linocut

2023: Carbonised

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This is another project for Studio 2, as part of my Master of Fine Art program. It consisted of a mournful, site-specific installation of charred cuttlebones, showing how a selected location informed a body of work. While continuing to memorialise endangered sea-life through cuttlebones, for this site specific project I entered the shadowy realm of museum storage the mausoleum of colonial trophies and taxidermy. Based on a dilapidated plan drawer this installation consisted of eight cuttlebones surrounded by pictorial labels, tags and flip books made from relief prints. The relief prints featured the contour lines of the cuttlebone.

This project was intended to create a mournful affect, with the charred cuttlebones symbolising the extreme consequence of global warming.

Photograph by Elizabeth Cole of Carbonised installation, close up of eight casts and tags, 2023. Casts made from high compression gypsum, painted with acrylic, with twine and tags from 250 gsm paper. Cast sizes variable, approx. 24 x 9 x 3.5 cm. 2023.
Photograph by Elizabeth Cole of revised configuration of the Carbonised installation, for a meeting with my supervisor, 2023.

 

Beautiful Soup- the making of an image

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I was fortunate to be invited to participant in a print exchange curated by Rona Green. The theme was ‘Beautiful Soup’. In considering the theme I contemplated the structure of soup itself (liquid and the occasional solid ingredient). This in turn led me to consider the sea and creatures therein. An encounter with the Blue Whale skeleton at Melbourne Museum sealed the deal. My work is called  ‘Whale Bones’, and is based on images of the vertebrae from the skeleton. The medium is linocut, printed using Graphics Chemicals ‘Bismark Brown’ ink on Somerset Velvet Buff 280 gsm paper. The dimensions are 13 w x 18 h (cm). The print exchange will be exhibited later in 2012. The creation of the work and the edition is shown below.

Ruins of the Great Wall-linocuts

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I am currently working on a project to depict ruined buildings and structures from along the Great Wall(s) of China, and other areas in Central Asia. My plan is to use the medium of linocut and also cardboard etching, and produce the same image as a relief print and also as an etching.

The first iteration of the linocut works is shown below. These images are sourced from photographs taken by Sir Aurel Stein during his travels in Central Asia. Most of the original photos date from 1913/1914.

Catalogue for the Freak of Nature exhibition/print exchange

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Further to my post on the Freak of Nature exhibition/print exchange, the catalogue has just been released. It shows amazing diversity in how artists have approached the theme.

Freak_of_Nature_catalogue

 

 

 

Susan’s Nude

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Some years ago a photographer  (Susan Cullen) provided the following photograph as a gift. At this point I should add it was not a photo of the giver nor the recipient!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been fascinated by the image, with its curves, fluidity and beguiling anonymity. I set myself the challenge to recreate the image using the most binary of print medium- linocut. Binary to my mind as it is very hard to create tonal range with a straight linocut (ie, without etching the lino).

The following image shows the result.

Freak of Nature

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In January this year, I was very fortunate to be invited to join an international print exchange/exhibition curated by Rona Green. The exhibition is called ‘Freak of Nature’. It opens on Tuesday 6 September at the Gippsland Centre for Art and Design, and runs until the 2nd October 2011 (see invitation below).

 

 

 

 

 

Due to the relatively large print edition (49), and the fact that I was printing in my home studio,  I knew I needed to work on a fairly simple image, in black and white. Lino was my medium of choice. I explored a variety of themes, and finally settled on an image of two sea dragons drifting through a kelp forest. There are many aspects of the sea dragon which make them appear a ‘freak of nature’, from their strange shape to their paternal habits.

The following photos show the final image and key aspects of the production process. The ink used was T.N. Lawrence’s oil based black ink, on Dutch Etch 250 gsm paper.