Artist Talk: Scott Schnepf

Artist Talk at the UNH Museum of Art

Scott Schnepf: Four Decades of Printmaking

Wednesday November 8

Scott Schnepf gave a talk on his career and practice as a printmaker and professor of art this past Wednesday. The show of his prints filled the upper floor of the museum and they had been hung for a while before the talk, so that I was already somewhat familiar with them, it being my habit to observe the art in the museum on a regular basis. Before the talk Iwas duly impressed with Schnepf’s work, and hearing the artist speak only broadened my admiration for him as a maker.

Schnepf is a printmaker and a painter. He began making prints when he was pursuing his BA at Augusta College, and by his telling he has found in this medium an artistic process which fits well with his temperament and approach to creating an image. He also spoke about how making prints is a complementary process to making paintings, and that he finds it informative to toggle between the two. Schnepf began his talk by describing briefly the events which brought him to be a professor at UNH, making special note of the two professors which had the most influence on his life and work. The most  important teacher he had was the printmaking professor he had as an undergraduate student, a gregarious man whose passion for the medium was infectious. This made me think about my own experience as a student of ceramics. I felt a touch melancholy at the thought that though I have had some really good teachers in ceramics, especially Don Williams and Ben Putnam, I have not yet had the experience of making a deep and lasting connection with a mentor in my field who works with clay in a way which really excites my passion. This is something I want and will seek out.

What I appreciated most about Schnepf’s talk how he talked about his printmaking process. He was dedicated to the technical intricacies and aesthetic possibility which are specific to his medium of printmaking. I got the sense that he derived more joy from the process of making than the final product. This is a recurring theme in most admirable artists I have come to know. As Schnepf talked about the varying lines and quality of ink transfer which are products of different printmaking processes, I found myself looking at his images from mere inches away, dissecting the way in which he had created a sense of form and space and volume. This did not distract from the overall impact of the image, but rather it allowed me to appreciate the work in a new way. With just a little knowledge about the medium, I could see that each image was a document of a tight synergy between human and tool, homo faber doing what he does best.