Artists in Conversation with the Exhibition Curator, Katherine Roberts, Manly Art Gallery and Museum: Roslyn Kean.

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Roslyn Kean, Defining the Edge, 2021, wrapped multi block woodcuts, diptych, U/S, 58 x 163cm (framed)

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.

Artists in Conversation with the Exhibition Curator, Katherine Roberts: Susan Baran.

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Susan Baran, Ubud Bali, 2020, photopolymer intaglio, hand coloured, cyanotype, main image 57 x 123cm, series of 'postcards'

Susan Baran, Ubud Bali, 2020, photopolymer intaglio, hand coloured, edition of 6, 57 x 123cm and ‘Snapshots‘.

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. 

Susan hand colouring her print, Ubud Bali with watercolour pencils.

 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. 

Artists in Conversation with the Exhibition Curator, Katherine Roberts, Manly Art Gallery and Museum: Anthea Boesenberg

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How does your work address the theme ‘to the edges’?
The work is experimental. I had been spending some time with Ruth Burgess, and was impressed and intrigued by her use of colour. I wanted to explore how, by printing just the primaries over one another, I could create a range of secondary and tertiary colours. My process would be revealed at the edges of each of the panels which comprised the work. The decision to print by hand rather than the press literally expresses the theme, since the printer must move the baren right to the edges of the paper to make each print.

Detail: Anthea Boesenberg 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?

I decided to avoid imagery as much as possible, so as to concentrate on the most important factors: colour and luminosity. To achieve luminosity within each print, I glued fabric over plywood and chose to print the plates in relief. This meant that the white of the paper showed through the weave of the fabric to enliven the colour on each print. The decision to print the work by hand was made to allow for incidental marks and imperfections to contribute to the work.

It was only part way through the printing process that I discovered that the way the plywood base of the plates was constructed had produced two bands on each print as a variation in the surface. The hand printing was challenging physically and technically since I am a quite recent convert to printing with a baren,but I realised the flaws in the printing gave the work a liveliness that wouldn’t be present had I opted for another process. 

To begin with, I envisioned that the work would have 15 elements, but realised as I progressed through the making of the piece that I could have expanded it much further, although the size of the finished piece would have been even more unwieldy.

I had to confine it within arbitrary parameters, so I created a formula to work to. The constraints I set myself were 

 to use two plates only

 to use yellow red and blue ink only, ie no colour mixing

to use four layers of ink on each print

 to print by hand with a baren

Working at that scale was a challenge. The first time I was able to see the work as a whole was after it was installed on the gallery wall and appropriately lit. It is too large to fit on my studio wall.

What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?

I expect Sydney Printmakers to continue to attract members dedicated to excellence in the medium of print. ‘To the Edges’ demonstrates that the organisation welcomes experimentation, exploration and creativity within the medium of printmaking, and I think that is its strength.   

How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?

Printmakers have always been interested in new technologies, in new ways of responding to the world. I feel that printmaking will always have a place in contemporary art practice because it continues to evolve. Witness some of the prints in ‘To the Edges’ which explore the edges of contemporary practice.

Artists in Conversation with the Curator, Manly Art Gallery and Museum: Tina Barahanos

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Artists in Conversation with the Exhibition Curator, Katherine Roberts, Manly Art Gallery and Museum: Tina Barahanos

Tina Barahanos. Transfixed, M2 Freeway on the Way Home 2021

Transparency in Lightbox, edition of 2 and 1 x AP, 80 x 60cm

How does your work address the theme ‘to the edges’?

‘Transfixed, M2 Freeway On The Way Home’ is part of a series of lightbox works that take their reference from the edge of the roadside, a view that is generally observed through peripheral vision. This is where I wanted to focus my attention, find inspiration and distraction from my day. A place where imagination takes over and patterns are created as the roads edge moves along with me. I am entertained by the abstracted creations where the blur of movement fuses the real and phantasmagorical. It became my muse.

Can you describe the technical process you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?

This image was taken from my car window, while travelling along the M2. (I was the passenger of course).  Using digital editing I strive to create work that looks for similarities between digital print and etching, between realism and abstraction. The work is then sent to the fabricator where the lightbox is made. 

One of the technical challenges I faced was with the level of lighting. It was originally far too bright and was washing out the image. I incorporated a dimmer for a period of time to help work out what brightness was required. The lightbox was then adjusted to half the light strength. And the final light box manufactured.

What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?

To continue to inspire and nurture newer generations of printmakers. 

How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?

I think printmaking will continue connect and engage through cultural commentary and personal expression.

 

Artists in Conversation with the Curator, Manly Art Gallery and Museum: Angela Hayson

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ARTISTS IN CONVERSATION WITH THE EXHIBITION CURATOR, KATHERINE ROBERTS, MANLY ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM: ANGELA HAYSON.


Angela Hayson The Shelter of Ourselves

Relief, Monoprint, drawing, carborundum on Japanese paper

How does your work address the theme ‘to the edges’?

Conceptually I was thinking about how individuals preserve their core identity and at the same time make subtle shifts in how they present when in a group. How far to the edges of our authentic self are we willing to be seen and be known?  The work is about dual identities, accepting our idiosyncrasies in order to remain authentic to self, and also constructing a public persona according to social norms and expectations when connecting and relating to others.  The multiple identities are implied by the inversion and juxtaposition of figurative forms within the image.

On a physical level, multiple sheets of Japanese kozo paper are layered with mixed media and printed elements, with the image intentionally extending to the outer edges of the paper.  The work has been developed from matrixes of wood, cardboard and rigid plastic sheet combining relief, drawing, monoprint and carborundum.

