Spitting Image: Hello and welcome back to Spitting Image Interviews. I’m here today with Sean Hurley, a Portsmouth, New Hampshire printmaker and he’s been kind enough to sit down with me today and chat with me. So, Sean, thanks for joining me today. Sean Hurley: Hey, no problem, Brian. My pleasure. SI: So, Sean, I....why don’t you just talk a little bit about, first of all, what your job entails and what your responsibilities are as a printmaker in Piscataqua Fine Arts. SH: Well, I guess, I guess the first thing that I would start off with on that note is that my....my job at Piscatcua Fine Arts is almost a little bit independent of my occupation as a printmaker. What I do there, I’m the gallery manager and we are a combination gallery and print shop; a printmaking studio. So, my job, really, is to manage the studio and to keep it running day to day and I help....help with the printing work of the owner of the shop, whose name is Don Gorvett, and then, independent of that, I use the studio as my own, which is the benefit of....of being there. So, I....I make my own work and sell it there at the shop as well. SI: That’s a nice opportunity. SH: Yeah, it’s....it’s. I think it’s the kind of thing that I have to, like, step back and look at every day and just realize how lucky I am to have such a....such an amazing opportunity every day. SI: And you studied printmaking at the University of New Hampshire. SH: Right. I did a....a BFA with a focus in printmaking at UNH. SI: And before attending school, attending UNH, had printmaking been on your radar at all? Is that something that you had, at all, pursued? SH: No, not really. I was definitely an artist all my life, you know, with varying degrees of intensity and commitment, but probably my favorite thing to do since I can really remember, when I was a little kid, I was always drawing. You know, I would just spend all day drawing, all during summer breaks I can recall and, like, first grade, you know, where you’d just sit outside and draw, and kind of fell away from that a bit in high school, but when I went to UNH as an undeclared fine arts....or, not fine arts....liberal arts major and started dabbling in fine arts classes my first semester and print making, as I started doing it - doing etchings, which is what I still do now - was really just an extension of drawing. So, it’s really almost like a linear progression from what I was doing when I was a little kid. I’m, actually, still mostly drawing the same things, the same....my subject matters haven’t changed now in about twenty years which is kind of funny. SI: So, is printmaking to you, in some ways, an extension of your drawing? Is it, in your mind, the next step to take? SH: Yeah, I guess....one thing that I....I say to people a lot, who come in the shop and ask about the technique, to me, you know, there are ways of doing printmaking that are very painterly or ways of doing it that are very experimental, and the method that I practice I almost think of as....as a drawing with an engineering problem thrown in the middle of it, and I’m really interested, like I said, in drawing and I’ve also been always interested in science and, like, taking things apart and figuring out how things work, so to me it’s just, like....it’s adding this sort of technical problem into the course of doing a drawing and it....it....it just makes the whole thing a little bit more....more technique oriented. And you still have the freedom of working with a drawing but I....I come up with a very concrete plan in terms of the technique and the methodology that I’m gonna use is very systematic, so it really....I guess it really is, in a way, an extension of drawing with a....sort of a....a technical craft thrown in the mix. SI: Do you think that any....that had anything to do with almost a boredom with just the act of drawing? SH: Oh, I don’t think so because to me drawing is still....it’s the foundation of what I do and by far it’s the most satisfying part. I mean, when I’m working on a print, the drawing isn’t what....it....that doesn’t stress me out at all, you know, the drawing....when I sit outside and draw for a few hours that’s just....it’s....it’s really a very pleasurable and very, almost like a very meditative kind of thing, whereas all the technical stuff that I, once I start the print, I’ll be dealing with for several weeks as I go. That’s the kind of stuff that I really lay in bed sleepless at night and try to work out in my head and that’s....it does....yeah, it’s almost a stressful thing in a way, but it’s like a big challenge and surmounting that adds a whole ‘nother dimension. So, certainly there’s no boredom in the drawing. The drawing is like a deeply pleasurable thing for me. SI: Now, why don’t you, just, sort of, describe what the process of printmaking looks like, as far as....as you were....sort of, layed out a second ago, as far as what your planning looks like and then what the materials you use are and how they’re used. SH: Sure. Well, printmaking, basically, is any method where you’re using some sort of a surface to apply an image that can be reproduced in multiple....apply it to a paper. So, it can range from