A Second Glance

Back in February, I blogged about printing with weeds, see my post here.

The printing of weeds was part of a larger work originally called 'Dispersal', made up of about 50 monoprints of weeds on the inside of business envelopes.

I wanted to exhibit this work in a local group exhibition 'Tightrope' that had an environmental theme, but 'Disperal' was too large.   So I reworked my ideas to present a smaller work and reworked artist statement that reflected the theme more precisely.

The new work consists of 8 prints spaced on the wall into an area 1 metre x 1 metre.  To me, having only a few prints can have less of an immediate impact (I love repetition and making multiples), but the intimacy of the smaller work does beckon the viewer to look closer at the detail in the prints.

Sometimes its a challenge to rethink my ideas about my work merely to comply with display requirements, but on reflection, perhaps those challenges are a good thing.

For those living in Brisbane or South-East Queensland, here are the exhibition details:
'Tightrope"
Location:  Pine Rivers Gallery, Strathpine
On until 4 August, Monday to Saturday 10-4
I'll be at the gallery on Wednesday 13 June running a workshop on Drypoint printing with a pollinator theme.

There's some really interesting works that caught my attention including sculptures by Mary Barron and Kym Schoenberger and a video work by Deborah Eddy.



My artist statement:

Exotics. Aliens. Weeds.  There are many ways to describe those plants that pop up in places where we don’t want them.  We continuously uproot and poison our urban landscapes to rid ourselves of these spontaneous opportunists.   But perhaps we should pause and take a closer look to appreciate the important role of weeds in revegetating contaminated city spaces and providing habitat for connected species such as pollinators. 

'A Second Glance' seeks to readdress the imbalance and elevate the image of the garden weed.  The often unnoticed elegant patterns within a business envelope provide the background to showcase the weeds' hidden beauty and grace.

The work 'A Second Glance' on display at the
Tightrope Exhibition

Finding the beauty in the odiousness of weeds

I've got an unhappy relationship with weeds in my garden.  Technically they may only be weeds by definition (just plants in the wrong place), but there's one particular 'plant in the wrong place' that really gets me angry.  Its 'Red Caustic Weed'.

So what's an artist do?   Print with it, of course......!

Since 2016 I've been working on a piece entitled 'Dispersal'.  Its a collection of monoprints on repurposed envelopes that describes the journey of weed seeds assisted by humans.

In my day job as a bookkeeper, I have been collecting envelopes of varying sizes - the business type ones have beautiful blue patterning on the inside, which forms the background of my prints.

Over time I have been collecting the weeds from my backyard and local parks.  This process changed my behaviour towards them – I treated them more kindly, nurturing them like I would my own treasured garden plants, pulling them gently from the ground to preserve their roots. 

Printing with these weeds made me realise that, in print, they were just as beautiful as many of my other garden plants that I use in my art practice.

One poignant example of this is the "Red Caustic Weed" - this weed has been my nemesis for many years.  Its a prostrate introduced plant which self seeds readily and pops up on my gravel paths and in my garden beds.  I really hate it!  But when I recently found a particularly large one, I carefully pulled it from the ground and placed it between sheets of newspaper under weights for a few days - this removes the excess moisture and flattens it nicely.

And it has produced the most wonderful prints.  The leaves and flowers are clearly discernable, the root structure is very fine and descriptive.  Its my favourite weed print for my 'Dispersal' project.

So, I guess maybe "Red Caustic Weed" is beautiful in its own way.  Next time when I'm scanning for annoying weeds in my garden, I'll try to remember that.

Red Caustic Weed

Second print off the plate with plant on it.

The very flat weed after running through the
press a couple of times.
Revenge is sweet......

Revealing the print, the best moment in a
printmaker's artistic life.

I just love these root prints - gorgeous expressive lines

Results of my latest printing session

The beautiful blue patterns on the inside of business
envelopes - this is a Telstra one.  Good for something!

"Dispersal' installation at Miles Gallery 2016 -
I've been adding to it since then.