Barbara Zankovich won a Judge’s Choice Award, selected by Joey Yu, in Jackson’s Art Prize this year with her work Football in the Courtyard. In this interview, Barbara shares how she developed her mixed media linocut process, and how she balances teaching and working on her own art practice.
Above image: Barbara in the studio.
Football in the Courtyard, 2022
Barbara Zankovich
Lino print on paper, 40 x 60 cm | 15.7 x 23.6 in
Josephine: Could you tell us about your artistic background?
Barbara: I was born and raised in Saint Petersburg. Although I didn’t have a formal fine art education as a child, attending a music school significantly influenced my tastes and interests. I drew for myself but only seriously considered studying fine arts at the age of 15. At the time, I was going through a tough period for personal and family reasons. I was preparing to start law school and considered becoming a lawyer. Finding my tutor, the artist Roman Olenich, was a blessing. His classes were a kind of ‘retreat’ for me, where I could hide. As a result of these classes and the new individuals I met, I decided to completely rearrange my priorities.
I was allowed to attend drawing and painting classes as a free listener with second-year students at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, but these classes conflicted with my school lessons, so I had to skip the latter. My teacher was able to prepare me for the Academy’s entrance exams, which I passed on the first try. Many people I encountered along the way were accommodating and supportive.
In my fifth year, I went to Paris to study at Ecole de Beaux Arts in workshops of Jean-Michael Alberolla and Wernher Bouwens as an exchange student for a year. After I returned, I continued my study at the Academy. In 2021 I graduated from a book design workshop at the Academy of Fine Arts. For my diploma project, I illustrated Stanislaw Lem’s science fiction novel Solaris in linocut. Then I continued my education in a two-year assistantship program to gain teaching experience. My close supervisor, Klim Lee, passed away soon after, and he was replaced by a different supervisor who would not let me teach. All these factors influenced my decision to quit the program, and I have never regretted it. At the time I already started exhibiting and working as an artist.
Simultaneously with my study, I began teaching privately to earn a living. I now have my own workshop, where students attend my classes.
Illustration for Stanislaw Lems science fiction novel Solaris, 2021
Barbara Zankovich
Reduction linocut, 41 × 26.5 cm | 16.1 x 10.4 in
Josephine: What does a typical working day in the studio look like for you? Do you have any important routines or rituals?
Barbara: I have students nearly every day. I try to schedule classes with them early in the morning so that I can get up and arrive sooner at my workshop. I try to make time to stop by for coffee. I’m a little obsessed with cleanliness; it’s critical for me that the workshop is clean. Suddenly, I can start scrubbing the floors and devote all of my time to it. I normally work in silence but when I perform more craft-related jobs, like linoleum engraving, I listen to lectures, podcasts, or music. I normally work until 9:00 pm because my route home takes an hour and I try to keep up my sleeping schedule.
Preparing paper in the linocut workshop in the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg
Josephine: Which materials or tools could you not live without?
Barbara: I use acrylic for all of my sketches for upcoming pastels or linocut pieces. Speaking about linocuts, I use oil paints for that in the absence of relief printing ink, and it also requires particular paper, a press, and particular rollers – many essential items that I could not live without!
Palette with acrylic paints
Josephine: Do you employ any unique techniques in your printmaking process?
Barbara: It so happened that I had a good relationship with the engraving teacher at the Academy, Yuri Bashkirtsev. I went every summer to the engraving workshop at the institute when it was closed for the summer, where I could experiment freely. I stopped rolling paint flat onto the form, and instead, I painted on the linocut forms with different paints, and splashed thinners on them – trying to achieve different effects. I think I consolidated the style in engraving in Paris, where I studied as an exchange student at École des Beaux-Arts in the workshop of Wernher Bouwens. I observed the various abstract painters there and their “free” approach. I worked in offset there, combining lithography and linocut. I believe I was able to relax and let go of total control. I use multiple colours when drawing on engraved plates, wiping away any excess, and adding effects with magnesium chalk. I apply a very thick layer of paint, but I have no idea precisely how it will spread out under the press. This surprising behaviour of the paint under the press has grown to be my favourite part of the process.
La Placette, 2020
Barbara Zankovich
Reduction linocut, 50 × 70 cm | 19.6 x 27.5 in
Josephine: Do you regularly draw or keep a sketchbook? If so, how does this inform your work?