a wood cut where you’re using a carved block of wood to print an image on to a sheet of paper, a lithograph is another method of printmaking, and what I do is etching - what I focus on, at least. And an etching entails using a metal place which in my case is generally copper and the plate is etched out with an...using an acid and the lines are basically, by the action of the acid, insized into the surface of the plate, and then, basically, you’re smearing ink into those lines and....and laying a sheet of dampened paper down on top of the inked plate and then running it through a piece of machinery called the etching press which is basically a hand operated printing press and, as it rolls through the etching press the....the papers push down on to the inked plate, you know, with great pressure and the ink is transfered from the plate on to the sheet of paper. And, I guess, in relation to my drawing, the actual method of doing it: I take a blank piece of copper and i cover it with a, sort of, an acid resistant wax and then draw into that with a needle, and anywhere that you draw with the needle, basically, you’re scraping the wax off the surface of the metal and then you bathe that in an acid, and the acid is resisted by that wax wherever it’s unbroken, but wherever I’ve draw through with that needle, the acid touches the metal and bites that line into the plate. So, if I want to etch very shallow lines that will just hold a little ink and print as a light grey, leave it in the acid for a short time. A deep, long etch will....will leave a....a very deep heavy line that’ll hold a lot of ink and make a deep black, so you can see where the, sort of, engineering aspect would come in to play - figuring out which parts of the plate are gonna be etched deeply, which are gonna be etched shallowly. You can come back and re-etch more lines over areas that you’ve already worked, so it’s a very....it’s very....it takes a lot of planning and a lot of careful consideration because it’s....you know, once you put that plate in and etch it, whatever happens happens and you’re gonna have to deal with it. So I’d rather not be left with a plate that’s etched too deeply or too lightly, I wanna get it right. SI: And how do you....if you have an idea that you’ve sketched by hand, drawn, is it....do you transfer that image to the new material by sight or is there any, sort of, stencil technique used at all? SH: Well, I always start out with the drawing that I do outside - outside because my work usually is landscape and architecturally based. Most of my prints are, you know, scenes of buildings and things like that, so, it always starts going to the site and drawing . And usually I draw on to paper first. Once in a while, I’ll bring the plate out and draw right onto it but that’s a whole ‘nother challenge in itself. So, yeah, I’ll do a drawing on the paper usually....usually fairly roughly developed - not too precise - and it’s usually redrawn by sight on to the etching plate. I will trace and transfer just the most basic outlines of the shapes, just so they’re the right sizes and proportions, but all of the shadows and details are all filled in by hand and, I’d say, probably seventy percent of them are just invented onto the plate as I....as I work. And the....the finished etching always looks drastically different than the drawing that it was based on. SI: Now, you mentioned some of the subjects of a lot of your work which seems to be, as you mentioned, a lot of buildings, a lot of architecture, in particular, architecture that, I guess you could call, relics of, kind of, industries past - that, sort of, sit today almost out of place from, like, the modern economic landscape. Is that accurate and would you mind, sort of, expanding on that a bit? SH: Yeah, I’d say that’s....that’s pretty accurate. I’m interested in architecture. I guess that, again, goes back to, like, the....the engineering side of my brain and....and I love the way that, you know, light falls across, like, walls of bricks and how shadows are cast by pipes and....and roof tiles and things of that sort. And I....I really like exploring. I love ....I love exploring, like, urban....urban landscapes and, you know, just, kind of, wandering around like a ghostly, abandoned factory or mill or something where you have this vague feeling that you’re not supposed to be. And, it’s almost like wandering around in....in the ruins of ancient Egypt or something which....which is another thing I was really in to when I was a kid. So, to me, it has....it just embodies a lot of different things and I.....to be honest, I can’t even figure out completely, precisely to myself why I enjoy it so much. I think it’s a combination of all those different factors and some of the recent work I’ve been doing has been structures and industry but not abandoned stuff, like, I’ve....I’ve done a....recently just did a print of downtown Boston which has a....a big excavation, so it’s a big hollow, empty building but then there’s some clearly active structures in the background. and I’m working on a print right now of a....of a suburban street which actually has a man walking in to the distance