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Sunday, December 16, 2018

Happy Holidays























It is that time of year, when I want to thank you for your interest in my work and for reading my blog! This year's card is a small two plate woodcut. I generally prefer linocuts because I find them so much easier to carve, but I love the raw look of woodcuts and the quality of the marks I get. I find the wood carving really frustrating, so I stick to the small scale card format with my wood cuts. I'll share my registration system for a two plate block print in the next little while, once I've documented the process with photographs. For now, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best for the New Year!

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Winnipeg Neighbourhood III



Winnipeg Neighbourhood III.
Linocut.
60cm x 90cm. 
2018.

During our really dark and cold November, I've hidden away in my lovely, bright basement studio carving away on a new linoleum plate. Here is my linocut Winnipeg Neighbourhood III!
I've been wanting to revisit this imagery of a typical and charming Winnipeg neighbourhood for quite some time, and now that we've moved back it felt like just the right time. I thought it would be a nice piece to ease my way into my new studio and figure everything out. The houses in this piece were inspired by the Riverview neighbourhood, where many of our friends live. It's an interesting mix of architecture from the turn of the century up to the sixties.
As usual, I use a Tarkett flooring linoleum which has a high cork content and is quite easy to work with (my current roll is orange!) . I carved it on top of my new heating table, which softened the linoleum just right. I find the tools don't slip as easily when the linoleum is softened a bit. It was fun and I'm happy how it turned out!


Saturday, October 27, 2018

My Studio!
















My studio! It's finally ready for me to work in. Terry built the glass top table for rolling out ink and the heating table for wiping copper plates and I couldn't be happier. He also installed some LED daylights and the basement has become a wonderfully bright work space (a few more lights to come). Yesterday I started printing again and I loved it. This home studio is a dream come true! 
For any plate prep and etching, I'll continue to go to Martha Street Studio, but I can do all my printing in my own space. 


Heating Table























My home studio is almost It's modelled after an inking table at Crown Point Press (https://magical-secrets.com/studio/crown-point-ink-table/), albeit a bit smaller at 30" x 42", with a heating variation inspired by the table at Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis. Instead of a heating blanket, we used a reptile heating cable and an old felt blanket, topped with an aluminum plate. It works great so far. 
finished! Terry has built me two wonderful work tables for the studio. I got a glass top inking table for rolling out ink, and now also this heating table for wiping copper plates.
Also, the glass sheet finally arrived last week and Terry has also finished the glass top table.




Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Queen Sonja Print Award - Nomination

I am so proud and honoured to have been nominated for the Queen Sonja Print Award in Norway!

From the organization's website: "Forty two exciting artists have been nominated for the Queen Sonja Print Award 2018. They have been recommended for the award by curators, museum directors and fellow artists from many parts of the world. The winner will be announced on the 8th November this year." 

Printmaking in the Anthropocene - Catalogue

Printmaking in the Anthropocene - Visual Research from the University of Alberta, poses the questions: how can an art exhibition contribute to the conversation about climate change? Printmaking professor Sean Caulfield and art history professor Joan Greer from the UofA have co-organized this exhibition, which I am proud to be part of. Click here to access more information about the exhibitionYou can download the exhibition catalogue here.























The exhibition has been on display in Edmonton as part of a UN climate conference, in Banff/ Alberta at a sustainability forum, and most recently at a retro-fitted church in Glasgow as part of a conference. The photos below are from the display in Glasgow.




Friday, October 5, 2018

BIMPE X



I am pleased to share that I have received an Honourable Mention at BIMPE X in Vancouver (Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition). I don't have any photos with my work in it, but here are two images to give you an impression of the exhibition and here is a link to the digital catalogue (my work is on page 28, 102-103).


Photos are from the SCWOP - Society for Contemporary Works on Paper facebook page.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

IMPACT 10 - Santander Spain


I spent a week in early September in Santander Spain, where I attended IMPACT 10, an international printmaking conference. I met so many wonderful people from around the world! I showed some work at the Palacete del Embarcadero; I did a presentation about my work at CASYC/University of Cantabria and I participated at the Open Portfolio. The conference was all around a great success and thank you to everyone for your awesome response to my work.






Thursday, August 16, 2018

Radio Interview at ZP30 about my exhibition in Asunción

In my hometown I was invited by Patrick Friesen to do a radio interview for the local German radio station in Paraguay - ZP30 - about my exhibition in Asunción and my work. The interview is in German, but if you're interested you can access it here.



Thursday, August 2, 2018

Opening Reception in Asunción - Paraguay

I really enjoyed the opening reception in Asunción. The experience went beyond my expectations; there were so many people there and the response to my work was great.




Exhibition in Asunción - Paraguay

I am so thrilled to share some pictures from my exhibition at the Fundación Migliorisi in Asunción Paraguay with you. It is an absolute pleasure to show my work here and the opening was a total success! Thank you so much to everyone who came to see my work! 





Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Reconfiguraciones - La vida chaqueña en transición

I would like to invite you to an exhibition of my prints at the Fundación Migliorisi in Asunción, Paraguay. The opening is on July 25, 7:30pm. My exhibition runs parallel to an exhibition by indigenous artists from the Chaco, which is curated by Ursula and Verena Regehr. Most of these artists are the same that participated in my printmaking workshops in 2013 & 2015 and I'm very pleased to show my work in this parallel exhibition under the same umbrella title.



























