Feather : Leaf : Print

Since the Christmas break, I've been busy preparing for my next exhibition, titled 'Feather : Leaf : Print'.  Its being held at Tiny Tree Cafe at Coorparoo which has a beautiful little gallery space at the back.  White walls, so perfect for displaying my work.  I love these small suburban places where art is more approachable and relaxed.

However, every exhibition creates a mountain of work for an artist.  Not only the creation of the artwork itself, but also documentation, framing, labels, bio, artist statement, promotion, delivery, installation, opening night etc etc.  And with the installation deadline looming, I must admit I've been spending more time on the fun stuff (making the artwork) in the past few weeks.   I know that I've already have a lot of artwork ready to go, but I love the excitement of creating new works and exploring new ideas.

So yes, I've been creatively busy (I can't help myself).  Over the break, I dug out my indigo dyeing kit that I bought after doing a workshop FIVE years ago and have got it going (finally).  My little black bucket is now a blue-heavenly witches indigo brew which I don't have to share with anyone and I can just step outside my studio and start dipping my papers.   Now I know that it's very naughty that it took me five years to do it, but I'm so loving doing it that I'm contemplating buying ANOTHER kit, but I know that it will probably take another few years to use that one, so I'll stay strong and resist that urge and just enjoy this one while it lasts.

I've also been playing around with cyanotypes, including wet cyanotypes, which of course seems to have brought on the rainy weather. My garden is thanking me, though the chickens aren't so keen on being damp.

Anyway.... having an indigo dye bath, cyanotypes and my printer 'Thumper' on the go, its been a golden opportunity to mix the three up a little.  An example is a wet cyanotype that didn't quite go to plan, so I dipped it into the indigo a few times, dripped water on it (which then obscured the feather cyanotype) so then I needed to monoprint the feathers on.  Fun, scary fun.    Now just waiting for the sun to come out to play more with the cyanotypes and to warm up the indigo bath and off we go again......

My exhibition at Tiny Tree Cafe (420 Cavendish Rd Coorparoo) opens on Tuesday 28 January at 5.30pm, please join me if you're in the area.  The exhibition continues until 22 February.  I hear they have some wickedly amazing European handmade cakes............!   The bonus is that two other artists are also exhibiting work, including Robert Astill with his eco-dyeing.  Sounds like it'll be worth the big slice of cake to see it all......

Indigo Dye Pot = Black Bucket

Indigo dyeing on paper,
dipping mindfulness exercise!

Close up ... with some water splashes
to make it interesting

This is a failed cyanotype of feathers,
which I have dipped in the indigo...
lovely effects.  I think I also
left it out in the rain overnight accidentally!

A detail of the failed cyanotype, with
feathers monoprinted on top.
I've called this one 'Fresco'
because it reminds me of a wall mural.

Bio Blitz Exhibition - Completing the Circle

Earlier this year, I was one of the artists involved in an arts/science BioBlitz at Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve.  Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve comprises 55 hectares of subtropical rainforest overlooking the Glass House Mountains in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Whilst I was doing my Artist in Residence at Tweed Regional Gallery last month, I worked on a series of prints for an exhibition of artworks and science outcomes from the BioBlitz.

The works that I created during my residency explored the idea of mandalas as metaphors for the connectivity of the natural world.  The Wikipedia definition of mandalas is:

"A mandala is a spiritual and/or ritual geometric configuration of symbols or a map......In modern, typically American use, "mandala" has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a time-microcosm of the universe, though it originally meant to represent wholeness and a model for the organizational structure of life itself—a cosmic diagram that shows us our relation to the infinite, the world that extends beyond and within our minds and bodies."

I have interpreted and drawn my mandala to represent the cycles of life within the rainforest ecosystem, with a sun icon at the top of the mandala as a representation of the importance of light within the rainforest.  All of the plants in a rainforest grow in accordance with their ability to access sunlight; the size of their leaves, the way they grow and use other plants to help them penetrate the canopy.

Incorporated into my mandalas are some of the insects from the rainforest, with monotypes of rainforest leaves in the background.  The layering of imagery in my prints tells the story of the interconnection of rainforest ecology.

These prints and others are currently being exhibited as part of the BioBlitz Exhibition at the Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve until 12 January.  All of the artists that participated in the BioBlitz have work on display based on their experiences at the BioBlitz.  There is also very interesting information on the results of the scientific studies and a fantastic video documentary filmed during the BioBlitz.  Free entry! 9am to 4pm.  I will be onsite some of the time, running a fun drop-in activity for adults and children. 

Part of the exhibition

My work, part one.

My work, part two!

Jono (one of the artists) and I with the amazing trophy  "2019 Banksia Sustainability Award - Government'
won by Sunshine Coast Council for the BioBlitz

The Rainforest Mandala print - Longicorn Beetle

Rainforest Mandala - Dung Beetle

Exploring Woven Concertina Books

At a recent meeting of Papermakers & Artists Qld, we learnt an interesting technique of woven concertina books.  I've also completed Helen Hiebert's online weaving course this year, so I've had an interest in the idea of using my old folio monoprints to create new images in a woven form.

