Name of workshop directors or partners. Are they artists as well as technicians?
Jörge de Sousa Noronha - Point & Marge Editions
Artist and technician, partner of IDL Graphique

Name of person responding to this questionnaire:
Jörge de Sousa Noronha. Point & Marge Editions, Paris

Date of founding of the workshop:
Point & Marge Workshop was founded in 1977.

What is your workshop like?
Point & Marge is an independant department inside IDL structure (1840 / 300m2), With an independant working place. Point & Marge provides a litho presse, an etching presse, and other studio equipment.

What media do you work in?
Lithography on stone exclusively. (work on stone and aluminium plates is also available inside IDL).

Are you public or private?
We are private structures.

How many staff do you have currently?
8 persons work generaly as permanent personal. Time to time, two or three more
persons can came to work. (occasional artists are not included).

Do you have other activities besides printmaking, such as classes, exhibits, etc?
Point & Marge organise regularly special courses, lectures or workshops, inside or outside the studio ( Christie's Education Paris, EAC etc). we also participate to exhibitions and fairs in France or abroad. Another important activity for me is writing (wich takes practicaly 40 % of my Working time) -technical or historical books, articles, critical textes essais...

Are you print publishers, as well? Do you sell prints?
We are print publishers, and selling prints. A new catalogue is in hand.

How did your workshop originate?
Point & Marge studio emmerged in 1977 in Bergerac / Dordogne (" L'atelier de lirthographie ") and become soon a center for teaching lithography and publishing as well, withe my own work, at the begining, and later with many other artists (summer courses, editions etc.).

If you had to start again, what would you do differently?
Mabe nothink differently. A printmaking studio must be allways in " movement ", It's a permanent evoluating structure. It's also the one's life professional experiennce and echanges with so many artistes.

How has the workshop evolued from the early days? Are you still doing the same things in the same way, or have you changed? In what way?
In 1986, the workshop come to Paris, and the studio was first installed (fore one year) inside " Confluences ", another structure for artistes. After this, it was established in Créteil (near Paris), working and teaching in lithography and in etching ( 5 persons, all artists).
In 1997, the studio was relocated in Paris (45, Marx Dormoy / Paris XVIII) for another periode, with a new very litle structure, The Micro Studio, oriented to work and teaching as well, in lithography only. This was also a very interesting experience, and the occasion to organise exhibitions inside the place.
In 2002 the studio moved again and is now relocated with IDL (52, rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, 75010 Paris).

Is your workshop unique or different from the others? In what way?
I don't thing that it's a unique workshop, excepte, mabe,by the fact that my studio is, by now, oriented and specialised in working on stone only, generaly in Chine collé technique and JDS process. But, actualy, as we know, each studio is different, each place is obviously charged by the personality of the director and the specifications of the structure itself and the people workink in there.

What is your method of working with artists ?
Until 2000, I used to work with artists for editions, books, etc., and teaching lithography as well. Since that date, I don't teach lithograpy techniques in my studio anny more. Only occasionaly, I am doing courses, or lectures outside the studio.
For me, work with artists is to respect their different caracteres, is to be opened to different styles, is to give only technical advice at the good moment, is to be able to instale a climate of confidence and is also to have, over hall, a very collaborative attitude.

What artists have you worked with?
Since the begining, my studio had publications with many artists from France or foreign countries. Yvonne Boag, Ron McBurnie, Anne Lord, Basil Hall (Australia), L.P.Bougie (Canada), M.Nisser (Sueden), L.Tayeb, Marie Alloy (France), Xavier, and many others.

Tell us a bit more about the most interesting ones: incidents, anecdotes...
An interestin and amazing moment was , for example, when I published a collectf artist book called " Five hundred dollarts " with five artists from different countries. Each artist revisited the bill of 100 dollars. We took a lot of pictures with the bills disposed side by side on a table and we had a lot of fun with all this. We had the impression of being sudenly five very reach artists.
More recently another nice experience was the pulication of " Le crâne du cyclope " a LITHOCINE, wich is an artist book by André Chedid ( a poem) and Xavier (lithographs) on a graphic lay out by J. de Sousa. The Goal was to print the images on China paper, for the book, and also on a PVC film (stabyphane). The film, hand colored by Xavier, can be seen inside a special black box , and across a tube with lens. The ensemble was presented in a gallery during " Le Mois de L'Estampe à Paris.

How do you feel about the current moment in printmaking? Are you optimistic or pessimistic? Why?
What do you think are the major issues the community of printmakers needs to address?
Well, theses are very good questions. In one hand we have a very low market for prints, but, in the other hand the current " revolution " of printing techniques, should bring, actualy, good feelings for a new perception and a new reevaluation for printmaking arts. We must absolutly forget the past and look for the future, as new tools arrive to be added to all the others we had until now.The revolution is not so much to change every thing, but to accepte new evidences. Now, more than ever, sites like " Worldprintmakers " are being more and more powerful and with the new medias, this will finish by developpe (we hoppe) a new interest of the public to prints and printmaking, to new forms of image. It seemed to me that, at this point, painters or sculpters or even conceptual artists are not so lucky.
Yes I am optimistic, as far as artistes can be interested by hand made techniques in printmaking, I mean, " all " techniques.The world of printmakers is moving very fast, and one must accepte to be adapted to new warking ways, to go with the movement. Studions should go away with " new ideas ", new methodes. Inform the public is today no more enough. Printmaking must bring to him new productes, modern devices and new programmes for a future new edcation.

