Elouise Spooner: Workshop Bursary Blog
Artist Elouise Spooner was awarded a Gaada Workshop Bursary for her bold and brave undergraduate exhibition in 2022. Elouise used the Bursary workshops to translate a wealth of sketchbook drawings and personal journal entries, which explore themes of womanhood and rebellion, into a series of risograph prints.
This body of work culminates in the beautifuly hotfoiled riso zine Fuckabout, which is available to purchase today.
Below, Elouise shares her experience of the workshop bursary project:
I started my Gaada workshop in a whirlwind of post-graduation stress, and Daniel and the Gaada team did a great job of guiding that into delving into my disjointed practice to end up with a final project that feels productive and pushed my practice. It definitely cleared the way for more art after the workshop was over. We started by going through my sketchbooks from throughout my degree and after selecting works that felt strong enough to be translated through the Riso machine, and then Daniel guided me through the process of separating the layers in Photoshop. The first session ended with a stack of prints and scans of pages to be explored the next time I was in the workshop. Each session felt like there were exciting things to come back to.
The riso definitely made me see my work differently and brought images that were precious and bound into sketchbooks into ephemeral, movable ideas that could be added, layered and removed. My next session saw me play around with some more images from sketchbooks, along with digital drawings I had done in order to do a four-colour print. This was difficult for me as it required me to be precise and have an eye for detail, which are two things I don't get along with! Luckily Daniel guided me through this process and helped me achieve a finished final piece for this experiment.
I had trouble bringing inspiration to the workshop often, as I was so overwhelmed by possibilities and choices, however, the Gaada team made amazing contributions as to where I should delve into and what stood out, which I was eternally grateful for.
In my third session, I decided I wanted to make a zine, and it was in this session 'Fuckabout' was born. A zine of Riso printed diary entries from 2021 from an old invoice copy book I picked up on whim. It had been sitting in a drawer since then, and it was at Gaada where I could utilise this. Although making a zine usually takes longer than a session, Jono helpfully suggested software that would organise the pages for us, and Daniel and I spent time correcting and scanning the pages. These were printed, folded and bound in 4 hours. Daniel was great at suggesting materials to use, and ended up mentioning the foil press, which we decided would go on the cover. The image that ended up going to be made into a stamp was the Furby I had scanned and experimented in the first session. Our final session ended up being cancelled because of snow, and then the Christmas holidays came, but the Gaada team were great at supporting me through and keeping my headspace focused on the project. Finally, the foil covers were printed and numbered, and that was the end of my workshop time. I was left thinking about all the other zines I could make, with a deeper knowledge of the Riso machine, zines as a part of culture, and how many different shades of pink paper Gaada has. It expanded my thinking and pushed my practice in a way I couldn't have done on my own, especially after my degree. I would recommend applying especially if you're a recent graduate. Also, you might meet Lenny the studio dog, who is a charming little chap.