On The Move

Melanie Faith

Interview by L. Valena

September 5, 2022

Let's start from the top. Please start by describing the prompt that you responded to.

I had a very cool piece that was made from maps woven together. It looked like a few different maps, and here and there it had names of streets on it. I really enjoyed that because I love maps. I also love ASMR, and one of my favorite channels, ASMRctica ASMR, is often map-themed and created by an artist from Sweden. He does a lot of sleep-inducing videos where he draws maps on camera or tells interesting historical anecdotes through antique maps, so I immediately thought about that. I just enjoy maps in general. I think they’re really cool artifacts. Studying the other artist’s woven-map piece, I thought about places to travel, but also about internal travel. It was so meaningful to work with this image because I could go in so many different directions with it.

How did you choose which way to go?

First, I got my sketchbook and doodled initial ideas. Lately, I've been doing what I refer to as “word art.” I decide on something that I want to sketch, and then I let words or phrases just bubble up from my subconscious. You know, kind of percolate. And then I combine them into an image. I did that same process, doodling every type of bird I could think of, little airplanes, a parachutist, all kinds of stuff. I was thinking about geese because it's that time of year; the seasons are changing. That also connected with the idea of travel, not only internally where our imagination and our art go through cycles and we travel to different landscapes inside, but also externally because of the physicality of a map and all of the places a map both includes and excludes.

I decided to go with the geese idea. I was so glad for the timing of this, because I had wanted to try cyanotypes again this summer or fall. We called them sun prints when I was growing up, since they are a way of making blue photographic imprints on special paper in the sun but without using a camera. Basically, they are cameraless photography. I had half the materials for making cyanotypes again, such as the sun paper, and this deadline inspired me to get the other materials, which was awesome. I drew my imagery on a type of transparency film (such as is used with overhead projectors) that's see-through and you can use Sharpies on it before layering the transparency film against the sun paper. People often put little three-dimensional objects like leaves or small toys to make imprints directly onto the cyanotype sun-sensitive paper, but instead I wanted to draw something on the flat transparency film that I could imprint both my words and my doodles side by side. Then I picked my favorite sketches from my sketchbook, narrowed those down to three and drew the images, and set up my little assembly line. I bought some $1.99 hydrogen peroxide to add to the water bath of the cyanotype prints, as it makes the imagery develop faster and, I think, slightly darker, brighter blue. The other thing I needed was a piece of glass, so I used one from a photo frame. Cyanotypes really don't take very many materials compared to developing photos in a darkroom.

I think cyanotypes are fun to make. It brings out your inner kid. You get to do so much creative thinking while you're doing it, but you also have to keep an eye on the time—if you let them out in direct sunlight for too long they become overexposed. So there’s a sense of play but also a sense of staying in the moment, paying attention, and going with the flow that I like. The whole process was enjoyable. I set aside three hours one afternoon and I made three pieces. That time included my drawing and getting my materials together. You only set the sun-print paper in direct light for two to five minutes on average. I think mine were like four minutes.

When you bring them back in, you have to put them in water right away. Then, they just dry for a day or two. But you can see the imagery right away, kind of like a Polaroid picture. Even though it's not instant because you have to put a lot of thought into it and get your paper and materials and then time it, it feels instant because, unlike sending film away to be developed and waiting for a week or something, you can see what the finished print is going to look like while it’s drying. Very satisfying.

I considered just sending in one of the cyanotypes, but I decided I wanted to do something more with them. The whole time I was making my cyanotype, which is very handmade, I was also thinking about ways to combine digital with something that you can touch. So, I decided to scan them and digitally move them around to make an envelope-looking image. I also used filters to make one rainbow-colored for a sunset effect because I wanted the seal to stand out from the dark blue envelope shape surrounding it. I tried nine different ideas and then picked the one that I liked the best, so it was really a process of a few days. I loved it.

It's so cool! This is representing an envelope with a seal. If you imagine getting this in the mail, what would be inside this envelope?

I hope it would be a letter from someone I cared about, just writing about where they've been, what they've been doing. As a writer, I just love when people give you these interesting anecdotes from their day. We're all so busy running in so many different directions, and a text or even an email can't fit in the random, funny, funky, interesting things that we used to take the time to write down and share with somebody sometimes. I think travel journals do that really well.

You're so right. I was writing letters with a few different people during the height of the pandemic and it was really great. Once I got into a cadence with someone, I was committing to fill, you know, the front and back of one sheet of paper. That usually meant that I’d write some weird random stuff from my day.

