William Tourtillotte, Sticky, Screen print, 8"x6" image 20"x16" framed

William Tourtillotte is a visual artist and arts educator. He has been a Lecturer in the Fine Arts Department of the Raclin School for the Arts, at IUSB in Printmaking since 2015. As an arts educator in the community, William has conducted cultural workshops, comic book classes, and painted murals with young artists, including a 2013 mural at the St. Joseph County Juvenile Justice Center in South Bend. He has established strong relationships across the community and is always willing to lend his artistic talents when asked. As an artist, he continues to exhibit his work locally and throughout the Midwest, most recently at the Midwest Museum of American Art in Elkhart for the exhibition Politics and Religion: Artists Speak Out!

Artist statement about Sticky:

I was stacking two laser transparencies to use as an opaque stencil to expose a photo emulsion coated screen. I needed multiple pieces of tape and tore off three pieces of transparent tape from the dispenser and placed them on my left hand at the bottom of my thumb where it meets my palm for easy access while I worked. I do this regularly when working and grab the tape when I need it. This particular time, the ring finger on my right hand grabbed one of the pieces of tape by accident, sticking it to the nail.

I paused and looked at what I had done. I shook my hand like a wet dog to release the tape. It stayed adhered to my fingernail. It looked and felt strange. I shook it again and still it stayed. I placed the remaining two pieces of tape on additional fingernails next to the first piece of tape. It looked odd to have these transparent extensions on my fingers. I was immediately struck by how it made visible something that I had done. It allowed me to think about how deeds stick to us, make us. Sometimes it is difficult to make over or redo a deed. I realized that I should be thoughtful about my deeds and words so they do not remain sticky/stuck.

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