25 Aug 2024

This blog was written by Preeti Sood, a Technical Demonstrator in Printmaking, and a PgCert student from the 2023/2024 cohort, as part of the Higher Education in Practice: Personal reflections on your discipline and the wider context of higher education submission.

Preeti 1

My reflection is an image of the Goddess Kali from the series - Indian Bazaar Art, which I am currently working on as an Associate Artist at the Hindu Centre in Oxford. The image is produced on 300 GSM Somerset satin paper through the cyanotype process. The image is further enhanced, manipulated, refined, and exaggerated with digital tools such as a laser engraver to highlight our role as educators in today’s wider context of higher education. Kali, is a powerful figure in Hindu mythology, representing bravery, transformation, strength, anger, and the destruction of evil, demonstrating the courage and resilience needed in today’s education landscape to deal with various challenges. Kali, also called Maa Durga, is worshipped by thousands of devotees at Durga Puja in West Bengal, India.  

Kali at the forefront of the print reminds us to have courage, belief in ourselves, and the mindset to view challenges as opportunities. To explore how we can create a sense of belonging (WONKHE, 2023) to enable students to be active agents of their own learning, providing them with connection, support, mindsets of reimagining and redefining the discipline in today’s context - in some ways erasing those barriers of belonging (Jackson, 2022).  

Printmaking in higher education has faced many challenges and continue to do so with the rapidly changing landscape, within the sector. Many universities like Arts University Bournemouth have turned print rooms, previously dynamic hubs of knowledge exchange, into resource areas. Rather than it being a course for students to engage with the concept of Printmaking. I am passionate about my discipline and for over 14 years have advocated for it to be a course in its own right. This would allow students to specialise, learn and engage deeply with materials, and expand the horizon of what the discipline can offer, especially in the age of AI.  
 

As highlighted by JISC (2023), ensuring students' employability, and preparing them for an AI-powered workplace is crucial. This should be supported by professional development for staff in order in order to meet the needs of students in current world (Dewey, 1916:167). Through experimentation within my own practice-based research, I have created a body of work where I engage with digital tools such as CNC machines, plotter pen, and laser engraving. I continuously share this with my students, colleagues, and other staff. I have been organising annual workshops on Hybrid Printmaking for everyone, as it offers a unique opportunity to not only enhance but enrich the discipline for today’s student.  
 
AI and digital tools can complement and expand the traditional methods, rather than replacing them. For instance, AI can be used by students in the design phase for brainstorming to generate patterns, motifs, and compositions which they can then translate into hand pulled prints. This hybrid approach allows for a fusion or juxtaposing of old and new, creating interesting, innovative works that honour the rich historical processes of the discipline while pushing its boundaries creating new skills and knowledge. Additionally, these workshops provide opportunities for students to delve deeper into their areas of learning (Biggs, 2011) by creating a wide, diverse resource to better understand materials used for analogue techniques through new methods of creation. For example, in Fig. 1 the use of cyanotype and laser engraving reflects a hybrid approach, emphasising that digital tools can complement and expand traditional methods. Such blends of ancient wisdom and contemporary skills highlights innovation within the discipline.  

The current cost-of- living crisis directly impacts our student’s engagement with the discipline in various ways. Printmaking materials can become expensive while experimenting and learning new skills or refining the existing ones. The rising cost no doubt has directly affect both staff and students' ability to afford materials, for their practice in print, which is inherently material-intensive. This financial strain could limit their capacity to fully engage into experimentation with materials, inks, and stifle creative exploration (WONKHE,2023). Despite these challenges, we need to remain creative. I have been exploring alternative materials that could be sourced for less or no cost at all. This year we have started using TetraPaks to explore the thin aluminium surface for creative expression. Student engaged with the material with such an astonishment and keenness, everyone being actively engaged. The work produced in the one-day workshop was submitted for a competition and one of our MA students received a monetary award from the Red House Museum for their work. Tetrapaks have not only been hugely successful, but the reuse of this material is also sustainable and environmentally friendly.  

Printmaking, being one of the oldest forms of creative expression, has a vast reservoir of innovative ideas to draw from. No doubt the impact of the cost-of-living crisis affects learning and our teaching approaches. Such an impact makes us reflect - a shift if critically examined and reflected can lead to innovative learning and teaching practices.  

The goddess Kali is often depicted as a fiery and powerful goddess who destroys evil and protects the innocent. In the context of higher education, she symbolises the destruction of outdated practices and the courage to embrace new methodologies. Her fierce visage can inspire educators and students alike to challenge the status quo, pursue innovation, and remain resilient in the face of adversity. 

Bibliography  

List of Illustrations