Jude Freeman: December 2023
Meet our Member of the Month, Jude Freeman!
We asked Jude about her printmaking practice below.
Follow Jude's at @judefreemanprintmaker on Instagram
1) How did you get into printmaking?
I loved drawing as a child and was encouraged. We had Dickens illustrated books at home, so Victorian line work was pored over and later as a teenager I loved Beardsley and Ronald Searle. At University I spent a whole term studying Rembrandt's etchings on my art history course (pure heaven) and for some years after that taught history of graphics and illustration at Brighton. I worked in art schools where print was very strong but only took it up as a practice myself when I was sixty.
2) Tell us a little bit about your printmaking practice - what's your work about? What processes do you use and why?
Copper etching is my thing and my focus is on natural forms. My earliest recollection is of being in a garden where the grass was taller than me.That sense of curiosity and elation mixed with apprehension has stayed with me and I try to recapture that response to the natural world and my place within it. Etching fascinates me because of its alchemic nature and vast possibilities. I'm never quite in control of it and I love working with the serendipitous surprises it offers.
3) What do you like about Double Elephant?
Double Elephant is where I started etching. Once I got started I set up with a press and a studio on my own to explore freely, which is how I learn. More recently I've rejoined Double Elephant and am enjoying learning Screenprinting under the inspiring direction of George and Esme and love the generous spirited printmaking camaraderie whenever I come in.
4) What advice would you give to someone looking to get into printmaking?
Have a go!
5) Do you have any exhibitions or things you'd like to shout about that are coming up?
Midsummer, one of my etchings was made into a mural for the entrance to the new Dartmouth Health and Wellbeing Centre this summer. Seeing a work expanded in this way was a real thrill and the feedback has meant more to me than any other exhibition of mine. Under the same scheme HeArTs (Health and the Arts in Torbay & South Devon), I am scheduled to have an exhibition at Torbay Hospital next summer. Make Southwest is displaying my work at the moment, including two wintry etchings (made at Double Elephant ) in the Around The Table exhibition. I also have work currently at Artisan, Chagford and in the shops at The Burton in Bideford and RAMM.
