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Pegging one's hope on the multiples : Workshops at Studio Shunno
Mind Map is an initiative of Studio Shunno designed to engage artists looking for opportunities to pursue their aesthetic goals in graphic mediums. The recently concluded edition, which was their 1st workshop under the nomenclature Mind Map, saw the participation of nineteen young artists who spent ten days perfecting their craft and examining the possibilities in intaglio and other unorthodox surface print processes. The outcome, showcased between December 25 and 27, in their own venue, bore the signs of the stimulating exchanges that transpired between artists of varied inclinations and disciplines.
Conceived as a creative platform to facilitate artists inclined to create graphic multiples, Shunno has been, for the last ten years or so, focused on both creation and distribution of multiples. Mind Map is their first comprehensive project to promote young talents who either wish to continue with printmaking or want to dabble into this discipline to diversify their respective language.
The participants, a mix of established and semi-established young artists including a few neophytes, enjoyed enough latitude to have explored processes that are often deemed unconventional at the academy. The results were a panoply of small-sized prints exciting enough to raise a smile among the most scrupulous nitpickers. Many an artist who lent their talent to graphic processes for the first time, came up with visually stimulating prints. The core achievement of the workshop was that the found materials employed to achieve certain surface qualities successfully combined with the conventional methods of printmaking to arrive at the end results.
Administered by printmaker Jafar Iqbal, whose brain child is the Studio Shunno, the workshop was a jaunty ride through intricacies and subtleties of printmaking for some.
For others, especially who never dared to venture into such a 'complicated' process-oriented discipline, it was a memorable learning experience.
The success of Mind Map was to see many young artists had their mind set to do more work in this medium in future. Both the newly initiated and the trained printmakers, who are looking to stabilize their praxis through regular production, now have the assurance of access to a well-equipped printmaking studio; the programme is designed to let the participants use the facility in succession. If professionalism in printing and publishing multiples is considered to be the guide, the workshop at Shunno bespoke their height of achievement, where the multiples were properly editioned and priced. Additionally, the Open Studio day saw Shunno's tryst with innovation in vectors of flourishes. The prints were made to share space or be part of a series of installation-like add-ons – to celebrate the closure of the 1st edition of Mind Map