Emily Shopp
Fellow
Emily Shopp grew up in Dallas, Texas. In 2013, she received her BFA in Printmaking at Stephen F. Austin State University, where she was the 2012 recipient of the Cole Dean’s Award in Art. Shopp has been included in various juried exhibitions including the Printmaking National Exhibition at Mark Arts in Wichita, Kansas and 23rd Arts in Harmony 2018 Annual International Show in Hopkins, MN. She currently lives and works in Chicago, IL.
Website:
www.emilyshopp.com
Project Statement:
Over the past year as a keyholder at Spudnik, I have nurtured an interest in incorporating collage into my intaglio print practice. I am drawn to the dynamic interactions of displaced imagery and lines as well as the low-relief physical interaction of paper edges. I experiment with paper transparency, image layering and plate shaping. By cutting etched images out of copper plates, I turn plates into modular elements and repeatable motifs to create “print collages.” I also print single plates and cut out parts of these images to recombine them into a more traditional cut-and-paste collage. I have found that destroying a piece that I created using a labor-intensive print process has challenged my attachment to my work and redefined my understanding of object value.
Much of my recent work has been ironing out all of the technical aspects of this practice. As a studio fellow I would use these techniques to develop a new, cohesive series of variable prints and collages. I plan to focus on process, composition and emotional resonance by reconfiguring representational imagery into more abstract content. I would continue to work predominantly with intaglio with chine-colle, but am also interested in the variation of texture that could come from including other print processes, such as relief and screen printing. My goal at the end of the fellowship is to create a unified body of work that blurs the boundaries between printmaking and collaging.
