Opening: Tuesday 22 March 2022 6pm – 8pm
15 Roylston Street Paddington NSW
Exhibitions now available to preview
Open 7 days 10am – 6pm
Current until Sunday 10 April 2022
T 02 9360 5177
sydney@australiangalleries.com.au
Roz Kean has fixed a couple of omissions/errors in her video. Here is the finished video.
How does your work address the theme ‘To the Edges’?
For myself, this has been a very apposite theme for a number of reasons. The initial reason being direct experience of the bush fires in 2019/2020. I live on a hundred acres in remote NSW South Coast and watched the sky turn a livid brown and the sun turn an angry orange as the flames from the Currowan Fires crept closer, until we were surrounded and parts of our land a-flame. Myself, husband, dog, were literally ‘on edge’ for days and nights with fire hoses out, water pumps on and waking every couple of hours through the night to check that fallen and smoking trees had not re-ignited and started a fresh fire. So the first piece in the trio deals with this aspect of the theme.
The second piece ‘Chaos’ suggests that humanity’s greed, carelessness and poor behaviour has lead to chaos and disaster – a theme influenced by Mario Vargas Llosa’s book ‘The Storyteller’ – and here we see flood, fire, calamity inflicted on the world. Finally, man’s poor environmental record has brought man and planet to the edge of extinction – sea levels have risen and imagined, monstrous sea creatures dominate …
Can you describe the technical process you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?
Technically, the pieces were reasonably straight-forward, any difficulties tended to be in cutting the detail and ensuring clarity. Perhaps my choice of fibrous Japanese Unryu paper – chosen because I felt the woody fibres would enhance the message of the pieces – did make it harder to get solid blacks where I really needed them and as a result I did end up printing them all by hand.
What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?
Like other successful printmaking groups, we can show the great expressive possibilities of our craft, the wonderful images that can be achieved using only print techniques; that printmaking skills are great tools for everyone to use either alone or in combination with other media.
How do you see the role of printmaking in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice.
Printmaking utilises numerous flexible and dynamic tools and can probably lead or assist art practice to move in a multitude of directions.
To the Edges is open for visitors again, but if you just can’t make it, here is a video walk through of the show hosted by the curator, Katherine Roberts. The exhibition closes on the 7th of November.
Thanks to Nathan Lewis and Matt Creswell for making the video.
As a student at the National Art School in the 1960’s I was introduced to Taoist philosophy and discovered Indian tantric art. At that time, I didn’t realize the influence this would have on me.
After graduation I exhibited paintings and taught at TAFE for many years. Then I studied and professionally practiced Traditional Chinese Acupuncture for ten years alongside my art practice. Working with subtle energy systems of Five Element Acupuncture, naturally influenced my artwork.
Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s I worked as a stills photographer on documentary film and book projects with Aboriginal elders and began to see expression of that elemental energy in their stories, song-lines and country, this changed the way I viewed landscape.
Some photographic projects that personally influenced me were the documentary “Flight of the Windhorse” about the first Australian Himalayan hot-air ballooning expedition in Nepal in 1985 (my introduction to Tibetan Buddhism). Photo research and photography for the book “Burnum Burnum’s Aboriginal Australia – A Traveller’s Guide” produced for the Bi-Centenary in 1988. The documentary “Kakadu Man” about Bill Neidjie, of the Bunitj clan Gagudju language group of northern Kakadu in 1990. (he invited me back to draw and paint his country).
In 1992, two favourite assignments as photographer were for the Sydney visit of the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet and photographing the handover ceremony for the remains of Mungo Lady at Lake Mungo, both in 1992.
Lake Mungo, like Kakadu, became a place that draws me back and I have produced and exhibited paintings, drawings, etchings and photographs from these places over the years. I always took a sketch pad, pencils, inks and crayons with me to sketch during breaks from photographing. Back home in the studio, many paintings, works on paper, experiments with etching and chine-colle came about because of these projects and journeys. Initially I worked with painting, printmaking and photography as individual practices, now I equally enjoy mixed media.
In 2000, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory included me in their exhibition “Artists in the Field: A Retrospective’ and bought one of my drawings for their collection.
