.

In the 20th century, pop artists, such as Corita Kent and Andy Warhol, embraced mass produced prints to challenge ideas of originality and comment on consumer society.

In Japan, ukiyo-e wood block prints by artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige were mass produced, allowing images of landscapes, theater, and everyday life to reach a wide audience.

Kitagawa Utamaro, a female-led print school, produced ukiyo-e prints of daily life and fashion, reaching broad audiences.

In West Africa, contemporary artists, like Thandiwe Muriu, sometimes adapt traditional textile and graphic patterns into limited edition prints and posters, blending heritage with modern art forms. These reproductions allow the work to be accessible beyond local communities, reaching international audiences while celebrating symbols and patterns linked to cultural identity.

I find the idea of reproduction in arts as a whole, quite compelling.

If you look back far enough, a lot of artists and their designs could be described as reproduced ideas.

For example, in my own design research of African textiles, I discovered this type of African wax print in the photograph is known as Dutch wax print, and was originally designed by the Dutch as a replica of Indonesian boutique.

The Dutch then tried to sell the fabric back to Indonesia, but that market did not take, and so they sold to West Africa who has since adopted and customized it into their culture.

The choices artists make in reproducing their work reflect both creative intention and practical considerations.

Exploring and experimenting of these techniques reveals how reproductions can transform the meaning, availability, and cultural impact of art.

It's interesting how different types of artists might approach how they reproduce their work.

For example, a sculptor might reproduce using bronze casts to ensure each piece feels rare and valuable.

A photographer might experiment with the different types of papers or printing techniques to emphasize the mood of the work.

An artist using an organic technique, such as block printing or screen printing, might give their work more meaning than simply printing it onto card.

In your own work, you can think about this.

Sometimes the reproduction of the work becomes the artist's signature.

This is the case for Andy Warhol's silk screening method.

It was partly about making the art reproducible on a larger scale, but became a signature aesthetic choice.

Pause the video while you have a think about your approach for reproducing your work might be Your task now is to select an original design and reproduce it to make postcards or a small number of limited edition prints.

You could scan or photograph your artwork, use a printer or photocopier to make multiple reproductions.

Use a printing method to make reproduction.

Pause the video while you work on this task.

Here are some examples below of the many possible outcomes.

This person has used a screen printing method, which is a great and fun way of creating reproductions of one design.

It's also a great way to change the color and edit the design slightly each time if you wish.

Now, let's have a look at curatorial experiments.

A curatorial experiment explores not just which artworks are shown, but how they are arranged, displayed, and framed, shaping the way audiences experience them.

This is a great example on the left of how a traditional building has been transformed to reflect the theme of the exhibition.

It transports the audience or the subject of the exhibition through the projected images.

Let's decide if this statement is true or false.

Creating exhibitions always has to be done in the same way.

Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false.

If you said false, you would be correct.

Why? Because curating exhibitions does not have to be done in the same way.

Curators can often experiment with how artworks are arranged, displayed, and interpreted, creating different experiences for audiences.

Curation can highlight connections between different works, emphasize certain ideas or themes, and challenge traditional ways of presenting art.

By doing so, it encourages viewers to think critically, engage more deeply, and see familiar subjects in new and thought provoking ways.

Curators often group works around a central idea, such as identity, memory, migration, or environmental change.

In my own exhibitions, I place my textiles exploring my Caribbean heritage next to sound recordings or oral histories to reinforce the theme of cultural memory, showing how different media can express the same idea.

Some curators focus on chronology and process.

They might arrange the works chronologically to emphasize the artistic evolution or give context historically.

For example, displaying early sketches by the artist first and then finished pieces at the end of the exhibition to show a development of concept and technique.

This encourages viewers to see the progression of ideas.

In addition to his artistic practice, Noah Davis, who was an African American artist, was involved in curatorial activities.

He co-founded the Underground Museum with his wife, Karen Davis in 2012.

The museum was established in a storefront and a neighborhood of Los Angeles aiming to provide access to art for communities that were often excluded from mainstream art institutions.

I saw Noah Davis's exhibition at the Barbican recently.

His artistic and social practice has been a big inspiration to my own work and creative journey.

Rasheed Araeen is a Pakistani-born artist and curator who worked mainly in the UK.

He challenged the art world there to include voices that often had been ignored, especially artists from African, Caribbean, and Asian backgrounds.

He used exhibitions not just to show art, but to make a statement about fairness, representation, and modernism.

That's a great example of using art in more ways than one as a form of storytelling, making clear impact in your community.

Amelia Silver is a curator and disability advocate.

She focuses on making museums more inclusive and accessible, highlighting disabled voices and experiences.

Her work emphasizes improving representation and accessibility in museums, informed by her own experiences and commitment to challenging societal perceptions of disability.

Her projects like, Dressing Disability Comes to Life, explore identity, self-expression, and representation through collaborative exhibitions and creative storytelling.

This is a great example of transforming your own personal challenges into something bigger than yourself.

I love when artist and curators are able to tell their story and the story of their wider community through their artwork.

It's always interesting how what we say through art funnels down into society and really does make an impact and gets people thinking about different perspectives.

Kinnari Saraiya is a London-based Indian curator and artist whose work is highly experimental.

She often challenges traditional ways of showing art and creates exhibitions that explore connections between social, cultural, and ecological ideas.

Her projects go beyond simply displaying artworks, offering immersive and interactive experiences that encourage audiences to think differently about the role of art.

Which of the following statements about Noah Davis and the Underground Museum is correct? A, Noah Davis was a British artist who founded the Underground Museum in New York.

B, Noah Davis, an African American artist, co-founded the Underground Museum with his wife, Karen Davis in 2012.

C, the Underground Museum was created to display only contemporary European art.

D, Noah Davis founded the Underground Museum as a private studio for his own artwork? Pause the video here while you decide on the correct answer.

If you said B, you'd be correct.

Noah Davis was in fact an African American artist who co-founded the Underground Museum with his wife, Karen Davis in 2012.

Curators and artists might use reproductions, like prints or postcards, to experiment with how art is displayed and experienced.

By arranging or sharing multiple copies, highlighting themes, or creating interactive displays, they can make art exhibitions more accessible, engaging, and thought provoking.

Your task now is to plan an experimental display of your own prints or postcards that changes how viewers experience your art.

You could include interactive elements, like letting viewers handle or move the pieces.

Think about alternative spaces for showing your work, not just walls, but tables, windows, or even outdoor areas.

Perhaps if your work was surrounding natural forms, you could showcase it outdoors to really bring the audience inside your subject area.

Pause the video while you work on this task.

Here's one example which reads, "I posted my postcards to friends, family, and the community as a way of experimenting with how my art was seen and experienced." That's a great idea to get feedback and really see how your art has impacted the audience.

The top example reads, "I displayed my postcards in the school library to experiment how arranging them in a real, physical space could change the way people saw and interacted with my art." And this is a really interesting way of displaying your work in a familiar space, transforming it into something new.

The second example reads, "I shared my postcards online, through social media and email, as a way of experimenting with how my art could reach and be experienced by a wider audience." This is another great example of creating a wider impact and a great way to gather feedback from multiple people from different backgrounds.

To summarize, artists can reproduce their work through prints, postcards, and limited edition prints.

There are many examples of artists reproducing their work in different ways and across different times and places.

A curatorial experiment explores not just which artworks are shown, but how they are arranged, displayed, and framed.

Curators and artists might ease reproductions to experiment with how art is displayed and experienced.

Thank you so much for listening and paying attention in this lesson.

I hope you had fun and learned something new along the way.

See you next time.