Place of importance

I took this photo of one of the work benches, next to the hotplate, in the Print Studio at Cleveland College of Art & Design, some time in the early half of 2005, the year I graduated.

It was where I had been interviewed, nearly seven years previously, then a terrifying room full of brooding alien machinery, high ceilinged and with tall, tall windows in a elderly brick building that had once been, so rumour has it, a lunatic asylum.

Over the course of the next six years (I was a part-time, mature student) I was introduced to printmaking.   My first tutor a skilled lithographer, meticulous and precise in his instructions, less so in his professionalism, but endlessly encouraging.

While he was off sick a second tutor was found, casual, very different in approach, much more encouraging of experiment which, in conjunction with the skills already learnt set me free.

After six years I was heartbroken at leaving this haven, with its toxic smells and liquids, it's mysteries mostly explained.   I cannot go back since the following year the BA course was transferred to the University of Teesside and the studio re-sited, sans magic.

Life models

Previously we’d had as life models two anorexic Scottish girls, pastry plain Geraldine who invariably refused to take her knickers off, Eduarda the gorgeous and totally uninhibited Mexican and a beautifully plump dance teacher whose sagging, dimpled flesh was an absolute joy to draw. The only male had been Bill, who inevitably wore a posing pouch.

Bob the milkman’s well-hung willingness to pose as nature intended was, therefore, unusual, and much welcomed. In his first class with us he was instructed to walk round inside the circle of easels we had formed, taking five steps and then stopping for one minute – we were to draw all views on the single sheet. He took an interest in what each of us made of the exercise, commenting and encouraging sotto voce. On reaching me for the third time he suggested perhaps some aspects of my drawing weren’t entirely accurate - it was hard to resist reaching out with my pencil and re-arranging him to suit.