The Master of the Silkscreen
BY CHRISTINA MORGAN

Hunter-Young Professor of Studio Art John Pearson has been a member of Oberlin’s Art Department since 1972. Pearson was born in Yorkshire, England, trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London and received his M.F.A. from Northern Illinois University. He has recently published a book Silkscreen: The Poster Project, chronicling 28 years of student silkscreen posters. Arts editor Christina Morgan sat down with Pearson to discuss silkscreening and other artsy topics.

(photo by Pauline Shapiro)

Christina Morgan: You taught at Novia Scotia College of Art and Design, the University of New Mexico and were the International Artist in Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Art before coming to Oberlin. How did you end up teaching here?

John Pearson: Very simple. Being English, and not knowing a great deal about American colleges, I had never heard of Oberlin. Another artist, Sol LeWitt, was invited to the Cleveland Institute of Art to meet with students. 

The faculty here heard he was coming, and asked him to give a talk to Oberlin, and my wife and I drove him to Oberlin, and as we were driving in, my wife –– we had two young kids at the time — exclaimed that she wanted to live here. Two Oberlin art professors were going on sabbatical in consecutive years and the College called and asked if I wanted to teach a course, and I said ‘okay.’

CM: You have taught the class ARTS 053: “Visual Concepts and Process: Silkscreen” at Oberlin since 1972. Students in this class learn much more than just the silkscreening process. What is it about this class that you think makes it so popular?

JP: Students investigate their own ideas in the class; I don’t impose mine. My goal is to bring out their own creativity. The nice thing about silkscreen is you can print on any canvas, the process can be built into wallpaper, photography, etc. I’m also very demanding, I really push them. I think Oberlin students respect that.

CM: I understand that you are very well versed in painting and sculpture. What began your involvement with silkscreen?


JP: I was doing very large paintings and doings some drawings for the campus, and it was very tedious. An artist friend of mine suggested using silkscreen and it was a disaster at first. I hated it. 

Then after six months of working with it started to work well, and it sped up the process. I really took cues from Andy Warhol in terms of the technical process, but not in themes. 


CM: You have held over 90 one-man shows throughout your career in everywhere from Japan to Croatia. Is there one show that sticks out in our mind as being particularly important or memorable?

JP: I think probably one remembers the highlights. When I was quite young, 23, I held a show in the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, a very progressive space. That led to some important exhibitions in Germany. But I tend to think of the latest work as the most important, because I’m closest to it. 

CM: In the book you published, Silkscreen: The Poster Project, you had to choose from years and years of student-created silkscreen posters. How did you choose which ones to include in the book?

JP: I don’t keep a formal archive. Over the years posters students left lying around I kept in a drawer for students to look at them for examples. 
I have 250 posters and simply chose 100 posters that showed different approaches to design over the different periods of time. And because last semester the students produced a good number of posters, six were included.

CM: Do you have a favorite poster in the book?


JP: No, I don’t really. To me, they’re all equally fascinating and interesting and they reflect the different personalities of the students.


CM: How do you see silkscreening at Oberlin changing in the coming years?

JP: Every semester, there are different students with different ideas. In the late ’70s the emphasis was on race and gender issues. 
Each generation brings a different set of cultural values, whatever happens in the culture is going to create the change and I can’t predict the future.