Sydney Printmakers

Exhibiting since 1961

  • About Us
  • Exhibitions
  • Artists
  • News
  • Contact Us

Review of Borderless by Sasha Grishin in the Canberra Times

October 3, 2019 by Anthea Boesenberg Leave a Comment

Sydney Printmakers: Borderless. Megalo Print Gallery, 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston. Until November 2. megalo.org.

Printmaking is probably the most collaborative of all of the major art mediums. Shared facilities and shared expertise have characterised printmaking since its earliest days and many printmakers see themselves as part of an extended network of professional artists.

Roslyn Kean, Weaving Ancestral Voices II in Sydney Printmakers at Megalo. Picture: Supplied

Roslyn Kean, Weaving Ancestral Voices II in Sydney Printmakers at Megalo. Picture: Supplied

In the almost 60 years of its existence, Sydney Printmakers has included most of the major printmakers of the time and the situation has not changed.

Today, there are about 60 members in Sydney Printmakers, 33 of whom are included in this exhibition. It is an exceptionally rich and diverse show with some brilliant work.

As a sweeping generalisation, Sydney printmaking, as epitomised here, is becoming far less new-media driven and more artists focus on analogue techniques. Woodcuts, linocuts, etchings plus the occasional screenprint hold sway, while digital and inkjet prints are the exception. It may be foolhardy to leap to conclusions on the basis of this exhibition, but it appears that digital technologies are being increasingly absorbed into the toolbox of Australian printmakers rather than being seen as an end product. Many may employ computers to formulate an image but employ traditional technologies to realise the final print.

The exhibition is dominated by some brilliant and ambitious woodcuts worked on a large scale by established masters, including Roslyn Kean, Susan Rushforth, Anthea Bosenberg, Angela Hayson and Helen Mueller. Rew Hanks is represented by one of his unbelievably detailed narrative linocuts, Josephine’s Ark (2019), while Graham Marchant’s linocut, The Cranford Rose Garden (2015-18), has an intriguing complexity produced through a deceptive simplicity of means.

Seraphina Martin, Finding solace in the land, 2019 in Sydney Printmakers at Megalo. Picture: Supplied

Seraphina Martin, Finding solace in the land, 2019 in Sydney Printmakers at Megalo. Picture: Supplied

It is exciting how some of the “elders” of the printmaking tribe are branching out in new directions. Seraphina Martin’s Finding solace in the land (2019) is a light and highly evocative etching with watercolour, while Susan Baran’s huge tour de force Allure (2019) is a complex piece where she has collaged etchings and relief prints into a rippling, intricate composition.

One beauty of printmaking is its sense of intimacy through which it can convey an artist’s personality. Examples include the refined lyrical sensibility of Tanya Crothers’ collagraph Black Springs re-visited (2019), Wendy Stokes’ delicate Blended geographies (2019) combining relief, monoprint and stencil, Salvatore Gerardi’s striking Pervading memories: shadow lines (2019) or Andrew Totman’s spatially ambiguous floating monoprint, Touch (2018).

There are also some of the classics of Sydney printmaking, such as Barbara Davidson’s etching collagraph Voters and parliamentarians (2019) with its humour and brilliance of observation, and Bernhardine Mueller’s All the rivers run? (2018) with its dry humour and a created personal narrative.

Nina Juniper, Self supporting #1, 2019, in Sydney Printmakers at Megalo. Picture: Supplied

Nina Juniper, Self supporting #1, 2019, in Sydney Printmakers at Megalo. Picture: Supplied

There is a strong, punchy inkjet print by Marta Romer, Borderless (2019) and a bold, inventive screenprint by Nina Juniper, Self supporting #1 (2019), that depicts a crumbling industrial site she has screenprinted on a block of concrete. Her print conveys a range of possible readings with effective humour.

This is an exciting, adventurous exhibition that demonstrates that printmaking in Sydney is in ascendancy.

  • FACEBOOKSHARE
  • TWITTERTWEET
  • EMAIL

Filed Under: Exhibitions Tagged With: analogue, Borderless, digital, Kingston, Linocut, Megalo Print Studio, Nina Juniper, printmaking, Roslyn Kean, Sasha Grishin, Seraphina Martin, woodcut

Chinese prints at AGNSW

October 19, 2018 by sydprint Leave a Comment

Ruth Burgess organised two outings for Sydney Printmakers to the Art Gallery of New South Wales Study Room to view prints she had collected for the art gallery during her many trips to China. It was a very interesting and rewarding opportunity. Ruth told many stories about her escapades in China and showed us some extraordinary prints.

Ruth would like to remind us that the Study Room is a free service by the Art Gallery. You can book time in the Study room and request specific prints and the work of specific artists to be made available to you.

More information and booking details here.

Filed Under: News, Of interest to members. Tagged With: Art Gallery of NSW, China, Chinese prints, lithography, print collection., Print Study Room, Ruth Burgess, woodcut

Hida – Takayama Contemporary Woodblock Prints Triennale 2017

March 18, 2017 by sydprint 1 Comment

Susan Rushforth and Roslyn Kean have made it through to the second round for this highly prestigious exhibition.

Filed Under: Exhibitions Tagged With: Japan, Mokuhanga, Roslyn Kean, Susan Rushforth, woodcut

Sydney Printmakers celebrate 55 years

February 8, 2016 by Anthea Boesenberg 1 Comment

Hopefully this will be easier to read, thank you to those who alerted me to the difficulty with the last post.

Sydney Printmakers Celebrating 55 Years

Artsite Gallery would like to invite you and your friends to join the Sydney Printmakers    for the Official Opening of this exhibition by Emeritus Professor Sasha Grishin AM, FAHA, on Sunday 6th March  at 3pm

Preview and purchase from 11am Saturday 5th March
Exhibition continues to 27th March 2016

Artsite Gallery
Open 11am to 5pm Wednesday to Sunday
165 Salisbury Road, cnr St Marys Street, Camperdown.

Filed Under: Exhibitions Tagged With: 55 years, Artsite Gallery, Chippendale, digital prints, Etching, installation, limited edition prints, Linocut, printmaking, Sasha Grishin, screen printing, Sydney Printmakers, woodcut

Sydney Printmakers at Artsite Gallery

February 7, 2016 by sydprint 7 Comments

55 years of Sydney Printmakers

Filed Under: Exhibitions Tagged With: 55 years, Artist Gallery, Chippendale, digital prints, Etching, installation, Linocut, printmaking, screen printing, Sydney Printmakers, woodcut

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 554 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • Call for Papers: 2020 Nara Mokuhanga Conference
  • Water: Call for Artists
  • Acquisition by Maitland Gallery
  • On Paper 2020
  • Splendacious at Neospace

Recent Comments

  • Anthea Boesenberg on Blue Mountains Print Prize 2019
  • Anthea Boesenberg on Residency Opportunity at Megalo Print Studio
  • Stephen McMillan on Residency Opportunity at Megalo Print Studio
  • Chandan Bez baruah on Blue Mountains Print Prize 2019
  • Nathalie Hartog-Gautier on New Members 2018: Maximilian Gosling

Archives

Categories

Copyright © 2019 Sydney Printmakers :: Exhibiting since 1961