Who spit on our cover?
The cover art chose itself for this issue, says photographer and printmaker Carey Good of Providence, who created it.
“I started etching on three copper plates. Soon, I discarded the biggest of the three. The second plate had a woodsy and pondish feel to it. But with the third scratch plate, I kept it loose, and it showed its personality to me,” they relate in an interview at White Electric Coffee Co-Op.
“I chased it down. Its emotional landscapes feel earthy to me. This third plate told me it was the one to send to Motif,” they add.
Good describes the “spit bite” process they used in creating the cover art. First, they dripped saliva onto the copper plate. Then, they dripped acid onto the saliva, so that the acid would stay put on the plate as it becomes the texture of the background of the piece.
“The physical texture of the plate shows how the etching is very rich, and is sculptural,” Good explains. There’s a darkness dancing through the etching, because it’s for the Winter Guide, but it also indicates that spring will come, they add.
How best to define this type of art?
Good points to this 1975 quote by Richard Field, then-curator at Wesleyan’s Davison Art Center: “Not only is there the reversal of the image, the uncertain action of the acid, and the lengthy and delicate printing process, but the image itself is built up of countless layers of decisions which have been exploited and consciously incorporated into the content of the work… Etching’s cool derives from the fact that it is the most subtle form of sculpture. The lines and tones are in fact physical textures; they stand in relief and are not illusion.”
“I’ve been a photographer my whole life,” says Good, who grew up in Canton, CT, calling it, “A little town in the woods and the hills.”
When Good was in middle school, they aced a test in history, the subject they liked the least. As a reward, their father gave them a 35mm camera. “I went out into the yard and took pictures of all the plants,” they recall.
They still use their 35mm, along with a large format camera.
“It was in high school that I fell in love with the darkroom and the whole process of developing film,” they say. “The photography teacher gave me one of her darkroom keys because she was tired of my always asking for the key. She was a wonderful teacher, and provided lots of free rolls of film.”
In 2013, Good graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) with a BFA in Photography and a minor in Printmaking.
In their sophomore year, they got interested in etching, and have stayed with it ever since.
After moving to PVD, they taught at AS220 and the Providence Art Club. Good just finished a gardening gig, which had started in July, with Outer Spaces landscaping company, based in PVD and Osamequin Farm. They plan to devote the winter months to their art, and run a few workshops here and there.
Good admires the work of photographer Annie Leibovitz. “But her personal work as opposed to her professional assignments, especially her portraits of Susan Sontag,” they say. One of their favorite artists is Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele, who is noted for the usage of contour lines. “His portraits are very expressive and emotional.”
They conclude, “It all circles back to emotion. I just react to what’s in front of me, and respond to the physical copper itself. I also respond to what I see, and where the etching goes. Sometimes we fight about it, but we always have a coming together at the end.”
–John Picinich
Good’s photos and printmaking can be viewed at careygood.com.