2018 ROC Taiwan update

I found a picture with my print in the background of the photo below at ROC 2018 International Printmaking Exhibition at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art. (Photos: Wojciech Tylbor-Kubrakie).



Thursday, July 12, 2018

My printing press

My printing press is in my studio! I am so very excited! We still have to mount the gear box cover and calibrate the pressure gauges. However, I'll have to wait with the inaugural printing till I get back from my exhibition in Paraguay (more about that a different day). Anyways, the press has arrived and is here to stay. I'm happy!

Moving the Press

Last week we got my Charles Brand Press out of storage. We had borrowed a truck and trailer. A forklift had lifted the press onto the trailer. Remember, it weighs about 1 metric ton. Since we had to take it apart anyways to bring it down into the basement, we decided to disassemble it on the trailer. With the help of a friend and a neighbour, Terry lifted the press down in four parts. The next few days I spent the few days in hot hot weather removing all the rust from the bottom and top rollers, the press bed and wearplate. I used a product called Krud Kutter for the rust removal which worked quite nicely along with lots of scrubbing with scrubby dish sponges and steel wool. I did some polishing with steel wool and waxed all the clean steel parts with turtle wax. It took a lot of elbow grease, but I'm really pleased how nicely the press cleaned up in the end. Below are some 'before' (at pick up) and 'after' (after rust removal prior to final polish) pictures.

(At pick up in 2016)

(Lower roller before)


(Upper roller after rust removal)

We had taken the press apart into four pieces to get it down the stairs with three guys (Chris and Terry: thank you so so much for helping!). Terry had build some support structures and rigging to help manoeuvre the pieces down the stairs, which was really helpful. Lets not think about how we'll ever get it up the stairs again quite yet.

(Moving lower roller)


Moving the press bed. We estimate that it weighs somewhere between 300-400kg.



Terry's moving jig to lower the press bed down the stairs with a rope. A nifty yoke construction kept the heavy press bed from tilting sideways.


Friday, June 15, 2018

My very own studio

Two weeks after moving into our very own first house in Winnipeg, my studio is starting to take shape. Here's the first half of the main studio and part of my storage space with vertical plate and tube storage. Can't wait to get the press in here! (Thanks to Larry and Bruce in Edmonton for two of the flat files, the work tables and the vertical storage! Thanks to Terry for building the tube storage inspired by Highpoint's storage!) I'm so happy to finally be able to settle down and to set up my own print studio where I can work to my heart's content. More updates to follow as the studio comes along.
















2018 ROC

I am delighted to have my work selected through two jury rounds to be part of the International Biennial Print Exhibit: 2018 ROC in Taiwan! 2018 ROC will be exhibited at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts from June 23th to September 2nd, 2018.
For more information, please visit the 2018 ROC website.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Goodbye to ACAD















I've spent the past semester teaching printmaking at ACAD (Alberta College for Art and Design) in Calgary. The term has ended and I'm off to new destinations soon. Teaching has taken up much of my time and energy, but I etched a few new plates and did get to try out this big motorized Griffin press to print some test prints. I also played with some toner transfers for the seed jar imagery. I had to teach toner transfers in one of my classes, so I decided to try them in my own work. I'm still debating whether a digital print might be more successful in the long run, since it would be a bit crisper. I'm not quite happy with the prints yet, but I think several of them might grow into something finished eventually.

Detail of test print.


Crackle Effect


Testprint of Crackle Effect. 
I have recently tried a new etching technique to achieve this lovely crackle effect. It's relatively easy to do, but there is a bit of a chance factor involved. I've seen this effect in other printmakers' work, and I ended up following the recipe of Aine Scanell's Blog. I applied a ball ground to the plate, brushed on some talc after it was dry, brushed on gum arabic and put the copper plate on the hot plate at 200 degrees. When heated, the gum contracts as it is drying and pulls the hard ground apart. I had some flaking where the gum was thicker or where the hot plate got hotter, so I did some touch-ups before etching the plate. After cooling, the cracks have to be cleaned really carefully with a solvent to remove and hard ground residue. Then the gum needs to be washed off with water. I also applied an aquatint at the end, since some of the cracks whee rather wide. I am really please with the result and I think this plate and this technique has a lot of potential for my future work. I might tackle some issues about soil degradation or desertification in relation to my grad work about extractivist agribusiness models and monocultures.

Copper plate with hard ground and gum arabic application after being heated.


















Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Anthropocities

I'm so pleased to be part of the Anthropocities exhibition. It was a collaboration between fine art and history of art, design and visual culture students from the University of Alberta. The exhibition was first on view at the Shaw Centre/Edmonton during an international climate change conference (IPCC/Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which I believe is part of UN Environment) and is on display till March 31 at the University of Alberta Rutherford Galleria Space.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Artist Visit at Stamps School of Art and Design

I had the privilege to have been invited to the Stamps School of Art and Design in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan as a visiting artist this week. Thank you to Endi Poskovic and Stamps School of Art and Design for hosting me for a few printmaking workshops and artist talks. Thank you to Lee & Nick for all your help, and of course to all the students who attended, for your interest, engagement, thoughtful questions, and conversations. I greatly enjoyed this visit!
(Photo Credit: Katherine Hunt).