Yeah! There's a lot of magic and mystery in that process, isn't there? It's sort of like writing a poem or something. You give yourself that freedom. I see it with my nieces who are 10 and 7 and a half. They'll grab some paper and just drop into that kind of artistic space so beautifully, and then just drop right back out of it.

If you're committing to a certain amount of writing in a letter, to fill that you start with some random observations and then it drops into a different, deeper place. Like kids’ play, it's that beautiful but mysterious space where you don't know what's going to happen next. But you're somewhat contained too because, like in making art, you’re limited to this amount of time and this amount of work you have to make. But you can do whatever you want. That time limit just does something beautiful. At first I dawdle around, but then after a couple of minutes I just let it go. I think the cool part is sharing it. Journals and travel journals are great for that because you’re sharing things with yourself. As an introvert, I love that I might write something and think, “Whoa, that's not what I thought I was thinking!”

It’s wild when you read a journal you wrote years ago. “Oh my god, that's a thing I used to believe?! I don't believe that anymore!”

You can really see your own growth, for sure. I have so many journals from high school that I can’t throw out, but I can't read them either! [both laugh]

That's relatable.

As a writer, one of the only drawbacks is that I don’t get the joy of making something tactile. Especially since the pandemic began, I've really tried to do more of that. I've given myself permission just to doodle or to treat myself to a sketchbook. Before, I always felt like I wasn’t good enough or as good as people who can draw realistically or to scale or whatever, so I wouldn’t get myself the supplies even to try. But now I just want to do it to have fun with it. That's been really freeing. And it's cool to have a tactile medium, which is why I love photography and getting film developed. I find that the tactile art enhances what I'm writing, and vice versa, because it transports me to a different way of thinking than I normally do. It also involves movements that are physical in addition to the intellectual.

That's the magic of being an expressive, creative person: we don't have to choose. And we can continue to experiment with stuff. I've been trying to learn the piano lately, which is revealing that I really suck. I'm going to suck for a long time, you know? But that’s okay because I was never going to go to Juilliard anyway.

I'm giving myself permission to have ambition for some of my work, but for other projects I don't want that pressure. I always felt that my writing was just for me, but I also had the ambition of sharing it or publishing it or being in a writing group, too. Still, I just want to do this artistic thing and not stop myself because I suck at it in a lot of ways. I don’t want to judge myself before, during, or after making art anymore. I just want to do it. That’s so cool that you want to play the piano, so even though you suck at it, you’re just gonna do it! And I suck at drawing in a lot of ways, but I'm just gonna do it!

We get to do whatever the hell we want!

I mentioned missing lo-fi things like letters and such, but there is also something beautiful about the internet at times. When we were younger, we couldn't share what we’re making as easily or with many people at once, and now I get to see so many people on social media who make art on a regular basis. Otherwise, I never would have known that my friend who doesn't live near me makes these amazing sculptures or is learning an instrument or whatever. They share their music online and now I get to hear it sitting here. These little bubbles of community pop up, which I think are really exciting. When I was a lot younger, there wasn't really a community who was doing what I wanted to do with my writing, my photography, my art. Of course, there are internet trolls and horrible things that can discourage us, but in moderation it's beautiful.

Now that you have been through this process, what is your advice for another artist approaching this for the first time?

My first thought is you don't have to go with your first idea. Give yourself a lot of room to play. At first, I planned on doing it all in one sitting. Then I thought, “No, I think I'll make a cyanotype.” And then, “No wait, I'll make this into a cyanotype collage!” I really liked that part of the process where I surprised myself. I don't do that a lot. I don't often do something, change it, and then wait two days and go back to it. I had to with the cyanotypes, which was great because then it gave me other layers. Two weeks is a great deadline. It gave me wiggle room, but not so much that I got perfectionistic about it.

Is there anything else that you want to talk about? Anything related to your process or this piece?

I'm going to make more cyanotypes now that I have the materials, so thank you. [Bait/Switch] is such a beautiful way of connecting with other people that we might not meet, but we're connecting on a very deep level because it's coming from such a pure creative space. People are making all kinds of different things with tons of different media, but the fact that we don't know each other personally and yet are having this conversation, that's such an amazing platform. So I just want to thank you for creating that space for us to slow down and create some cool art.

Call Number: Y85VA | Y89VA.faiOn

Melanie Faith is a night-owl writer, educator, and editor who has enjoyed drawing for years but just recently got brave enough to share her perfectly imperfect doodles. Her latest book, From Promising to Published, was published by Vine Leaves Press earlier this year. Learn more about her books, art projects, writing, and classes at https://melaniedfaith.com/ or @writepath99 at Instagram.