Maxwell Pius - Printmaking

Printmaking

Personal Projects

2019-Present

One thing to know about me is that I have a deep passion for print. I enjoy the tactile nature that printmaking gives me and how it allows my work to exist off a screen as a physical work. The process of printmaking, more specifically the repetition, is what I enjoy and makes me feel like a machine when I print. Printmaking gives me creative freedom and allows me to have an artistic outlet while staying imaginative. Even when I’m not designing, I’m still creating. I have experimented with many methods of printing including screen printing, hand carving linoleum, laser engraving acrylic, foil stamping, letterpress, monotype, risograph, and more. While I often combine methods to create my prints, I also like to push the mediums that I work with. I love trying new things; from different kinds of paper, to ink types, to finishes, I am always thinking about the interaction I want someone to have with my art. This mentality and desire for tactility is expressed in my work as a designer as well. Although I am not studying print, I am a very active member of the printing community at UNT and am the Treasurer of the printmaking club P.A.N.T.S. (Printmaking Association of North Texas Students). Beyond budgeting for the club, I also help create designs, produce prints, and design boxes for our print trades. Printmaking is a part of me and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Repetition of Sounds
in Speech

Relief Printed on Rives BFK

26" x 40"

1 of 1

2019

This work is from a series revolving around repetition with this piece focusing on speech. In the English language and in most languages, there are twelves shapes that our mouths make when creating speech. An example of a distinct moth shape is saying “Oh” or "Shh". These are just two of the 12 examples of repetition in speech. Using these 12 shapet is these shapes that are repeated over and over to create our vocabulary. In an average day, a person will speak 7,000-10,000 words. From those 7,000-10,000 words, the same 600-900 words are repeated over and over to create our daily total, and we do this by repeating the same sounds and shapes that our mouth makes. I made this work by creating twelve stamps of a mouth, each making one of the twelve shapes. I created them in a graphic style so that they would be recognizable with their bold red lips and bright white teeth. I then hand stamped 648 mouths to represent the amount of words we say in a given day. These were then stamped onto a 26" x 40" piece of paper, while going back in and drawing teeth when necessary. The order of these stamps is random, just like in reality, your entire day’s speech is not planned. Some of these lips overlap, some are very opaque and bold, and some very light and soft. This relates to speech as sometimes we stutter, repeat ourselves, shout, or whisper. This piece is also applicable to most languages, as they use the same twelve mouth profiles to create sounds and their speech. The only difference between speaking another language and your current language is the order that these sounds are in, we are all making the same shapes and sounds, but the order is incredibly crucial in order to create speech. Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly repeating ourselves, one sound at a time.