and some cars parked along the road, so I’m trying to broaden my horizons outside of just the abandoned industry a little bit. SI: And you think you expect to continue in that direction? SH: Yeah, a little bit. I....you can’t get too locked in the same thing and I....I think that, like, the....the abandoned industry thing is definitely one part of what I’m into, but I’m almost more interested in the structures and feelings of those places than I am interested in abandoned industrial buildings as a subject. And i started to notice that people....people started to see the abandoned industry as the theme of my work when really I just saw that as, kind of, a vehicle for expressing something visually that interested me. So, I think it might be irresponsible of me to just keep doing those ‘cause I would continue to foster this, well, almost incorrect impression of what it is that I’m....that I’m doing, if you know what I mean. SI: Pigeonhole yourself. SH: Right, right. I....I love the way that abandoned factories look, I don’t necessarily love abandoned factories. SI: Gotcha. As far as your presentation of your subject areas, or of your subjects up to this point, you seem to have a....a tone of realism in your approach. Why is that? Why does that tend to be your approach to....to your etchings? SH: Well, I....I’m not necessarily bound to realism, like I don’t just sit down and say, ‘I want to make a realistic drawing,’ but, for whatever reason, the drawing that I enjoy doing the most is....is what I guess you would call realism. And....and it also relates to the technical aspect that I was talking about. I....I think it’s pretty satisfying to, you know, figure out a way to manipulate a copper plate and some inks in such a way that it prints like a....a very realistic....maybe not even necessarily realistic, but that it correctly captures what it was that I was looking at on paper. There’s, like, so many degrees of separation between my eyes seeing this thing and it actually being on this sheet of paper; from....you know, from me drawing it initially to redrawing it on to the plate and then etching it with the acid and the way that the printing is done, that having it come out looking....looking in a way that correctly summarizes what I....what I saw is pretty satisfying. And I like....I like surmounting that challenge and I guess I am more interested in realism than abstraction. Abstraction - it’s important and I think if you looked at any part of my....my work and, like, if you....if you cropped out any square inch, I would hope that there is a lot of interesting abstraction going on, but I want all of those little bits of abstraction to add up into a readable and recognizable image. SI: And on top of that, the majority of the work that I’ve seen of yours tends to be in black and white, too. SH: Yeah. SI: You know, why is that and does that at all tie in to, sort of, a sort of message you’re trying to convey about these, you know, old industrial buildings? SH: I guess I would just say that I’m not that interested in color and I don’t know why that is. I’m more interested in....in crafting a space that you can move your eye through and in....in catching the way that light shines off of things. It’s....it really isn’t even like a conscious choice. I....usually when I get back from drawing, I have no memory in my head of what the coloration of what I was drawing looked at....looked like, but I could probably, just off the top of my head, draw exactly, like, the way a brick was broken in half or something. It’s....color, for some reason, has just never interested me all that much and I remember when I was a kid I would do, you know, a drawing for school or something and my mom would always say, ‘Well, why don’t you just put one or two colors in. It would make it look so much better,’ but I always have just enjoyed black and white. And I would imagine maybe someday, if I continue doing the same type of work that I’m doing now, maybe as a further technical challenge I might introduce some color. But I think that if I did start using color, like I just said, it would be more to challenge myself technically than it would be out of some burning motivation to really capture something coloristic about what I see. SI: And it’s interesting because the printmaker that you work with at his studio, Don Gorvett, seems to incorporate a lot of color in his. When you walk into his studio you see a lot of pretty wild colors in his prints.... SH: Yeah. SI: ....and you’re quite the opposite. Has he pressured you in any way or maybe tried to urge you to....to experiment a bit? SH: Well, when I first started working with Don a couple years ago, it was probably before my....my body of work was so clearly....clearly oriented towards....towards the kinds of ideas that I’m expressing now and....and certainly he helped me out and I did some color work of different kinds and experimented with some different, you know, methods and languages in my drawing and I think if....if I....if I showed you some of the drawings and prints that I was doing at that time you wouldn’t even recognize them as my work. But, any artist has to find their own voice