ARTIST RESIDENCE
Melbourne | Monoprinting
For four weeks I was able to make my work from Melbourne while taking part in the Melbourne Print Workshop Residency program. I used this time to learn and put to practice a facet of printmaking I had only briefly looked at before: monoprinting. Monoprinting is a process where printmaking processes and equipment are used to create a composition which is printed only one time . Works are all unique, and it can be a bit like painting using printmaking plates and brushes.
The brief was set for developing a suite of works which used hand cut acetate plates which were inked up and then finished with freehand brush marks before being printed.
Techniques in working with hand cut copper plate, ink mixing and application as well as edition production were all enriched. I wanted the works made during this time to be experimental and separate from the New Zealand iconography I had previously been working with. Having just returned from a trip to Kyoto and Tokyo, the themes of the Sakura and stylised Tori seemed appropriate.
The resulting Sakura Suite of prints with hand finished gold leaf application, was exhibited at the Taking Shape exhibition held by Seed Gallery in Auckland.
ART PRINT RESIDENCE
Barcelona | Carborundum Printing
Working in Master Printer's studio run by Jordi, Claudia and Ariadna was definitely one of the highlights of my residency experiences to date. The studio is exceptionally well set up with facilities which accommodate an incredibly wide variety of print methods and techniques. I was particularly interested in using the very rare oversize printmaking press they had available to make over-size works and wanted to develop a suite of prints where I extended my technical base by adding carborundum process to my repertoire.
The time spent at the Barcelona studio was incredibly productive. I produced a suite of oversize hand coloured carborundum skull prints in two different colour ways, two suites of owl prints using acetate plates and chine-colle, as well as a series of smaller flourescent skull monoprints which I absolutely love.
ART PRINT RESIDENCE
London Print Studio Residency | Copper Plate Etching
During my residency at the London Print Studio I chose to focus on developing my copper plate etching skills and taking that aspect of my practice to a more refined level. I was able to produce two separate plates: from cutting and preparing the copper surface to covering it with melted tar and freehand drawing my crustacean images on the surface.
The plates were then hand etched in acid, the tar removed and finally the surface was ready for inking up. The main advantage of this process is that you are able to control the degree to which the surface is etched and therefore the darkness of the lines once printed. This was a subtlety that I was wanting to gain more refined knowledge on.
The resulting images were "Boiled" and "Lucky" and were all hand-editioned at LPS during the residency. The edition size of only 40 for these prints was chosen so that they could be kept unique - each being treated as an original piece with the hand finished watercolour at the end.
The finished prints were selected for exhibition at the LPS Summer Exhibition at the London Print Studio Gallery.
ART PRINT RESIDENCE
SACI Summer Residency, Florence | Oil Painting
A re-calibration of core drawing and painting practices and the acquiring of new skills within a traditional academic framework was the purpose of this residency in Italy.
Having done part of my undergraduate studies in Florence it was very exciting to come back again after a few years to develop a body of works which leant heavily on traditional drawing and painting. The purpose of this residency was to re-contextualise outside of the New Zealand environment, generate new work and evolve my practice with new and external input.
Aside from refining frame stretching and preparing, I developed a suite of still life oil paintings and ink drawings during my time at this residency. These works were formal studies on still-life motifs, and were a way to put to test new and refined approached to oil painting and drawing. The main characteristics of this body of works were aesthetically-driven, free-flow use of colour and gesture as well as mark-making. In most of the works I had been making before a lot was planned, organised and controlled. Lines were precise and crisp where the occasion to loosen up and change approached was very much welcome in this concentrated time for re-inventing a part of my visual vocabulary.
Consequent drawings were produced during later stint in Rome and a suite of drawings and original paintings have been exhibited at a number of galleries which hold my works in New Zealand.