Student Showcase – Lauryn Phillips
Interviewed by Anthony Kosenkov
Portraits by: Jazmine Marie
Lauryn Phillips (they/them)
Fourth year, Sculpture and Printmaking
How did you get introduced to printmaking? Why do you prefer the medium over others?
I took a year off during the pandemic and when I came back, I was a fashion major. I was going to have to start taking fashion classes again and I was like “Wow, that sounds really miserable and I don’t want to do that at all.”
I was just kind of taking any class that wasn’t fashion and I kind of randomly got thrown into this intro to print class. I knew nothing about it, I was just like “Yeah sure, random class, I don’t have to deal with fashion people, sounds fun!” I ended up loving it, it was amazing. Robert, our professor, is super cool. I don’t actually like painting, I don’t like digital art at all, so this was not something that I expected to like but I think I bonded with it so much because it’s very hands-on. I’m a very process-based worker so I like when things take a long time.
You’re a sculpture major. In your experience, how does working with prints differ from working with sculptures? How does the audience respond differently to each medium?
I actually think they go pretty hand in hand and I’ve been focused on trying to combine the two in my work. They’re both very hands-on, process-based mediums. Like I said, I like to use my hands as much as possible and physically building and constructing things is always very satisfying for me. Printmaking is fun because you can kind of incorporate it into any medium. Same thing with sculpture, it’s very multi-functional. You can use it for many different things in many different forms. With sculpture, I want people to be able to come in and create their own experiences and interact with their surroundings. With printmaking, it’s like me interacting with my thoughts on paper, on plates or whatever the medium may be.
What inspired you to create this series of prints and what do you hope viewers get out of it?
My etchings are very process driven. I like exploring different ways to create textures. Each plate got its own treatment to get to where it’s at now, and it’s fun finding new methods of destruction for each of them. I hope when the viewer looks at it, they have to take a closer look to try to figure out how it was made.
From conception to completion, how do you create your works? What kind of place or mindset do your works come from?
My brainstorming process is kinda like, “Oh what happens if I throw glass at this?” Then I throw glass at it. Now its a print. Usually I’m just thinking of new ways to cause damage and what kind of marks it would result in. When I’m working on a plate by hand, I try to not think about the marks I’m making and just let my intuition take over my movements. Other times, though, if I’m doing something more destructive like slamming things on concrete, I’ll try to make myself as angry as possible by confronting all of my emotions at once.