Barbara: I don’t start any work without a precise drawing – it doesn’t matter whether it’s a portrait in acrylic or a landscape in pastel. I always make sketches. The very first small black and white sketches at the stage of finding shapes are done in a sketchbook. I also do many character research sketches in there for my illustrations. After the sketchbook, I make numerous colour sketches on a large sheet of paper.
Eva, 2024
Barbara Zankovich
Soft pastel, 45 × 60 cm | 17.7 x 23.6 in
Josephine: Have you ever had a period of stagnation in creativity? If so, what helped you overcome it?
Barbara: Theatre, poetry, literature, music, and other forms of creativity keep my creative juices flowing. I can’t claim I often experience periods of creative paralysis; my primary issue is that there are only 24 hours in a day. Now my main source of income is teaching which takes up a lot of time leaving little time for my own art. My spirit has suffered significantly as a result of political events in my country; I continue to feel a lot of pressure; sometimes in such conditions it can be tough to gather my courage and just sit down to work.
Barbara Zankovich in the workshop in the Academy of Fine Arts.
Josephine: Are there any specific artists or mentors who have inspired you?
Barbara: I love the Nabis group, Nicolas de Staël, Matisse, and the American artist Bernie Fuchs. At the beginning of my career, I looked a lot at Rockwell Kent, at his engravings, and Japanese engravings for colour. My supervisor at the institute, Klim Lee, was an interesting graphic artist and I still admire his charcoal portraits. Before I entered I already knew for sure that I wanted to get into his studio. I enjoy the works of some artists I follow online such as Kouta Sasai, Jan Rauchwerger and others… The list is huge.
Barbara Zankovich in her studio.
Josephine: How did it feel to realise you had won Joey Yu’s Judge’s Choice award?
Barbara: It was very unexpected. Of course, I was happy with such a high assessment. Such victories and acknowledgments make you go further.
Tools in the workshop in Academy of Fine Arts
Josephine: How did you achieve the oxidised effect that can be seen in Football in the Courtyard? It adds a real sense of texture and interest to the piece.
Barbara: There were moments when the institute ran out of paint and I had to come up with something. I started buying transparent white printing ink from a local brand store and mixing it with oil paints. I degreased the paints in the paper and added magnesium powder to dry it more. The more you dry it, the more such effects you gain.
Relief printing inks in the workshop in the Academy
Josephine: What is your linocut process? Do you employ any unusual techniques?
Barbara: Now I work in my workshop with a modest press that can handle projects ranging from 40 to 60 cm in size. I put on my work clothes, remove the rings, place plexiglass on the table – this is my workspace – and roll out paints with a roller on it. I then apply paint onto the engraved forms, draw on them with my fingers or rollers (sometimes with whatever comes to hand, to be honest), prepare paints, degrease the oil if necessary, cut sheets of paper, and prepare coarse thread to dry the prints. I wipe off the second table so that I may immediately touch the pressed print if necessary, for example, to soften the edges or remove excess tone with thin paper. I also draw on the forms with my fingers. I understood a long time ago that gloves are useless since they all shred. There are plenty of denim rags and damp wipes around. Prints normally dry in a day, depending on the thickness of the layer. After all, I work primarily with oil. Degreasing oil paints is important to ensure that no greasy patches are left behind.
Lunch, 2019
Barbara Zankovich
Reduction linocut, lithography, 39 × 57 cm | 15.3 x 22.4 in
Josephine: What materials are you looking forward to purchasing with your voucher?
Barbara: I have already got the materials I purchased with the voucher! I took what is not available for purchase in Russia: Pfeil carving tools, high quality rollers from Speedball, and professional Cranfield linocut paints. For my spouse and myself, I also grabbed some Sennelier and Holbein dry and oil pastels. I’ve been using dry pastels a lot lately.
Soft pastels
Josephine: What’s coming up next for you?
Barbara: For linocut, there is already an entire series of colour sketches with the cityscapes of Baku that only need to be engraved and printed; the sketches are already done in 1:1 size. I don’t create engravings for certain exhibitions or competitions which may be the primary reason for the process’s frequent delays. Nowadays I’m working on my digital art portfolio in Procreate to be more confident with the digital side of things as well.
And I recognise that being a teacher, an illustrator, and an independent artist at the same time is hard, but I’m doing my best!
Further Reading
Linocut Printmaking for Beginners – What You Need to Get Started
Artist Insights: Gemma Berenguer
In Conversation With David Valliere From Speedball
Shop Printmaking on jacksonsart.com
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