For the upcoming Compassion exhibition (details below), I decided to make a small series of woven concertina books, using old monoprints, collagraphs and rusted papers.

The technique I used was to fold a long concertina and cut long strips through the middle (reserving the ends for covers).  Then weave pieces of another print for each of the concertina pages.  The result gives maximum contrast and interest to a couple of ordinary prints.  Most of the prints were double sided, but with those that weren't I added more strips of left over prints, some of them not even the same size.  I applied some glue so that the book didn't work itself loose and they look better without too many gaps.

I'm happy with the completed books....and my folio and print drawers are a little bit less full now :-)

These books will be on sale at the Compassion exhibition at the gallery shop.

Step 1 -fold concertina then cut strips along middle

Step 2 - weave strips of contrasting prints.
The width of each strip is equal to the
width of the concertina pages/

Finished woven books, showing prints
glued to create covers.

The weave.  This one is interesting - it looks like the
Magpie is walking past a Venetian blind :-)

The one weaves a feather monoprint with a brown collagraph.

Collagraph print as a cover, I love the scratchy texture
of this one.

This one has rusted paper with feather monoprints.

This is where they will be on sale.

Listening to Rain

I've just finished reading a wonderful book, titled 'The Song of Trees' by David George Haskell.  Each chapter is about an individual tree somewhere in the world.  Haskell weaves poetic stories about the links those trees share with their surrounding environment and how that influences the humans and other animals that interact with them.  This narrative of 'connectivity' of all things natural really resonates with my art practice, so I found the book a great source of ideas and inspiration.

One such idea that Haskell presents in his book is the physicality of sound, particularly the sound of rain and how it reveals the shape and structure of trees.

Here is a short quote from the book:

"The water that strikes the understory has already passed across many leaves above...rhythms of the understory are born in the diversity of leaf shapes.  We hear rain not through silent falling water but in the many translations delivered by objects that the rain encounters."

A few weeks ago, I posted on my blog about Remembering Trees Lost where I had printed a series of monoprints inspired by the removal of trees for road widening near where I live.

Some of those monoprints have been assembled and framed for a small series of works titled 'Memory of Trees', but I held back 56 of the card-sized prints to create a hanging book, inspired by Haskell's idea of the sound of rain and my recent experiences at the BioBlitz sitting in the rain beneath the rainforest canopy.

The prints hang on linen thread from pieces of repurposed wood.  The prints are graded from dark to light to reflect the intensity of the sound of the rainfall as if the leaves are speaking the rain's language.

The book is titled 'Listening to Rain', and will be exhibited next month at 'Compassion' an exhibition of artist books on the Sunshine Coast.

Fading to Grey - Solo Exhibition

I've been super busy, hence no blog posts yet for this month!  Well, its not quite the end of June yet, so here is my June post......

A week ago, I opened my solo exhibition 'Fading to Grey' at Gympie Regional Gallery.  Its a beautiful exhibition (no bias of course) in a historic building converted to a gallery space.

‘Fading to Grey’ is an exhibition of printmaking, works on paper, installations and artist books that comments on human-initiated transformations of the landscape around us – urbanisation, agricultural monocultures, invasive species, and fragmentation of wildlife habitats.  The title of the exhibition references the change in the natural landscape when it is disturbed and developed by humans - the green softness 'fades' to monochromatic grey hard surfaces - brick, cement and bitumen.   I'm really passionate about the impacts of urbanisation on wildlife, particularly on insect pollinators and birds. 

This exhibition features a few works exhibited previously as part of a partnered solo with Barcaldine artist Jo Taylor, though most of the works have been added to or modified since then.

Having a solo exhibition is a chance to get all those crazy ideas up into a professional gallery space and make a statement about something you're passionate about.  Sharing my message is what drives my art practice.

The hero piece of my exhibition is 'Interconnection' - a wall installation of about 300 paper cutouts in the shape of hexagons, illustrating the diversity contained within natural habitats and the importance of pollinators for biodiversity.    The pattern on the wall reflects the spiral pattern of the native stingless bee hive.  The paper cutouts are made from monotypes, etchings, flight maps, book text, atlas papers and the centre piece is bees wax.  The work also features entomological pins, used for pinning insects in museum collections.  Great fun to create, sifting through ten years of discarded prints and my stash of papers.  Not so much fun to install, as I have to make sure I set up the spiral shape from the first hexagon.  :-)   Photos below.

Over the coming weeks/months, I'll feature more works from the exhibition, with some work-in-progress photos as well.

Installing 'Interconnection' - over 300 hexagon
cutouts and lots of blue-tac!

My installation 'assistants' - my Mum Jan
and my partner Craig.  Lots of help too from
gallery staff and volunteers.

Selfie view of part of the gallery space.

Opening day and I'm explaining one of the works to
a visitor.

Visitors walking through the gallery.

Here I am giving my speech. 

'Interconnection' - Image credit: Leeroy Todd Photography

'Interconnection' (view from below) - Image credit: Leeroy Todd Photography