30 July 2013

Faith McManus & Sheyne Tuffery, 31July-7Sept, Wellington

Exhibitions by Faith McManus and Sheyne Tuffery 
are almost ready to open at Solander Gallery in Wellington. 
Opening event is 5.30-7pm on Wednesday 31 July.

Faith McManus: Not a post-colonial Poodle
Faith's exhibition ponders the question; "What if the French had colonised Aotearoa/ New Zealand?
 I am only thinking about the pleasurable bits here: 
food, wine, fashion, art, poodles and high standards of grooming. 
The French Poodle as metaphor and sign has allowed me to ask serious questions in a playful way
 and offset the gloom of the recession. Yes, that does sound a little Marie Antoinette. 
But my questions include; what is valuable? And what do we value? 
I have adapted the Diamante poodle brooch – all sparkle and shine."


Sheyne Tuffery: USO and the Dragonslayer
Inspired by his 3D motion graphic work at the city gallery 'Ghost in the Machine'. 
Sheyne's exhibition depicts themes of romanticism in Polynesian chiefs, 
with a notable influence of John Webber, official artist on Captain Cook's fourth fatal voyage. 
These works chart the implications of traditional Samoan chiefly roles in a modern world.

29 July 2013

Call for Entries: First Impressions, by 15 September

Call for Entries are now open for First Impressions, National Printmaking Exhibition
to be held at Mairangi Arts Centre from 9 October to 9 November

This exhibition/competition showcases printmaking from artists all over New Zealand 
and includes floor talks, displays, demonstrations, studio visits and workshops.

Entrants must be over 18 years of age, NZ residents only.
A maximum of TWO artworks can be submitted for this exhibition.
All works must be original, produced since January 2012 and for sale.
All work must not exceed 100cm in width or be excessively heavy. 
At least 60% of the work must be analog printmaking. Giclee prints are not acceptable. 
Good quality digital image(s) of the entered work(s) must be emailed 
along with the completed & scanned entry form.
A non-refundable entry fee applies: $20 for one, $30 for two artworks.

Entries close 15 September
Selection Panel: Dr. Carole Shepheard, Professor Elisabeth Rankin, Steve Lovett, Mark Graver
First Impressions Entry Form available online at: www.mairangiarts.co.nz

Sponsored by the French Art Shop, as part of ArtWeek Auckland

I think ALL NZ printmakers should enter this! 
You've got plenty of time, so no excuses!

26 July 2013

Type Movies & Printing Museum, 29 July, Wellington

DesignCinema & The Printing Museum present: 
A Warm Insight on Craftspeople, Their Tools & Legacy

You are invited to attend this one-time event, 8pm next Monday 29 July
at the Lighthouse Cinema, Wigan St, Wellington.


Showing of Typeface - 63min film by Justine Nagan. 
Typeface is an independent documentary film about visual culture, technology and graphic design, 
centered around the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
 Typeface the film focuses on a rural Midwestern museum and print shop 
where international artists meet retired craftsmen 
and together navigate the convergence of modern design and traditional technique.



Showing of Making Faces - 43min film by Richard Kegler 
In 2008, P22 type foundry commissioned Jim Rimmer (1931-2010) to create a new type design (Stern) 
that became the first-ever simultaneous release of a digital font and hand-set metal font. 
Rimmer was one of only a few who possessed the skills needed to create a metal font. 
This film is a unique opportunity to share Jim's knowledge, processes and passions with the world.


Also, there will be a showing of a local casting of Metal Type - short video
Printing Museum Exhibit display
Printing Museum Announcement
Print giveaways for all attendees
Truly awesome big type spot prize
Copies of the films also to be won!

The Printing Museum in Upper Hutt is supporting this event 
with a sampler of their monotype casting operation 
and will have details of plans for the museum's future.

 Our beloved local Printing Museum has the largest and most comprehensive collection 
of working letterpress printing machinery & equipment in Australasia. 
Not only that but it is the only physical type foundry in Australasia 
and is run by the most freshly passionate and knowledgeable people 
that you'll ever be lucky enough to meet.

For more information and to buy tickets see:

25 July 2013

Sallyann Hingston, 30July-9Aug, Auckland

Small Work by Sallyann Hingston
is opening Tuesday 30 July 
in the Foyer Gallery of Mt Eden Village Centre
449 Mt Eden Rd, cnr Mt Eden Road & Ngauruhoe St

The exhibition is only on from 30 July to 9 August,
so make you you don't miss out!


All original art image editions are limited to 200, numbered and signed by the artist. 
Each image is a handmade work of art colours may vary slightly as inks are often mixed by hand.

All artworks measure 150x105mm and can be bought individually 
or collected to create a wall installation.

Sallyann Hingston, 2013
installation display of polymer plate etchings, edition of 200, signed and numbered


24 July 2013

Studio Visit: Otakou Press

Lynn Taylor gives us a 'guided tour' of the Otakou Press room at the University of Otago
at the completion of the '8x3' project:

 This blog entry focuses on some snippets from the residency project ‘8 x 3’ 
which is hot off the press!
8 New Zealand writers (Jenny Bornholdt, Riemke Ensing, Charlotte Grimshaw, 
Bernadette Hall, Fiona Kidman, Elizabeth Knox, Cilla McQueen and Emma Neale) 
and 3 printers (Tara McLeod, Rob Lamb and John Holmes) are creating a folio of posters. 

