Our first day at BYU and work starts

This is our base room for the week with all the group waiting to start our project recap meeting.

The first morning on campus and everyone is still nervous and full of anticipation. We started the meeting by reading out the poems that were Sunny's challenge for us to write on the way back to Utah on Friday. Each van load of students and staff were asked to collect and organise some words that described their ideas and experience of Yellowstone. these words then form a loose prose poem. Each team read out their group effort and we were all impressed by the complexity of language and meaning contained within the word works. Each one illustrated aspects of all our thoughts and ideas provoked by our exposure to wilderness.

Nate reads the first poem to the group.

 Joe had asked me to give a presentation on the books we had produced on our previous collaboration 'Shared Ground' in 2012. I explained the context of this earlier project, its themes and the ideas contained in the individual books. Concept, content, form and materials are the four main areas to consider when developing an artists' book and the books perfectly illustrated this approach. 

Then we were off to see the Thomas Moran prints in the Special Collections Library at BYU. the library is one of the best stocked university libraries in the US and were were going to see the most expensive book in their collection.

The atrium of the BYU Library

The Curator of the Special Collections happens to be an expert on Yellowstone and he gave us a talk about the role of the artist Thomas Moran and the photographer William Henry Jackson in publicising the landscape features of Yellowstone after their inclusion in the first exploratory expedition in 1870. There was a large selection of his watercolour sketches and chromo lithographs for us to look at. Having already experienced these landscapes for ourselves it was very interesting seeing how Moran had chosen to paint them and the emphasis he had placed on a very visionary interpretation of nature. 

Michelle Rowley

Today was our first day at Brigham Young University, we were all looking forward to see where we’d be working and eager to get going on the project.

We were taken on an extensive tour to help us orientate ourselves around the large campus. The tour included the food hall, the University shop (more like a department store), a large format digital print shop, sculpture studios and most importantly for me, the printmaking workshops, yes there are more than one!

The Intaglio lab

The Lithography Lab

Nathan introduces us to the large format Print Lab

The print workshops were large, airy and clean, and what BYU lack in screen printing facilities they definitely make up for in other areas, big presses, massive stones for lithography, all the colours you’ll ever need, they actually have a clean area, and the list goes on……….. what more could anyone wish for?

I think we’ll be in our element for the rest of the week.

Sarah Romano