MIDWEST PRESSED
Collaborative duo, Tim Dooley and Aaron Wilson.
Artists and professors at the University of Northern Iowa
(This interview was conducted via email with both Aaron and Tim)
Cedar Falls, IA
Collaborative duo, Tim Dooley and Aaron Wilson.
Artists and professors at the University of Northern Iowa
(This interview was conducted via email with both Aaron and Tim)
Cedar Falls, IA
"Midwest Pressed was established in 2011 as a limited-liability partnership (LLP) based in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The press produces fine art prints based on the artistic activities of its owners and operators, Aaron Wilson and Tim Dooley. The pair began collaborating while teaching printmaking and foundations together at the University of Northern Iowa. Prior to starting Midwest Pressed, Tim and Aaron created printed artworks known primarily for using the medium in an experimental fashion that included sculptural applications and installations. Apart from their individual accomplishments, they have collaborated on an extensive body of artwork that has been shown widely around the United States in museums and university galleries. Their work has been characterized as walking the line between the museum and the street with a pop art dialogue that does not bother to draw a distinction between high and low culture...
...We are art fans, inspired by a diverse range of influences. While we are comfortable making art that takes a stand, we are not comfortable with making art that is singular in its interpretation. Part of being a collaborative team entails balancing flexibility and scrutiny. Our choice of subject matter encourages that relationship and can act as a platform to invigorate the printmaking processes that we engage through reaction and spontaneity. We are also an art business. Our loftiest ideas are applied to everything that we do and we are guilty of spending as much time printing a t-shirt as we do printing work for museum exhibitions. It is wonderful that printmaking allows for this situation and we continue not knowing where the art starts or stops."
...We are art fans, inspired by a diverse range of influences. While we are comfortable making art that takes a stand, we are not comfortable with making art that is singular in its interpretation. Part of being a collaborative team entails balancing flexibility and scrutiny. Our choice of subject matter encourages that relationship and can act as a platform to invigorate the printmaking processes that we engage through reaction and spontaneity. We are also an art business. Our loftiest ideas are applied to everything that we do and we are guilty of spending as much time printing a t-shirt as we do printing work for museum exhibitions. It is wonderful that printmaking allows for this situation and we continue not knowing where the art starts or stops."
L: Why do artists form communities?
MWP: It's obvious that humans who cooperate have a evolutionary advantage over those who do not. Otherwise, we may not be having this discussion at all. American culture triumphs the individual. Individual will or creativity is generally valued over group decision-making, but the reality of what is consumed creatively tends to be made, marketed, sold and developed by groups of people that share a direction of some kind. Whether it's movies or curators, many voices go into what eventually is referenced as culture.
L: What is your background in artist collectives or collaboration, and how do you incorporate these ideas in your artistic practice or classroom?
MWP: Our backgrounds are the same as many in the print world. Working in an open-studio situation eventually fosters collaborative tendencies. Print clubs, art fairs, fund raisers and portfolios all feed into what people experience as print students. However, our collaborative experiences stem from showing our work together and using each other as sounding boards for our ideas. After grad school, the critical mechanism of academe slowly fades away, but the need for criticism does not. We worked well together from the beginning so it was relatively easy to see that our skills and thought processes complimented each other in a productive way. Eventually the collaborative experiences work their way back into the classroom in the form of projects, events or organizations. Although, we are always looking for ways to improve and expand those experiences.
MWP: It's obvious that humans who cooperate have a evolutionary advantage over those who do not. Otherwise, we may not be having this discussion at all. American culture triumphs the individual. Individual will or creativity is generally valued over group decision-making, but the reality of what is consumed creatively tends to be made, marketed, sold and developed by groups of people that share a direction of some kind. Whether it's movies or curators, many voices go into what eventually is referenced as culture.
L: What is your background in artist collectives or collaboration, and how do you incorporate these ideas in your artistic practice or classroom?
MWP: Our backgrounds are the same as many in the print world. Working in an open-studio situation eventually fosters collaborative tendencies. Print clubs, art fairs, fund raisers and portfolios all feed into what people experience as print students. However, our collaborative experiences stem from showing our work together and using each other as sounding boards for our ideas. After grad school, the critical mechanism of academe slowly fades away, but the need for criticism does not. We worked well together from the beginning so it was relatively easy to see that our skills and thought processes complimented each other in a productive way. Eventually the collaborative experiences work their way back into the classroom in the form of projects, events or organizations. Although, we are always looking for ways to improve and expand those experiences.
Above: Tim Dooley's 2-D collaborative wheat paste collage project, 2016.
L: How does collaboration benefit the individual artist?
MWP: A lot of what we do magnifies the ideas we see in each other's work. For instance, we might individually have the seed of an idea, but without the dialogue of collaboration that idea may not develop as quickly or as far as it does under the direction of both of us. We are pretty hard on our work and we feel strongly that we can accomplish more together than separately.
L: What constitutes a healthy collaboration or collective?
MWP: Honesty and trust to start with. We get a kick out of artists who work 'collaboratively' but fail to realize that telling somebody what to do is not collaboration. Full power to stomp on and veto and direct the idea is essential for all participants in a true collaboration.
L: What undermines a collaboration or collective effort?
MWP: Ego.
MWP: A lot of what we do magnifies the ideas we see in each other's work. For instance, we might individually have the seed of an idea, but without the dialogue of collaboration that idea may not develop as quickly or as far as it does under the direction of both of us. We are pretty hard on our work and we feel strongly that we can accomplish more together than separately.
L: What constitutes a healthy collaboration or collective?
MWP: Honesty and trust to start with. We get a kick out of artists who work 'collaboratively' but fail to realize that telling somebody what to do is not collaboration. Full power to stomp on and veto and direct the idea is essential for all participants in a true collaboration.
L: What undermines a collaboration or collective effort?
MWP: Ego.
Above: Freebird: Not so Free - a collaborative project between Midwest Pressed and UNI art students. The installation, which I had the pleasure of participating in, was assembled with a live performance component at SGCI printmaking conference in Knoxville 2015. You can read more about this specific project at the Printeresting blog here.