This year’s Printers in Residence (from left)
Rob Lamb, Tara McLeod and John Holmes
in the University’s Otakou Press room.
Photo: Sharron Bennett.

The Otakou Press is located within the University Library, 
students can get glimpses on the activity within 
and the room itself overlooks the Otago Museum reserve 
creating nice connections between people, books and the outdoors.

The Otago’s Printer in Residence programme was created in 2003
by Special Collections Librarian Dr Donald Kerr
and the then University Librarian Michael Wooliscroft.
Each year, a printer spends a month or so creating a hand-printed book
featuring the work of (primarily) New Zealand authors

There are a variety of presses in the room,
including an etching press which is used on residencies  
when images, usually translated onto solar plate,
are printed in conjunction with the letterpress.

A major part of the appeal of the room for me
is the collection of letterpress furniture and wood and lead type.
(Putting it all away after use is not, however, so desirable)

Composition, or typesetting, is where pieces of movable type
are assembled to form the desired text.  
Proofs are made to weed out any pesky spelling mistakes
and the entire complex of type, blocks, furniture,
and chase is locked into place—creating what is called a form.

This form was printed on the Albion Press

Another form.
In the early stages Tara plans out the designs on paper,
combining sketches and printed text and image blocks.
What becomes immediately apparent is the importance
of what parts of the page are left blank.
(Sorry forgot to get a photo of this!) 

Rob Lamb inking up...

Rob Lamb printing the colophon
on Columbian Press.

Close up of the freshly printed page.

John Holmes and Tara McLeod
compiling editioned work into portfolios

A delicious stack of posters

8 x 3 Portfolio detail

For more info see this article on Otago University website 

There is a nice short video about this project located at:

Thanks to Lynn Taylor for the photos 
and to Otakou Press for allowing us to have a look around your studio.

23 July 2013

Crossover, 27July-31Aug, Auckland

The exhibition Crossover opens this weekend at Papakura Art Gallery
at 10:30am on Saturday 27 July.
The exhibition is on until 31 August.


The exhibition Crossover, featuring emerging and established Auckland-based artists, 
functions largely as a window into the span of ideas and methodologies 
connected to print that are utilised in contemporary visual arts practice. 
All of the selected works in the exhibition make use of, or refer to, print 
but none are defined by a technical discipline.

The curators of the exhibition found the title of the show in the closing remarks of an essay 
titled Printmaking: A Colony of the Arts written in 2006 by Uruguayan artist Luis Camnitzer. 
The curators’ focus on Camnitzer was due to a seminal print work he produced 
between 1966 and 1968 named This is a Mirror and You are a Written Sentence
The work was a groundbreaking in its time 
because it marked a shift from print as process to print as strategy 
and was essentially the first conceptual print piece, which was closer to a relief sculpture. 
Crossover is not precisely about this work, rather the exhibition refers to it 
as interest in it set up a course of investigation into Camnitzer’s writings 
regarding the field of print and helped to inform the curatorial logic underpinning the exhibition. 

In Printmaking: A Colony of the Arts, Camnitzer wrote that the study of art-historical products 
has been characterised by a recognition of a balance between technique and vision, 
which was being brought into question as we "cross over a new divide", (Camnitzer, 2006) 
referring to the impacts of digital technology.

A spectrum of print technologies have generated or informed the production of the work in Crossover
which can be understood as an exhibition of strategies derived through or from print 
whereby print provides an approach, source material or proof of an artist’s action.
[Grant Thompson, 2013]


Curated by Tracey Williams, Steve Lovett and Emma McLellan,
including prints by Rangituhia Hollis, Sonya Lacey, Patrick Pound, Liyen Chong, 
Lisa Crowley, Jim Speers, Gavin Hipkins, Peter Madden, James Wylie, 
SoHoo Yoo, Sarah McElroy, Jessamyn Gemming, Su Walker, Sarah Dufty, 
Kerrie-Anne Van Heerden, Daniel Devoy, Kahu Fowler, Winston Shacklock, 
Alli Kissick, Louise Andrew, Sheree Stone, Cara Griffith, Euan Lockie, Misong Kim

Other events associated with this exhibition include:
 Panel discussion around the themes of the exhibition - 10:30am on Saturday 17 August 
  Informal artist talk with Peter Madden - 12:30-1:30pm on Wednesday 21 August  
 Artists from MIT will discuss their work in the exhibition - 1:30-2:30pm on Wednesday 28 August




15 July 2013

Paul McLachlan, 16July-3Aug, Christchurch

You are invited to view the work Home Ground by Paul McLachlan,
opening tomorrow night at Chambers 241 in Christchurch.


