Adam Piper tries to employ printmaking as a way of thinking. He approaches it with as little pre-thought as he can. His technique is, once the first mark is made, one of response. Usually it is figurative, usually relief or etching (despite lithography being my happiest medium-lack of access) and usually they are made quite quickly. Writing has become a key element, as has watercolour – Piper does either one of these to capture the moment, whatever is in front of him or on his mind.

On this residency he would like to bring a big box of an old fashioned medium, the oil pastel, and draw outside whatever catches my eye to set the ideas flowing. He will write in the downtime to bring sensibility, to flesh out the fledgling marks into something he can take into print. Ultimately his work has to be about something, to have a narrative or story that it carries, a link to where it was formed.