IMPRESSIONS - Art from the Australian Print Workshop

Prelude, 2018, linocut with chine-collé, 20 x 15 cm, edition: 20. Printer: Simon White.

Photo credit: Tim Gresham

If you missed the Australian Print Workshop's biennial exhibition IMPRESSIONS 2018 first time round, you’ve just been granted a second chance.

Impressions - Art from the Australian Print Workshop, which includes over 50 works selected from the original show, will shortly be on view at The G.R.A.I.N Store, Nathalia, in northern Victoria. I'm delighted that my linocut, Prelude, is among them.

Impressions - Art from the Australian Print Works opens this coming Sunday, 2 June and runs until 13 July. For further details, see the invitation directly below.

Some recent events

The Goldfields Printmakers end of year meeting in Kittelty's at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
Left: GP Treasurer, Anne Langdon, centre: James Pasakos; far right: Loris Button. 

On Saturday, 1 December, the Goldfields Printmakers held their final meeting for 2018 over an early pre-Christmas brunch at Kittelty's, the Art Gallery of Ballarat's splendid cafe.

After our meeting, the Goldfields Printmakers visited the Arts Academy, where we viewed
  Encounter, our portfolio of prints exhibited in the Open Folio section of IMPACT 10  

In recent weeks, GP founder James Pasakos and GP member Loris Button returned from IMPACT 10, the international print conference in Santander, Spain. Our group exhibited in the Open Folio section and some members, including James and Loris, also held major shows. Other members, including myself, participated in group exhibitions - in my case, Thinking of Place ll.

The meeting was a timely opportunity to share the news of the acquisition of my artist book Leaves of Absence by the National Gallery of Australia. The first archival pigment prints I ever made were for Not Born Digital, the Goldfields Printmakers project created for IMPACT 9 in Hangzhou, China in 2015. They sowed the seeds for a completely new direction in my work that over the following two years culminated in Leaves of Absence and, more recently, the archival pigment print Bell Jar, 2018. (See following image).

Future Goldfields Printmakers shows will be announced in the New Year, once venues and dates have been confirmed.

At Tacit Galleries with my archival pigment print, Bell Jar, inspired by Sylvia Plath's semi-
autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. Photo credit: Shane Jones.

Blarney Books and Art's tenth annual Biblio Art Prize exhibition recently travelled from its home in Port Fairy to Tacit Galleries in Collingwood, where it continues until Sunday, 16 December. Two of my works, Bell Jar, an archival pigment print, and Progeny, a unique artist book, are finalists in this year's Biblio.

The photos directly above and below were taken at Tacit Galleries on opening night, Wednesday 5 December.

An installation view of my one-of-a-kind artist book Progeny, currently at Tacit Galleries as part of Biblio Art Prize 2018.
Progeny, which was highly commended, takes Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein as its point of departure.

In other recent news, on Friday, December 7, Shane Jones and I attended the Australian Print Workshop Artist's Party, thrown by the APW as a thank you to all the artists who donated print editions to IMPRESSIONS 2018, its biennial fundraising exhibition.

As in previous years, we were treated to some memorable musical interludes. Guitar duo Graeme Drendel and Rick Amor were a marvellous 'warm-up' act to the fabulous Press Gang, comprising Jazmina Cininas, Julie Forrester, Simon White, Martin King, Adrian Kellett and Graeme Drendel. Printmaking luminaries, all of them, and damned fine musicians too.

L-R: APW Director Anne Virgo, Rick Amor, Martin King and Graeme Drendel

The legendary Press Gang, from L-R: Jazmina Cininas, Simon White, Julie Forrester, Adrian Kellett, Martin King
 and Graeme Drendel

As if this weren't enough, there were also prizes. I never win door prizes, raffles and suchlike, so couldn't have been more surprised when my name was one of those drawn from a hat. I won a linocut 'hamper' that included a lino block of the exact size I'm using for a current project, a tube of Charbonnel (my favourite ink), a baren and a fine set of linocut tools. Coincidentally, Shane won an identical prize. We're both feeling rather chuffed.

Directly below are just some of the many prints on view in IMPRESSIONS 2018. My linocut, Prelude, is on the bottom row, centre.

For further details of IMPRESSIONS 2018, including a complete list of participating artists, go HERE.

The show continues to 16 February, 2019. To check the APW's hours over the Christmas break, go HERE.

Prelude

Prelude (2018, linocut with chine-collé, 20 x 15 cm, edition: 20, printed by Simon White) is my contribution to IMPRESSIONS 2018, the Australian Print Workshop’s biennial fundraising exhibition.

It’s a great show, arguably their best yet, and an absolute must for lovers of print.

