Philly Plain Dealer

Dan Dwyer chuckled at the podcast he was listening to while scrubbing the red off of his hands. Before he knew it, the bathtub of his Philadelphia apartment was speckled with tiny flecks of crimson. Dwyer found himself frantically trying to wash ink off of his printing supplies, splattering the shower curtain with a concerning shade of red in the process. What would his roommates say when they saw the gruesome display? As a student of Printmaking at Temple University, he had almost wished it was merely an essay he was tidying up at two o’clock in the morning, not his bathroom. 

Before he had graduated from Temple University in 2023, Dwyer was driven by deadlines, used to creating art by demand. Being in the city, surrounded by friends and supportive professors, inspiration was readily available. But on the days when he found himself struggling to create, he knew that he needed to separate himself from the studio. 

Philadelphia is a place full of artistry, and one day Dwyer took a lunch break in Rittenhouse Square, hoping to find inspiration for the school work that was piling up. There, he met a poet, perched behind his typewriter wearing a coffee-brown fedora. The poet’s name was Marshall James Kavanaugh, known on social media as @dreampoetforhire, and he was notable for being able to write poetry on the spot when simply given a single word. “I was stuck on all of these ideas and didn’t know how to get them out. Deadlines would come up and I was still in the drawing phase [of my projects]. And so, the word I gave him was ‘separation’ because I was still working through all those ideas,” said Dwyer, recalling his encounter with the friendly poet in Rittenhouse Square. 

After being satisfied with his new poem about separation, it was time for Dwyer to work on his lithography piece. Coincidentally enough, lithography is a form of printing where separation is essential to create an image. A printmaker uses a completely flat slab of limestone and utilizes an oil or grease-based pencil to make marks. After the marks are made, the artist then takes a sponge and goes over them with water. The interaction between the water and the oil creates negative space, and thus an image is born.

 Dwyer reminisced, laughing about how while working on his design, the limestone cracked. After recovering from his panic–the flat limestone is an expensive tool– Dwyer was reminded of one his biggest inspirations, Robert Rauschenberg, and his print titled “Accident.”

“Rauschenberg did a piece while he was printing and his piece of limestone split in half. That happens if you don’t  level the stone correctly. Sometimes the pressure is just too much and you’ll get a split.” Explained Dwyer. Rauschenberg’s “Accident” is currently on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 

Rauschenberg’s  “Accident” proves that splits, while initially distressing, can also be enthralling and influential. When asked about any possible motifs in Dwyer’s art, he mentioned the split of his parents, and how their divorce affected him. “A lot of my work during college was about working through what it means to be like a kid who is split between two households, and what it means to float in this space between them,” said Dwyer. 

Separation is not only essential for certain kinds of printing (like lithography), but also for handling burnout. According to Dwyer, burnout isn’t something to be afraid of, but rather something that reminds us that we need a break.  “There are gonna be periods in your life where you’re creatively burned out, or you have other shit to focus on…Keep trying to get back into it, but don’t let it beat you up too much,” he advises. 

When it comes to preventing burnout, Dwyer emphasizes  the healthy pressure of deadlines.  “I think post grad, where there’s no one to tell you when [an art piece] needs to be done, it’s easy to push it off a couple of days,” said Dwyer. He admitted that he needed to work on holding himself accountable at times, but that is something you need to practice once you graduate from school. 

According to Dwyer, sometimes you need to step away. Inspiration comes from experiences, and if you find yourself stuck in the “drawing phase” for too long,  maybe it’s time to go outside or hang out with friends. Separating yourself from your work doesn’t make you any less of an artist, and if art is your passion, you will always find your way back! Recent post-graduates need to understand that it’s natural to create less when you aren’t being graded on your projects. Embrace the “accidents” and don’t be afraid of burnout.  Remember, it was too much pressure that created the split in the limestone, so imagine what happens when you put too much pressure on yourself!

To see more of Dan Dwyer’s work, check out his instagram @dwyer.design!