In 2001, the Manly Art Gallery and Museum presented a survey show of my work based on 13 years of desert journeys called “Alchemic Wilderness: a survey 1988 – 2001- Lake Mungo, Desert and Kakadu”. It included photographs, drawings, etchings and paintings. They acquired an etching for their collection.
I decided to investigate Tibetan Buddhist ideas of the Five Elements as a portal into concepts of landscape, (including Australian Indigenous) for the Master of Philosophy, Visual Arts Graduate Program at ANU. I completed five bodies of work from landscapes as diverse as Lake Mungo (earth) Mystery Bay (water) Central Western Desert (fire,) Glasshouse Mountains (air) and Space as the fundamental basis of all the elements … inner space, outer space, the bardo, pictorial space, mind space. Chinese, Indian and Tibetan cultures have variations in their philosophical and visual traditions of the Five Elements. This was an opportunity to examine the diverse knowledge systems and spiritual practices I have engaged in over many years and explore how my Buddhist practice interfaces with the methodology of my art practice. I actively reviewed my painting practice as a contemplative art practice and investigated traditional and contemporary Australian, European and Tibetan artists. This research became part of my exegesis titled “Contemplation and Immersion: Exploring the Five Elements and Australian Landscape” awarded in 2020. My work is suffused with Buddhist philosophy and overlaid with environmental concern.
To see more of Carmen’s work go HERE.
Continuing with our series of interviews with artists exhibiting in Sydney Printmakers ‘To the Edges’ at Manly Art Gallery and Museum, we now talk to Rafael Butron.
How does your work address the theme ‘To the Edges’?
Recent unparalleled events Have caused many to live on the edge. The pandemic virus, caused by transmission from one person to another forced many of us into isolation quite rapidly, and for most people came fear and loneliness. Humans caused these events to unfold. The world’s temperature rises and our environment has been thrown. ‘Phases of Isolation‘ is a self portrait that explores three stages of separation, frustration, anxiety and depression. As we value our lives so should we also value the world we live in, by having compassion for one another and a duty of care for our world.
Can you describe the technical process you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?
I usually engrave from a drawing on the plate itself using copperplate with a marker pen, then slowly engrave using an engraving tool called a Burin. The technical challenge is to remove all your training, which tends to make the print perfectly executed and use the innate artistic energy to achieve an image, much like action painting. My intention is to incorporate traditional printmaking techniques to create a unique work that has its own spirit.
What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?
Sydney Printmakers have and always will push printmaking to its limits and with every new member there is an opportunity to develop new engaging works that add to the diversity of the group and ensure its longevity for years to come.
How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?
Printmaking has a role to play in contemporary art making as every printmaker has a unique approach to the creation of an image and the variety of mediums allows for an individual interpretation of the subject.
Our members Helen Mueller, Helen Best, Barbara Davidson, Susan Baran, and Nathalie Hartog-Gautier have books in this show. You can see the show online here.
How does your work address the theme “To the Edges“?
2020-21 has been a time full of challenges and during periods of isolation there is time to reflect and consider what is of importance. The varying dynamics of dealing with a new “ Covid 19 “ society has inspired this image. Shifting values, tough decisions and being on edge of so many changes. To be so mindful of what was once just everyday living.
Which way to turn, when to touch, not being allowed to touch & show affection all create a vision of shifting planes and turning points.
Aristotle created a triangle of rhetoric, a way to discuss Ethos – ethical issues, Pathos – compassion and emotion, and Logos, the value of logic. My work “Defining the Edge” also reflects on the dynamics of Aristotle’s triangle.
Can you describe the technical progress you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?
My work is a diptych multi block woodblock print created using the traditional techniques of ancient Japanese printing traditions. Registration is of prime importance as there are over 30 blocks carved to create the illusion of transparent overlaps. There are no overlaps in this work as colours are mixed to create the illusion of transparency.
Working an image across 2 individual prints always creates challenges in paper stretch from so much baren work. All the blocks are hand carved in Russian Birch and hand printed on quality Japanese Kozo.
What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?
I would hope Sydney Printmakers remains a committed group of artists celebrating the dynamics of both traditional print media and new technologies who create a platform for sharing their individual creative talents and also to be challenged as a group to remain effective in the coming years.
