Betsy Lohrer Hall is an artist who’s currently in printmaking residence program at Angels Gate. She is such a sweet person and kind enough to let me, Marshall and our other intern, Jorge Rodriguez, make prints and a mess at her studio.
How did you become an artist?
I’ve always enjoyed making things. I’m interested in writing, sociology and Eastern philosophy too, but the process of bringing ideas into physical form is something I’m passionate about. It’s challenging and rewarding– a lot of hard work, but well worth it. And, I don’t see art making as separate from these other things, really, but interconnected with them, each informing the other.
What is it like being an artist?
It’s study, practice and learning from others. Well, and being aware of what’s going on around and within me. If I am not aware, I don’t have much to say. When I am not making things, I do a lot of noticing, collecting and arranging. These are ways for me to process and respond to my daily experience of living. I’ve learned a lot from other artists, not just about technique and where to get certain supplies, but about developing and nurturing ideas, staying true to myself despite resistance and practical things like navigating the challenges of showing and selling work. That’s one of the reasons Angels Gate Cultural Center is such a great place – with artists at all different stages of their careers, we can all learn from one another.
Have you been loyal to printmaking or have you tried any other art forms/media?
I actually work in a variety of media. I’ll work with one medium for a time, and then change when I get restless or just need a fresh perspective. I guess I like the challenge that comes with the change. It keeps me from getting too tight in any one medium. Usually when I change or try a new medium, I am attempting something I haven’t done before. I end up smiling to myself though, when the works end up looking like “mine†no matter how far afield I think I have gone.
What is the beauty of printmaking?
I like the surprise of the first print. With the collographs I am working on now, as with some of the other printmaking techniques, the image you work with is reversed when it becomes a print. I enjoy this flip. Also, printmaking can be very social, which is a nice contrast to the more solitary practice of painting.
Can you tell me about printmaking process?
There are several printmaking processes. To describe them all would be pretty technical and maybe a bit hard to follow, unless I could show you, too. What I am currently exploring is the collograph. Basically I’m using everyday objects – flattened boxes from oatmeal, cereal, toothpaste, cat food… and crumpled bags – to make prints. Without going into too much detail, I choose the material I am going to print, seal the surface, apply thick, oily ink, and with the pressure of a hand-cranked press, the image is transferred to a sheet of thick printmaking paper. It’s very immediate. I like it a lot. And while I didn’t set out to make prints that have a dialogue with other of my works, these definitely do.
Can you make a print with any three dimensional object?
Well, if something is thin enough to fit under the roller of the press, and firm enough not to squish too much under the pressure, and has a surface that will accept ink, then I suppose you can make a print of it. If you think of making rubbings as a form of press-less printmaking, you could, I suppose, make a rubbing of the whole Vincent Thomas Bridge if you wanted to (if you could reach each portion of it). That would be pretty great …
Did you have any difficulties working with printmaking?
Years ago, I found printmaking to be very frustrating because I didn’t feel I had enough control over the images I was making. Then I realized that I could work with the process instead of trying to fight it – let the process itself play a role in how the images turn out. I’m sure if I invested the time I could make a print exactly how I originally envisioned it, but I like collaborating with the printmaking methods. The images become a mixture of intention and randomness.
What kind of subject matter are you dealing with in your work?
Sometimes my work is abstract, so you could say that the subject matter is the color and the pattern, the composition and the process. Other times I use everyday objects – objects representing themselves and objects as metaphor. The content or meaning of the work varies depending on the project I’m working on. If I had to sum it up, much of my work involves time, process, and response to context. I am interested in negative spaces, too – there’s richness in emptiness and the spaces between.
What are the things you’ve addressed in your recent projects?
Like our distance from the natural world, the role symbols play in our contemporary lives, the human conflict over whose understanding of God is the right one, a breakdown of communication, children killed in the Iraq war, litter on the beach and what that says about our culture, the interaction of organic and machine-made lines, what clothing can reveal about a person’s life, the list keeps going. Having lived along the coast for most of my life I am also influenced by nature and environmental concerns. Finally, as I said, I’m interested in Eastern philosophy… and while I definitely don’t consider myself any kind of expert, the things I have read and studied inevitably surface in the way I approach my work.
Where do you get the ideas?
I have to let them come about on their own. I usually get my ideas when I am doing something very ordinary… like taking a walk, cleaning out a drawer, or looking for something else. The harder I try to get an idea, the more illusive it is, so if I have a basic direction I just start and see where the process takes me. Usually if I am trying too hard, the idea is a trite one that doesn’t lead anywhere; there’s no search, and so, no energy in it. Ideas also come about through learning about what others are thinking, making, and doing. I read a lot too, and take notes. I’m not sure exactly why I take notes – who’s going to read them? – but it feels like I’m collecting information.
Tell me about your latest body of work.
I have several different projects going on right now: the collographs I’m working on up here, of course, and a wall installation that involves some sewn words on paper, clothing, plaster, ink, and more (different) prints. I’m continuing a series of gouache paintings on paper and I’ve started a junk mail project, too, but don’t want to say too much about it yet because it’s too new. It sounds like I’m all over the place, but there is continuity.
You’re using everyday objects to make prints. Did you see anything special on them?
I didn’t start with any intention other than to make monotypes from collographic surfaces. The choice to use boxes and bags was an accidental one that turned out to hold a lot of interest and possibility for me. I wasn’t aware of it when I started, but this choice of subject ties right in with my interest in everyday items – celebrating “nothing specialâ€, things that have been discarded or overlooked. It’s funny that I started without consciously mapping out what the result would be, but the final prints are very much in keeping with other images I have made in the past. There is an interweaving of organic and machine-made lines. They are amazingly similar to a video I did some years back called A Path to the Beach, a moving collage of parking space markers on asphalt.
How did you know about our residence program?
Marshall had mentioned it to me, and I read about it on your website. I’ve wanted to get back to printmaking for quite some time. It’s been years. I saw this as the perfect opportunity.
What’s your goal during your residency? What do you want to get out of it?
My goal is simply to make prints and enjoy the creative energy of Angels Gate… we’ll see what happens. If I can produce a body of work – prints that have a dialogue with one another and say something about the beauty of simple things – then, I suppose, I have succeeded.
Don’t you want to be a studio artist at Angels Gate? ^^
This question makes me smile… I’ve actually had two studios at Angels Gate and I’ve been connected with the center in one way or another for a long, long time. I loved having a studio at Angels Gate – it was really good for me and for my work. I moved out when I went to graduate school in Fullerton, and now my studio is in Long Beach. The residency has been great, for connecting and reconnecting with artist friends and Angels Gate. Thank you all for the opportunity.
More images of Betsy, her works and the printmaking studio can be viewed on our Flickr page.