Do you have norms for the editions done in your workshop? What are they? What do you consider the numerical limit for a true limited edition? Or does the limit vary according to the different print media?
We have the norms generaly in usage in printmaking. Point & Marge is editionning in very small editions (some times 20, 25 pieces) for prints and for artist books as well.
20 tà 50 is very good now adays. 50 to 100 is still acceptable, more than 100/150, regarding the present market, seemed to me, to be to much. I mean for original prints, signed and numbered by the artist.

What's the best thing about having a printmaking workshop? And the worst?
For me the best thig is the relationship, and the way of a collaborative activity.
The worst would be to have no projets no plans to the future, to stay there wayting for artists, publishers or the public.

Regarding the marketplace, who buys limited-edition fine-art prints?
The maket is actuely very reduced but it's still there. We must go to him, and show what we are doing and why we are doing. We must allways have in mind that the young public today as a very different education, and printmaking is something to him to be completly discovered.

What do you think might be done to make art buyers more aware of the true limited-edition fine-art print?
Education, education education ...since the primary school. I mean education in the sens of open the curiosity of young people to every thing. Yougs are now convinced that computers " has every thing inside ". But this is very wrong, as far as you need to be curious to go to find what you realy need, and actuly, to know what exists there to be discovered.

What is your opinion of the current upsurge of digital fine-art prints?
Digital is certainly as important as photography was when it appeared, and a new revolution of graphics is comming just under our eys.

Can the traditional hand-pulled print "coexist peacefully" with the digital print?
As photography, I think that the new medias can " coexist peacefully " with the precedent ones. A " new familly " is comming into studios. We must open the door ans say : wellcome ! but we must stay vigilants. To create some thing you allways need to have a creater. Computer art is not a " game " to every body to do art. As for anny other medium, if you are not an artist, your work will be not credible.

We understand that you have recently discussed the terminology of digital printmaking in an article and have come up with some new terms. Could you tell us about it?
With my friend June Wayne we had long discutions about new terms in lithography, giclé, digital prints etc.
I recently began to talk more and more about a new term wich I invented for digital printmaking (only): " digigraphics " wich can be used as a general term or as a more particular one as " digigraphs " (" digis "), for exemple, and this works in french and in english as well.

What are your principal sources of information about the world of printmaking?
Books, art revues, catalogues, internet...

Where do you think printmaking will go in the next 10 years?
This is a difficult question. Nevertheless I thing pritmakers tends to work each time biger and biger. But all this depends of what people will be donne with culture and education for the next ten years.

You have written several books about printmaking LA MEMOIRE LITHOGRAPHIQUE, L'ESTAMPE, OBJET RARE...) How did this come about? (And where do you find the time?!) How were the books received by the print loving public?
As I sad, books take an important part in my life. When I become to worke in lithography I was very astonished that I couldn't find no anny recent book on it in french. I began taking notes allways with tha idea of publish it latter, what was done for a firs book LITHOGRAPHIE , PRECIS TECHNIQUE.After this, other books come, like L'ESTAMPE, DE LE GRAVURE A L'IMPRESSION, and the more recent ones wich you mentioned on the top of this questionnary. Generaly all my books had a very good accetation by the public, and they are apreciated by professionals. Naturally each book corresponds to a periode of my life were my time was partialy devoted to research and writing. I must say I like this. It's for me like a time to study, to think, to synthetise ideas and working methods.

What is your JDS Lithocolour process? Is it something entirely new, or a refinement of older techniques?
Yes JDS is new and different. Nevertheless, like anny other technique, one must adapt it to his own work, or choose it because it can be very well adapted to a particular kind of work. (see my separate article and illustrations on it).

We understand that Point et Marge has entered into collaboration with Paris's oldest functioning lithography studio, IDL Graphique. Can you tell us a bit about that collaboration. How did it come about? What exactly do you do? What does Point et Marge offer IDL that they can't do for themselves ?
This is a recent collaboration (2002), of a " common interest ". IDL provides a large space of 300m2, with 3 maccanised litho presses, and 4 hand litho presses, where I installed my ouwn place and presses, as an independant department. They are very old friends, and our collaboration is at different levels : artistical and technical advice or management, exhibitions, workshops organisation, and publications. I also took to there another hand lithopress and an etching press, and ather devices. IDL Graphique is working with artists as Yve Clerc, Schuiten, Chu Teh Chun Ruiz Pipo, Pincemin, and many others, and editionning old prestigious pasters as well. My books are shown to sell there, and I also provide to visitors, when it occurs, all information about printmaking and printmaking techniques, as well as to show and to explain my work on JDS lithocolour process.

Contact:
Jörge de Sousa Noronha : 0142094409 - 0142450334 - 0681247014
Email : de-sousa.jorge@wanadoo.fr