Kathryn Desforges: Meet The Maker

I'm Kathryn Desforges, a Devon-born, Yorkshire-based artist with a passion for printmaking, process, and material experimentation. I specialise in etching, lithography and woodcut, and alongside my studio practice, my career as a printmaking technician and tutor intertwines with and informs my work.

I love working intuitively with materials - embracing and exploiting incidental marks and chance happenings. Moving between representational and non-representational, the interaction and influence of elemental forces and structures is a recurring theme in my work. I aim to make pieces which feel balanced, grounded and calming, with a quiet simplicity that draws the viewer in, inviting reflection and moments of stillness in an otherwise busy world.

Describe your printmaking process.

I don't have a fixed way of working, and for me print is not necessarily something I do to create a finished piece. I use it quite experimentally, often I'll make monoprints as a way of starting a piece or generating ideas. Sometimes these then get cut up and collaged together to create new forms and compositions.

I use a range of different techniques in my work, mainly mokuhanga, (Japanese-style woodblock printing), mokulito, (lithography on wood), and etching. I don't usually have a fixed idea of what I'm going to make, a piece usually comes about through a kind-of conversation with the materials I'm using, letting them guide and nudge me in a particular direction.

I get excited when I find a new way of doing something which gives me a result I've not seen before. I love it when I can see traces of the materials I've used in the finished work - allowing them to come through and be part of the process.

How and where did you learn to print?

I learned etching from a brilliant technician on my Fine Art degree at Kingston University, and have been in love with printmaking ever since! I graduated in 2005, and went on to do an artist residency at Intaglio Printmaker in London - a hugely valuable year where I honed my etching skills and taught myself photo-etching. Shortly afterwards I moved to Yorkshire, and I've carried on learning since then.

Being a print technician means I have to know a lot about a wide variety of print processes. I've undertaken various artist residencies during my career. I studied lithography at Leicester Print Workshop for a year, and back in 2018 I went to Japan for five weeks to study Japanese woodblock printing, which has been hugely influential in my work since.

Why printmaking?

I love the physicality of printmaking - its almost sculptural nature. You are physically interacting with the materials - carving, scratching, gouging, sanding. The particular qualities of the marks you get from each print process are totally unique - the random, incidental marks that you get when you're making an etching for example - the areas of 'foul bite' where it etches through in unexpected places - that's what I love. The unpredictability of the materials means it's always exciting and always leads me to make images which are surprising. I have a tendency to think too much, and making a print helps to get me out of my head and into my body, relying on my knowledge of the materials I'm using to make decisions - how stiff the ink is, how smooth the wood is, how damp the paper is. It's an all-consuming, sensory activity and I love it!

 

Where do you work?

I have a little studio at home, which I have managed to squeeze an etching press into. It's a great little space and I cherish the time I get to spend in it. Sometimes I'm joined by my two furry feline studio helpers too. I also work part-time as a print technician at West Yorkshire Print Workshop - a fantastic, Arts Council-funded print studio with impressive facilities and an immensely supportive community of artists and printmakers. Recently I've been running the Print Fellowship programme - a year-long opportunity for a young person to learn the skills to become a print technician. It's massively rewarding to pass on skills and see someone flourishing!

Describe a typical day in your studio.

An average day in my studio starts off with a cup of strong Yorkshire tea. I'll plan what I need to do and try to pin down my priorities for the day, which is often getting ready for a course I'm teaching - sorting materials, writing handouts, etc. On days where I'm able to focus on my own practice, I can often be found experimenting with some print technique that I've been thinking about for ages! When I'm excited about something I can often hyperfocus for hours and completely lose track of time. Recently I've been trying out painterly monoprinting, using a wood block as a matrix. These experiments will often work their way into pieces later down the line.

How long have you been printmaking?

I've been doing this ever since I graduated. That was back in 2005, so almost 20 years!

What inspires you?

I get inspiration from a really wide variety of things - walking, nature, books, art. But a lot of the time it's the beauty in very mundane, everyday things which captures my attention - something as simple as light streaming in through a window and hitting the wall in an interesting shape or pattern. Often it is the movement and flow of natural elements which preoccupies me. Robert McFarlane's book 'Underland' has been a big inspiration recently, as have a couple of exhibitions I've seen in the last few years - Helen Frankenthaler 'Radical Beauty' at Dulwich Picture Gallery was one. Her abstract, painterly prints were a revelation! I recently saw an exhibition of Andrew Cranston's paintings at The Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield. The way he applied the paint to the canvas was beautiful, and it made me want to use print in a more painterly way. 

What is your favourite printmaking product?

I've always been a big fan of Charbonnel etching inks, particularly black 55985 which is a beautifully, smooth, rich, intense black. I also love Awagami Japanese papers. They are brilliant for woodblock printing, lithography and lots of different print processes.

What have you made that you are most proud of?

I made a piece in 2020 called 'Support Structures', which is still up there as one of my favourites. It was one of those pieces where everything seemed to come together and just work, even though it was technically quite challenging to make. It was featured in Living Etc magazine, and the whole edition sold out. I had a lot of feedback from people saying they connected with it as an image, which felt pretty good! One of the best things about being an artist is when people connect with your work, and if they connect with it enough to buy it to have on their wall and live with it every day, that's a huge thing. 

Where can we see your work? Where do you sell?

You can see more of my work on my website. I'm updating my online shop there at the moment with some newer pieces, but you can subscribe to my mailing list and I'll keep you up-to-date.

What will we be seeing from you next?

At the moment I'm revisiting a series called 'Fragments' which I started a few years ago. They're playful, one-off pieces on plywood which combine collage, print and drawing. I'm enjoying the freedom of working with abstract shapes and playing with composition. Some of my more recent work has also started to move into three dimensions, coming out from the wall and taking up physical space, to the point where I've recently made my first ever 3-D pieces! So I'm looking forward to making more, and seeing what follows.

Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives?

Exhibit when you can, get to know other printmakers and make sure that you have a supportive community of other artists around you. It helps when you're in your studio by yourself to know that you have a network of other people that you can ask for help when you're feeling stuck or bounce questions off. 

If you'd like to learn more about the techniques Kathryn has mentioned here, why not join her for a workshop in Handprinted Studio?

Mokulito with Kathryn Desforges - 2-day course - Sat 15th & Sun 16th Feb 2025

Mokuhanga with Kathryn Desforges - 2-day course - Mon 17th & Tues 18th Feb 2025

To see more of Kathryn follow her on Instagram.