Printmaker Paul McLachlan uses digital sculpting software 
to exquisitely remodel memorial sculptures of soldiers located throughout the South Island. 
Through these intimate portraits of young soldiers, rendered as photo-intaglio prints, 
he recaptures and revives stories of bravery, pride, nationalism and heritage.

Paul McLachlan, [image of work from 'Home Ground' exhibition]
photo-intaglio print

Paul McLachlan, [image of work from 'Home Ground' exhibition]
photo-intaglio print

With the centenary of WWI almost upon us, 
McLachlan’s exhibition, Home Ground, seems both vital and timely: 
stimulating a sense of national recognition 
and encouraging an awareness of the history that has shaped us. 
Home Ground is an innovative, affecting and sensitive exploration of the history of emotion 
and memorialisation in New Zealand and a beautiful evocation of memory come to life.

12 July 2013

Parallel Prints, 15July-22Sept, Kerikeri

Parallel Prints is on at Art at Wharepuke
from 15 July to 22 September.
The concept behind Parallel Prints is to present the same exhibition 
simultaneously in New Zealand and the UK.

Using the uniqueness of the reproducible print allows for the same works 
to be viewed at the same time on opposite sides of the world.  
This highlights the democratic nature of printmaking and questions the aura of the unique.  
Which venue is showing the ‘real’ work?  Which the reproduction?

Curated and coordinated by Mark Graver and Tania Booth in NZ, 
Parallel Prints features the work of 12 diverse artists presented in a portfolio set.
Each artist has contributed one work on 30x30cm paper in an edition of 36 
and the writer and critic Richard Noyce has supplied an introductory essay.  
There are 24 portfolio sets, one for each artist and 12 for donation to international collections.

A dedicated web site has been designed for the project: www.parallel-prints.com 


The Artists
Margaret Ashman, Duncan Bullen, Anne Desmet, David Ferry, Gillian Golding, Mark Graver, Weimin He, Timo Lehtonen, Johanna Love, Stephen Mumberson, Chris Pig and Sandy Sykes.
These artists represent the broad diversity of current printmaking process and practice.

Exhibitions
Parallel Prints will be exhibited at Art at Wharepuke, Kerikeri, from 15 July to 22 September 
and in the UK at Ian Rastrick Fine Art, St.Albans, from 9-16 August. 
In the UK venue there will be a QR code that links to a video recording  
allowing the audience to encounter both exhibitions at once.  
There will also a live web video streaming of the New Zealand exhibition available.
Following the St.Albans show the folio will travel to France 
for exhibition at Galerie Apart, Le Bourg , Marcilhac-sur-Cele in October.

The portfolio has been selected for presentation 
at the Impact 8 international printmaking conference in Dundee, Scotland on 31 August.

Collections
Part of the concept behind the project was always to donate 
12 of the portfolio sets to international collections. 
So far the following institutions have accepted a portfolio:
The Victoria &Albert Museum, London, UK, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK
The Kent Print Collection, Kent University, UK, Ian Rastrick Fine Art, UK
The Whangarei Art Museum, NZ, Art at Wharepuke, NZ
We are currently in negotiation with other international institutions 
to find homes for the remaining folios.

Future Projects
It is envisaged that similar collaborative projects will be arranged in other countries – 
a project is now in development for the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in 2015 
and future versions are planned for the USA, China, India and Thailand.

04 July 2013

Print Studio Visits?

Someone suggested it would be great to do 'studio visits' for the blog, 
so we can meet NZ Printmakers and see where they work 
(and even group/community/educational facilities). Great idea!

I know there are many great print studios around the country,
and each one will have some great features & offer some handy tips
(as well as us getting to see your artwork and find out what you're passionate about)


Can we come visit your print studio??? 
Or perhaps you want to send us some photos & tell us your 'top tips'?


02 July 2013

Honey I'm Home, to 13July, Nelson

The Honey, I’m Home! exhibition is on at The Refinery Art Space this month. 
The exhibition explores the surface and humorous aspects of the domestic, 
as well as its darker and seedier side.

Nicol Sanders-O'Shea, Gone, 2013
Screen print, acrylic paint and spray paint on MDF (55 pieces, 25x25cm each)

Included in this exhibition is this work by Nicol Sanders-O’Shea, 
Gone, 55 screenprinted tiles of scenes and surfaces 
focused on the light and humorous side of domestic life. 
They evoke pragmatic, everyday family routines, 
punctuated by intimations of consumerist myth, sentiment and nostalgia.

Honey, I’m Home! runs until Saturday 13 July
at The Refinery Artspace, 3 Halifax Street, Nelson.

Participating artists include Jules Findlay, Graeme Cornwell, Symen Hunter,
Craig Agnew, Klaasz Breukel, Danny Knox, Nicol Sanders-O’Shea, Liz Boot,
Miriam Hansen, Chika Matsuda, Fi Johnstone and Nick Haig.

01 July 2013

Prue Mac Dougall, 29June-5July, Spain

It's a pity we can't all go over to Spain to see Prue Mac Dougall's latest exhibition.
But they have just loaded some photos from the opening
so thought I'd share them with you...






You can see all the images at: