We have had another whirlwind week with printmaking events helping to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Print Council of Australia.
We had our 'committee' meeting on Tuesday - where the six of us who have been busy pulling it all together took a short breath and thought "wow" after the success of the previous events, then put our heads down for some more.
Wednesday night saw Tory Richards, Judy Barrass and I presenting to an interested and enthusiastic crowd at the Caloundra Regional Gallery. Tory spoke about her passion for intaglio and etching and showed just how skilled she is at this difficult and time-consuming work. I spoke about my passion for letters and letter press and Judy completed the evening with a talk about the frontiers of printmaking and how we are constantly pushing the boundaries of what can be called print.
It was all very fascinating and so interesting - I learned so much as I listened to the others.
Ac couple of slides from my talk.
Then on Saturday morning we had two more events - I gave a letterpress demonstration at the University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery, and this was followed by 12 of the participating artists doing a 'Meet the Artists' event where we each spoke breezily about our work, our inspiration and our processes.
Both events went really well - people got engaged with my hand-waving enthusiasm for letterpress and the beauty of the machines and type; and again it was wonderful to hear from other artists about their passions and their work.
I did mention the hand-waving enthusiasm didn't I?
And the apron - made with scrabble letter fabric.
I decided it was time to have a go at locking up chase in public - a bit stressful, but important to do. I successfully locked the chase up and none of the type fell out! I got everybody up to look over my shoulder as I did it.
It stands up and no type falls out!
And then everybody had a go at printing.
And we made small thank you cards.
Today I took the plastic bag off the ink that I had left on the glass plate so I could think about doing some more.
And of course, just had to do a mono print!
I was intrigued how the lettering on the bag actually printed - I wonder if the ink reacted with it somehow over night? It's a mystery.
Sunday has been much quieter - packing and putting away and fiddling a bit here and there...Ahh.
We had our 'committee' meeting on Tuesday - where the six of us who have been busy pulling it all together took a short breath and thought "wow" after the success of the previous events, then put our heads down for some more.
Wednesday night saw Tory Richards, Judy Barrass and I presenting to an interested and enthusiastic crowd at the Caloundra Regional Gallery. Tory spoke about her passion for intaglio and etching and showed just how skilled she is at this difficult and time-consuming work. I spoke about my passion for letters and letter press and Judy completed the evening with a talk about the frontiers of printmaking and how we are constantly pushing the boundaries of what can be called print.
It was all very fascinating and so interesting - I learned so much as I listened to the others.
Ac couple of slides from my talk.
Then on Saturday morning we had two more events - I gave a letterpress demonstration at the University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery, and this was followed by 12 of the participating artists doing a 'Meet the Artists' event where we each spoke breezily about our work, our inspiration and our processes.
Both events went really well - people got engaged with my hand-waving enthusiasm for letterpress and the beauty of the machines and type; and again it was wonderful to hear from other artists about their passions and their work.
I did mention the hand-waving enthusiasm didn't I?
And the apron - made with scrabble letter fabric.
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| Image by Tory Richards |
Showing folk some metal type
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| Image by Tory Richards |
And a locked up chase - people really did get up close and personal with the work.
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| Image by Tory Richards |
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| Image by Barry Smith |
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| Image by Barry Smith |
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| Image by Tory Richards |
I mixed up beautiful blue ink.
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| Image by Tory Richards |
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| Image by Tory Richards |
Today I took the plastic bag off the ink that I had left on the glass plate so I could think about doing some more.
And of course, just had to do a mono print!
I was intrigued how the lettering on the bag actually printed - I wonder if the ink reacted with it somehow over night? It's a mystery.
Sunday has been much quieter - packing and putting away and fiddling a bit here and there...Ahh.
the calm after the energy and excitement is welcome. a way to transition back to working, but isn't it great fun when people are interested in your passion?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Velma - it is an interesting time the buzz of energy and the re-filling time; both needed and both welcomed.
Deleteinterested AND engaged.
ReplyDeleteThey really were!
DeleteI just love the apron fabric as well as the groovy printing work.... Maybe the Thank you card could be your final power point slide? Take a step back & reflect on an amazing week.
ReplyDeleteThanks Judi - the scrabble material just jumped into my arms as you can imagine! And I should show you the final powerpoint slide - great minds think alike and yep, it says thank you :- )
DeleteIs that an Adana 8x5 Fiona? I've always wanted one but know it's an obsession I must not give in to. Better to watch your hand waving from a distance and drool over the beautiful results of all that enthusiasm!
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed Lesley - and just between you and me I now have two of them! So yes, be warned the obsession really could begin. If you have one, you could always do photopolymer plates and build them up to type high...just saying! There was passion and enthusiasm in my talk for sure - just couldn't help it! Go well.
Delete