IMPRESSIONS 2018 artists include: Greg Alexander, Penny Algar, Rick Amor, Brook Andrew, Stephen Armstrong, Rosalind Atkins, Susan Baran, Elizabeth Barnett, Alexis Beckett, Martin Bell, Kathy Boyle, Matthew Broughton, Peter Brown, Rob Brown, Peter Burgess, Kate Butler, Violeta Capovska, Lauren Carter, Raymond Carter, Jon Cattapan, Civil, Peter D Cole, Dianne Colk, Fabiana Comas, Timothy Cook, Warren Cooke, Brendan Cooper, Marisa Corral, Vicki Couzens, Beth Croce, Suzanne Danaher, Aleks Danko, Yvonne Day, Ex De Medici, David De Roach, Chris De Rosa, Clive Dickson, Louise Donovan, Graeme Drendel, Lesley Duxbury, Peter Ellis, Farimah Eshraghi, Kasia Fabijanska, Michael Fitzgerald, Angela Foley, Julie Forrester, Graham Fransella, Alex Game, Zoe Geyer, Shaun Gladwell, Janet Goldman, Kate Gorringe-Smith, Kaye Green, Andrew Gunnell, Gracia Haby &, Louise Jennison, Fred Hagstrom, Liam Haley, Richard Harding, Vicki Harman, Greg Harrison, Anton Hasell, Katherine Hattam, Jarmila Hava, Carolyn Hawkins, Euan Heng, Judy Holding, Alex Hotchin, Kate Hudson, Kyoko Imazu, Chris Ingham, Callum Jackson, Robyn Jackson, Georgia Janetzki, Shane Jones, Gina Kalabishis, Andrew Keall, Roslyn Kean, William Kelly, Hyun-Ju Kim, Luke Duncan King, Martin King, Jenny Kitchener, Barbie Kjar, Deborah Klein, Hertha Kluge-Pott, Helen Kocis-Edwards, Damon Kowarsky, Tim Lane, Jo Lankester, Georgia Laughton, Christine Lawry, Libby Letcher, Bruno Leti, Kevin Lincoln, Sorcha Mackenzie, Nina Magee, Margaret Manchee, Harley Manifold, Marion Manifold, Jennifer Marshall, Marie Mason, Terry Matassoni, George Matoulas, Malini Maunsell, Tommy May, Annalise Mayer, Janice McBride, David McCall, Stephen McCarthy, John McClumpha, Sarah McConnell, Danni McGrath, Laith McGregor, Paula McLoughlin, Justin McShane, Robert Mihajlovski, Lewis Miller, Louise Minahan, Allan Mitelman, Simon Moore, Hannah Murray, Janice Murray, Tom Nicholson, Liz Norris, Chris O’doherty, (Aka Reg Mombassa), Peter O’doherty, Emmet O’dwyer, Glenda Orr, Allison Orton, Laura Osborne, Jan Palethorpe, Margaret Parker, Larry Parkinson, Jon Paton, Patricia Piccinini, Kate Piekutowski, Brian Pieper, Catherine Pilgrim, Jaime Powell, Jutta Pryor, Stephanie Rampton, Julia Reed, Michael Rigg, Lisa Roet, Jennifer Rogers, Georgina Ross, Caroline Rothwell, Kate Ryan, Gwen Scott, Marianne Sebetti, Jan Senbergs, Simon Sherrin, Julia Silvester, Andrew Sinclair, Melissa Smith, Jennifer Smyth, Anne Spudvilas, Ruth Stanton, Anne Starling, Lisa Stebbing, Mervyn Street, Deb Tate, Deb Taylor, Andrew Taylor, Georgia Thorpe, Gera Tonge, Wayne Viney, Anne Virgo, Susan Wald, Deborah Walker, Thornton Walker, Lee Ward, Judy Watson, Louise Weaver, Peter Wegner, Sophie Westerman, Simon White, John Wolseley, Amanda Woodmansey, Chiara Zeta, and Kate Zizys.

IMPRESSIONS 2018
Australian Print Workshop Gallery
210 Gertrude Street,
Fitzroy, Vic.

Gallery hours: 10 - 5 Tuesday to Saturday

The exhibition runs to 16 February 2019

IMPRESSIONS 2018

IMPRESSIONS 2018, the Australian Print Workshop's biennial fundraising exhibition, is nigh. As always, it features works by a virtual Who's Who of Australian printmakers. IMPRESSIONS is a highlight of the printmaking calendar, a perfect note on which to end the old year - and a fine way to start the new one.

As previously noted (see Blog Post Tuesday, July 24) my contribution will be printed and editioned by APW master printer, Simon White. 

A series of progress views follow:

Below: the first proofs:

Directly below are recent trial proofs. I've yet to sign off on the BAT, but the second proof, in which additional background texture has been cut away, is pretty close to the version we'll go for. The incorporation of chine colle, which brings warmth and depth to the work, was Simon's idea. (Photo credit: Simon White).

IMPRESSIONS 2018 opens on 17 November 2018 and runs until 16 February 2019. For further information, see the poster above, or contact the Australian Print Workshop HERE.

Work in progress for IMPRESSIONS 2018

Pictured below are progress views of my current linocut, overseen by Alice, who turns as if to ask: “Really? Is this the best you can do?” 

Somehow I found the strength carry on and will deliver the block to Master Printer Simon White at the Australian Print Workshop this week, in ample time for IMPRESSIONS 2018, the APW’s biennial fundraiser.

IMPRESSIONS 2018 is scheduled for later this year. Details will be posted nearer the time.