In Conversation - Lucy May Schofield

Our Gallery Manager, Rosie Morris, speaks to artist Lucy May Schofield following the exhibition opening for In Pursuit of Pleasure, 27 January - 4 March, 2023

Lucy May Schofield

Rosie:     Lucy, it was such a pleasure having you at the opening of In Pursuit of Pleasure and hearing you talk about the process behind the Japanese Woodblock Prints we have in the exhibition.

Can I start by asking what got you interested in Japanese Woodblock Printing in the first place? 

Lucy:   I studied Printmaking at London College of Printing twenty years ago and I originally learnt the mokuhanga technique during a weekend workshop taught by Rebecca Salter in Manchester but it didn’t initially resonate with me. It was while living in Kyushu in Japan several years later that I truly fell in love with the process. I was living in a very traditional wooden house with tatami mats and paper screen doors. There was a captivating sumi ink woodblock print hanging in the living room which I discovered was an original Shikō Munakata print from the late 1950’s Sosaku-hanga movement. A friend in London told me about a contemporary woodblock printing conference due to happen in Tokyo and encouraged me to go. It was there that I began to see the beauty and potential of the art form. I went on to study at the Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory for a 5 week training programme at the foot of Mount Fuji in 2015. I returned in 2018 and 2019 to continue my training with master carvers and printers. 

 Rosie      What is it about these Japanese woodblock prints you find so impressive? 

Image Lucy May Schofield, demonstrating mokuhanga, CFRP Summer School, UWE, Bristol, UK, 2021

LMS      The process of making these prints is what continues to seduce me. Everything about creating a mokuhanga print encourages me to slow down and pay attention to the senses. The feel of the washi, the ink, the rice paste, the block, the brushes, and the baren all connect me to place and time. The grinding of pigments, carving the wood and mixing the ink and nori into the wood’s surface all feel like convening with the past, in the present. It is an act of remembrance that seems to live within, using materials and processes that are rooted in nature. I have deep admiration for the generational skills passed between teacher and student in this complex and intricate craft tradition and I am very honoured and privileged to have been taught these techniques by a generous cohort of teachers in Japan thanks to the innovative spirit of Keiko Kodota who founded the MI-LAB programme. 

Rosie      Your own work is very sensitive to these seasonal and temporal changes. How does your experience of living in rural Northumberland feed into the current work you are making?

Lucy    Living in a relatively remote and rural place means that you notice the seasonal shifts and phases of the moon. It would be impossible not to given that there is so much sky and so few people or buildings. I walk in the landscape every day and I think that the colours, undulations and spirit of the place exist within me as a result. I believe that as humans, we are nature but we can so easily become divorced from our ability to connect with the natural world. I am drawn to Northumberland because it can feel raw and untamed. There is a harshness to the climate and a certain clarity and beauty to the light. I try to be guided by these threads in the work I make. I feel as though I’m continually collaborating with the landscape and the seasons. 

Rosie      Your prints are really exquisite, from the kozo washi paper they are on, to their eloquence and simplicity. Can you share with us how you arrive at this simplicity, from idea to print? 

Lucy    My late sensei Tetsuo Soyama told me the story of Sen no Rikyū, a 16th Century Japanese tea master who redefined the tea ceremony by emphasising a simplification of the procedure and utensils fused with an appreciation of nature and an understanding of being present in the moment - ichi go ichi e (the unrepeatable nature of a moment). I find myself continually influenced by the aesthetics of this movement and the development of the wabi-sabi philosophy. For me a print can be the manifestation of one of these moments, perhaps a time or feeling I want to be reminded of after it’s passed. It could be reflecting on a certain clarity I experienced but I always try to practice restraint and simplification, attempting to hone the essence of the feeling or moment within the work. 

Image Lucy May Schofield, pigment inspiration whilst in Florence, November 2022

Rosie      Do you notice your work changing depending on where you are?

Lucy    I notice the colours I use relating to place. In Japan my prints were often a deep indigo or Japan blue, back in Northumberland there is a moon like glow often present with the use of mica in the inks. My recent residency in Florence drew me to the golds, ochres and warm tones of the frescos in the Autumn light. I am currently on a residency in California and the light here at sunset is a very specific milky blue which is feeding into what I create. 

Rosie      As well as being a response to place, your work seems to pay homage to feelings and I wonder how your friendships and relationships inspire works such as Sanguine Mood (after Helen), Intimacy and The way you look at me?

Lucy    All of the prints seem to be a merging of love and landscape. My emotional landscape is a thread that weaves through all the work I make. Intimacy and The way you look at me were made in Japan at a time when I was processing the loss of an important relationship, trying to understand the moment of change or a shift in feelings. The more recent print Sanguine Mood (after Helen) seemed to make itself, born from an immediate desire to express the deep sense of love I felt for someone. I do see the prints and the printing of them as a way of teaching me to get out of the way and surrender my control to let the work reveal itself. 

Lucy May Schofield, Sanguine Mood (after Helen), mokuhanga on kozo washi, 47 x 30cm, edition of 5, 2021

 Rosie      You mentioned your love of Shunga (Japanese erotic art), which is still taboo in Japan. Your works Prelude to Desire (After Utamaro) XV & XVI and Desire Lines I & II, are very beautiful and tender works that flirt with levels of erotic intimacy. I’d love to know more about this interest and how these works emerged?

Lucy    It was through studying the works of Utamaro that I discovered his Prelude to Desire shunga series presented as a pillow book. I find these shunga or ‘Spring prints’ exceptional, both in their erotic qualities and the sense of intimacy where we as viewers are invited into these private worlds of the lovers. Our gaze is part of the image. I adore the intricate carving of the fingers and toes and the way they entwine, the figures dissolving into one another. Perhaps it’s also the forbidden nature of Shunga that fascinates me but It’s also very rare to be provided a glimpse into Japanese homes and this work explores those interior spaces which in itself feels a little forbidden too. 

Lucy May Schofield, Prelude to Desire (After Utamaro) XV, mokuhanga on kozo washi, 43.6 x 31.5cm, edition of 1, 2019

Rosie      I’ve noticed you do lots of workshops and teaching appears as a big part of your own practice. Can you tell us about why this is so important to you?

Lucy    I gather such inspiration from seeing how a group of people will create vastly different works given the same materials, equipment and techniques. I teach others in order to honour my teachers and to pass on the skills taught to me. I am passionate about this art form being shared and widely disseminated to keep the washi makers, tool makers, carvers and printers in business. I feel essentially that the mokuhanga process invites artists to foster a deeper relationship with the natural world and in turn a deeper connection with themselves. 

Rosie      Finally, can you tell us about any exciting projects you are working on, or ideas that you are itching to develop?

Lucy    I’m looking forward to returning to Japan this Summer to further my studies and learn how to mount prints to make hanging scrolls. I am also excited to be showing new paper installations at Artefact in London in May with support from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. In August I will be presenting a solo exhibition at The Patriot Hall in Edinburgh which will be an opportunity to see some new prints and experimental paper works. 

1999 - 2019, Lucy May Schofield, edition of 3, 2020

Rosie Thank you Lucy!

Lucy Thank you for the opportunity to speak about the work!