and figure out what it is that they do and that they’re interested in and, you know, the longer you work on your own....your own body of work, the more focused and individual it will be, hopefully. And his work is definitely a lot about color and feeling and I think my work is coming to be about something totally different. SI: So how was it that you came to team up with him in the first place? SH: Don first opened the shop in Portsmouth a coupe years ago when I was still a student and I knew of his work from seeing it in galleries and a few museums previously to that. So, I met him and I was....I was excited to meet him and I was going to take a workshop with him and that just, kind of, never panned out and my girlfriend, actually, was gonna buy me a gift certificate to take a workshop with him for my birthday and he kept, kind of like, you know, avoiding it ‘cause I think he wasn’t really set up at the time to....to even do a workshop and she kept nagging him. So, eventually, he just told her, ‘Well, why don’t you just have him come in and show me some of his work.’ And that was right around the time he....he had to move from his first location, which was across the street from where we are now; he’d only been there for about two months. And right at....around the time he had to move across the street to where we are now was when I came in and that was during my....my fourth out of my five years at UNH. So, I kinda came in and I....I think he liked my work and, of course, I was sort of star struck by seeing what he did. So, I sort of began as an intern and I helped him....you know, we moved the press in to that space; we did all kinds of the dirty work, in terms of getting a print shop set up, I did his website, and I started doing his graphic design and stuff, so little by little, I started doing odds and ends for him and working out of his studio and....and he was definitely a big artistic mentor at the time for me in combination with everybody up at UNH and little by little I guess I....I started becoming more of an active part of the shop and taking on responsibilities and also just spending more and more time and getting more in to, you know, trying to be a professional artist. SI: So, do you....how established do you feel now that you’re working here in Portsmouth? SH: [laughs] SI: ....and do you feel like you will continue to spend a lot of time there or do you want to, maybe, take your work elsewhere and, I don’t know, explore other places? SH: Oh, I definitely would say that I am absolutely not an established artist. I think that’s the kind of thing that probably takes decades. I mean, what....what....what is the benchmark for being and established artist? Is it, like, that you know that you’re financially secure just doing your art because I think even by that....by that measure probably a lot of people you’d think are established artists probably aren’t. I think I’ve....I’ve established that I want to be an artist and that I want to....want to professionally, you know, continue to make this work and have it be the main focus of my career. I’ve established that to myself. As for staying in Portsmouth, you know, I’d love to be in....I’d love to some day be in New York or Boston or some....a big city with an active printmaking community or artistic community but I....I think for now I’m gonna hang here and see what we can do at this shop. We’re sort of on the ground floor of things here. There isn’t like a long tradition of....of artwork or especially printmaking in Portsmouth and whatever....whatever we’re lacking in having like a real community of printmakers around us is made up for in, sort of, the excitement of knowing that we might be, you know, one of the founders of something that might hopefully someday be....be a lot bigger than us and I think it would be foolish of me to just give up on that prematurely before I see how it resolves itself. SI: Sure, and not that you’ve....you’re stuck to this area either. I mean, your work has shown....been shown throughout the state, both in the seacoast area and southern New Hampshire, in Maine, Massachusetts galleries, and even a New York gallery, is that right? SH: Yeah. I show....I show actively in....in Provincetown, Mass. and have done pretty well there and have had a....a show....I had a show there last summer and have another show there later this summer and this past winter got some....some work in to the....the Old Print Shop in New York which was a big honor for me. They were a shop that really was fascinated with and they were like a go to website of mine to look at the....the artists that I admired. I haven’t yet been down there to see my work there but just knowing that I have some things within the limits of the building and on there website is pretty exciting for me, too. So, you know, I’m....I’m in Portsmouth and I’m working here but the goal is to get the work out a lot further away than I can be all of the time; hopefully....hopefully get it circulating and get it known . SI: Well, Sean, thanks so much for sitting with me and chatting with me today. SH: No problem. I enjoyed it. SI: Great. Well, take care. SH: Cool. Thanks, Brian.