Can you describe the technical process you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?

The Shelter of Ourselves is a multiple panel work developed from the 3-D forms of two small bronze figurative sculptures I had recently made. I was interested in the push and pull of the negative and positive shapes within the forms, which became key elements in the printed image. 

Having the opportunity to work large, I sketched up a composition at small scale to reflect what might convey the subject of shifting identities and then gridded up to the intended full-size dimensions. The vast up-scaling required numerous stages of drawing and redrawing with continual modifications and additions to the image, working out the relationship of shapes and spaces, along with the aligning of the image at the edges of the matrix as it transitioned from one panel to the next.

Preparing eight large cardboard panels to receive the carborundum for the final printed element in the work required the transfer of the drawing to the boards. Gel medium was applied to the drawing and carborundum was dropped into the medium.  Several coats of shellac were applied to protect areas not to be printed, allowing discretionary wiping back of the ink.  

The non-uniform backgrounds encompassed relief printing from woodblocks, drawing with wax pencils and graphite, scrunching up the sheets of paper into balls and re-stretching out to flatten again, and then monoprinting again on top from rigid plastic sheet in readiness to take the carborundum print element.  I used a printing press to release each of the inked layers onto the paper.

The backgrounds were experimental and enjoyable.  The greatest technical challenge, which I had not anticipated, was the inking and wiping back of the large carborundum imagery.  It was slow, arduous and physically exhausting due to the many narrow and inaccessible areas requiring wiping out. I consider the project a success in that it has been a departure from my previous work and capable of having a strong and sustaining influence on future work. 

What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?

Having built up an impressive reputation for high quality artistic output and professionalism over six decades, the group is well positioned to further evolve with a focus on striving for increased recognition of print media in relation to other art forms. I believe this is an exciting time for the group to encourage new printmaking enthusiasts into the membership, encourage experimentation to extend the possibilities of print media and foster a culture of excellence.  

How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?

Many printmakers, along with artists of other disciplines, make work that is a reflection of their own world, as well as the changing world including environmental, social, political and cultural issues of the time.  The diversity of methods and techniques available within print media provides extensive opportunities for raising awareness of contemporary issues, presented in unique and distinct ways. 

 

Megalo Print Studio: Online International Screen Print Exhibition

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To see the exhibition, go HERE

Megalo’s Screen Print Online Exhibition showcases the work of thirty international contemporary printmakers. Works selected for this exhibition have been produced with screen printing as the primary technique on a variety of materials, such as paper and fabric, as well as non-traditional materials such as wood and concrete.

Ben Rak, Member of Sydney Printmakers, is one of the participants. This work can also be seen at Manly Art Gallery in Sydney Printmakers 60th Anniversary Exhibition, ‘To the Edges’, though the gallery is currently closed due to Covid restrictions.

Other artists participating in Megalo’s Online Exhibition are :

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Covid Update

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                                                                                                Photos: Seraphina Martin.

After a small but enthusiastic opening, our exhibition has been forced to close because of COVID. There cannot be an extension of the exhibition, because of course, new exhibitions have been scheduled to follow ours. To the Edges will continue until 1 August 2021. Here’s hoping there is not an extension of the lockdown.

The Curator and Artists in Conversation has been rescheduled From Sunday 4th July, 2 – 3pm, to Sunday 25th July, 11am – 1pm. Booking is necessary. Go Here to book and for further information.

In the meantime, you can see the catalogue and the video of Sasha Grishin’s Opening Speech on the Exhibitions page.

 

 

 

 

Installation of the show: To the Edges

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Here are some shots of installation of the Sydney Printmakers show at Manly Art Gallery and Museum. Katherine Roberts and her team did a wonderful job.

Unfortunately we are now under lockdown, so no sooner was the show opened than it had to shut down again. Please go and see it when the lockdown ends.

We await news about whether, when, and in what form the Artists in Conversation with Katherine Roberts will go ahead, but unless the lockdown is extended, the demonstrations should still happen.

60 years of Sydney Printmakers
25 June – 1 August 2021

Manly Art Gallery & Museum
West Esplanade Reserve, Manly
9976 1421 | artgallery@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au 10am – 5pm, Tue – Sun | Free entry magam.com.au | Instagram @magamnsw

Photos courtesy of Neilton Clarke, Angela Hayson, Lea Kannar.

Sydney Printmakers Exhibition at Manly Art Gallery and Museum: To the Edges.

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 Join Sasha Grishin AM, FAHA, Emeritus Professor ANU as he opens our new exhibition.

By considering the use of the printmaking media in innovative and unconventional ways, as well as co-opting new media in the development of their works, the artists of Sydney Printmakers have worked ‘to the edges’ physically and metaphorically pushing their materials, ideas and themselves to their limits.

Sydney Printmakers is the longest-running independent printmaking membership organisation in Australia. It continues to demonstrate its currency in the quality and diversity of the work its artists create, and in the collegiate way its members work to share ideas and resources, and to support each other. As a group, it is thriving – and celebrates its sixty-year milestone with this especially curated exhibition.

Covid Restrictions apply.      
 
Exhibition Opening  Friday 25 June 2021, 6-8pm 
 
The exhibition runs from 25 June to 1 August 2021
 
Manly Art Gallery & Museum
West Esplanade Reserve, Manly
9976 1421  artgallery@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
10am – 5pm, Tue – Sun        Free Entry
magam.com.au    Instagram @magamnsw
 
Image detail: Barbara Davidson, Time flies to the edges and disappears, 2021   lithography and collage, 41 x 104cm