A Visual Arts Lecturer has showed people that sometimes the most special creations come from starting exactly where you are, with what you have in front of you. As such, she has created gorgeous prints from everyday items like dish soap, candle wax and cool drinks!
Gqeberha, South Africa (10 January 2024) — A clever artist and lecturer from Nelson Mandela University is showing South Africans everywhere that you can do a lot with a little! After two years of research, Jessica Staple’s fine-tuned a method to create art prints from everyday items, leaving jaws on the floor.
Inspired by the toughness of the pandemic in terms of resource and studio access, Jessica found that turning the items most of us keep reserved for the kitchen into important artistic ingredients is a talent in and of itself. And it took a lot of tries to get right. But, thanks to this printmaking lecturer in the Department of Visual Arts’s determination, it is now a wonderfully accessible way for under-resourced artists to practice, create and even generate an income from their printmaking.
The mark-making technique Jessica experimented with is known as planographic printmaking (which, in a nutshell refers to printing on a flat surface). But, with her unique technique, everyday items like groceries become the necessary pieces to the puzzle, and no press is required whatsoever.
This is a hugely exciting development in the printing scene—especially in a country like South Africa, where artistic resources are limited for struggling creatives— as it is proof that creativity and innovation can outdo some of the fanciest tools and materials. Not only this, but it’s a fantastic way to up-cycle materials that may otherwise have turned to waste, like candle wax and tin foil.
“The materials are very basic, like lemon juice, Holsum vegetable fat, green Sunlight soap, Maizena, candle wax and tin foil,” shares Jessica before adding that she uses cool drinks too (this for the phosphoric acid component necessary for the print).
Expressing why she honed this technique, Jessica, who is also a Masters in Visual Arts Cum Laude Graduate from Stellenbosch University shared:
“This exhibition is the result of a love for printmaking, drawing, problem-solving and the people around me.”
She has named the technique, “Monolitho” inspired by the French artist Émilie Aizier’s Kitchen Lithography or Kitchen Litho invention without which, her work largely wouldn’t be possible).
While her works were already exhibited at NMU’s Bird Street Art Gallery, we have no doubt that they have and will continue to inspire all those who come across them digitally to believe that yes, you can make the most with what you’ve got. And yes, it might just be even more special for that reason.
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