How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?
I have no doubt that printmaking will continue to be the medium of choice for many contemporary artists. With the success of many international conferences focused on printmaking it is no doubt a popular medium universally.
The greater challenge is to preserve the teaching of traditional practise in our art institutions and for those with the knowledge to be willing to share. We collectively have to continue to preserve what we now have for future generations in our shared knowledge of the print medium.
Established in 1966, for over 50 years the Print Council of Australia has promoted and supported contemporary artists working in print media, and advocated for the appreciation of printmaking as a vital and vibrant field of creative endeavour in the Australian context. This advocacy extends to related practices such as artist books and zines, and the broader field of works on paper.
The Print Council of Australia (PCA) is a national not-for-profit member organisation. They publish Imprint, the quarterly art magazine dedicated to contemporary printmaking in Australia and beyond.
It has members from throughout Australia and overseas, including artists, students, arts institutions, galleries, universities, schools and collectors.
The PCA receives NO funding and absolutely relies on membership to raise the funds to pay their hard working staff, pay overheads and produce IMPRINT magazine. Without members the PCA cannot exist.
As a national, not-for-profit organisation, the PCA has Committee Representatives in each state and territory, activating the Australian print community at a grass roots level. The Print Council of Australia has an open membership policy with no restrictions on joining.
From $77.00 a year (including GST), this is what you get from membership of PCA:
From: $77.00 inc GST / year
For membership enquiries or other information, contact the PCA office on 03 9416 0150 or
How does your work address the theme ‘to the edges’?
At first glance my large triptych Ubud Bali and the smaller series of works Snapshots seem to be about the beauty of a place I love dearly. Bali often referred to as the island of the gods is considered a paradise by many, but beyond the lush tropical landscapes and incredible natural beauty of Bali is a troubling reality. Tourism over the past decades has grown so rapidly that many overwhelming problems prevail. Pollution chokes the ocean with rubbish and raw sewage washing up on the beaches. Bad traffic jams are an everyday problem where there are simply to many cars on the existing roadways often resulting in gridlock and sometimes fatal accidents. Many of the tourists are oblivious to the island’s rich culture and history and think of Bali purely as a party destination. High rise buildings and urban sprawl dominate areas that were once humble fishing villages stretching the limits of existing infrastructure. As the world struggles with the Covid 19 pandemic and travel is limited tourists have abandoned Bali almost completely leaving the local community without a way to make a living resulting in great hardship experienced by all. Also Indonesia and Bali are suffering some of the highest Covid 19 infections rates worldwide with inadequate hospitals to treat the sick. As beautiful as Bali still is it is definitely a place pushed to the edges.
Can you describe the technical process you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?
The large triptych is done utilising my photographs on photopolymer plates (solarplates) and inking those plates up meticulously with different colours employing the à la poupée technique. I use small paintbrushes to apply the inks and very carefully wipe back the plates to achieve the required effect. Then I hand colour the prints using watercolour pencils and paints.
The smaller works are a series of images attempting to tell a story of what Bali means to me. You will see rice paddy fields, palm trees, a temple, daily offerings left out on the street, a Barong statue, a Ganesh the elephant god statue, a Bali dog lying in the sun, a warung, fishing boats, motorbikes and some local children. I have again used photopolymer plates to create the prints, but also I started experimenting with cyanotypes which is an alternative photographic process first discovered in the early 1800s. I added a little bit of hand colouring in some of the smaller works, but generally these are less laboured compared to my usual prints.
What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?
It is an incredible feat for Sydney Printmakers to have been active for 60 years. We are a diverse group of artists constantly busy organising exhibitions with an aim to promote printmaking nationally and internationally. We have achieved a great deal in that time and I hope Sydney Printmakers continues to be strong into the future involving a younger generation to carry on for another 60 years and more.
How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?
Sydney Printmakers formed in 1961 to address the concerns of artists that printmaking at the time was being neglected and overlooked. The group’s aim was to strongly promote printmaking in general as did the Print Council of Australia that was established in Melbourne around the same time. Today printmaking is strong and continues to play a vital role in the art and culture of our age.