From June to August 2020, TYPA hosted a British-American couple, Sarah and James, each working on their own printing project. James spent time improving his letterpress skills and fluent in a series of ten poems entitled “Seascapes and Dreamscapes,” which he wrote during his adventures at sea. Sarah’s works were also inspired by ocean waters, but they took the form of large-scale drawings and engravings depicting underwater life. During her art residency, he completed and finished these works and also worked on an algae project.
ames Sullivan / Cook is a British photographer and poet. He is inspired by the ocean, where he sails most of his time – literally, because he works as a helmsman on a ship. Spending a lot of time on board large tankers crossing endless ocean resources, James writes poetry and takes pictures. During his time at TYPA, he delved into letterpress art and film photography, using these tools as his artistic and poetic medium. Together with Sarah Epping, they run the art gallery and graphic studio CTRL-Print in Wrocław, Poland. James Sutherland Seascapes and Dreamscapes All writings are mediations. My project “Seascapes and Dreamscapes” was written during six months at sea. My contract length was three months. Due to Covid my time kept on getting pushed back. These poems were written in that extended time. Living on a ship is strange. The days, filled with shift work and the occasional port, begin to blur together. Your memory feels like it is fragmenting. And, when you return you feel like the world has moved on around you. As I tried to capture this fragmentation. My writing became stranger, more abstract “A basic life support” was, for example, composed of sentences taken verbatim from the “Ships Captains Medical Guide Vol.22” and “Ivory” is a re-imagining of the Tooth Fairy. I hope that you enjoy these poems as much as I enjoyed creating them. Firstly, at sea where my imagination stretched way out beyond the horizon. Secondly, at Typa, where I squinted over 12pt font and built the poems letter by letter. www.jamessutherlandartist.com Sarah is a multi-award-winning printmaker. She has participated in more than 40 international exhibitions and has been recognized in two national competitions. Her graphic works can be found in the Chinese Museum of Graphic Arts, the Mark Arts Foundation Art Center in the USA and the Polish Museums of Graphic Arts in Poznań and Łódź. Her work describes the impact of man on the planet and the balance between destruction and destructive beauty.
During her stay here, she made several major graphic works for his “Narcosis” series. Sarah also led a gravure printing workshop “Wild Graphics” using natural resources. The workshop proved to be very successful and successful, resulting in beautiful botanical work. Sarah took part in the “Muhu Print” event, for which she collected algae and made paper from them. He created beautiful large-scale papers from the growth of algae (which is often a side effect of the infiltration of agricultural fertilizers into the water), which she used in his works and installations. These two artists were one of the most active participants in the TYPA art residency and made their names known in the Tartu cultural landscape. We hope to see them again in TYPA soon!