2019 News
January
My Japanese Woodblock print 'Meanwhile' has been selected for the Signature Art Prize. Exhibiting at Bankside Hotel 31st January and London and Trinity Art Gallery London City Island 4th February- 21st March.
Teaching
This Spring I have been working as a tutor at Morley College, the City Literary Institute and the Arts Academy. I have taught courses in Japanese Woodcut, Japanese Woodcut and Bookbinding, as well as Relief Printing and etching. I have been mentoring other tutors at Morley College and taking tutorials at the Art Academy
Some of my Artist Books on display at Morley College
Just before giving an Artist Talk at The Art Academy to Diploma students.
Not Yet
My Japanese woodcut print 'Not Yet' has been accepted for the RA Summer Exhibition.
My print 'Not Yet' at the Royal Academy Summer exhibition
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair
I was commissioned by Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair to make an installation to fill their 16metre long space. My installation is called 'Water' and comprises eight two and a half metre long hangings on Shoji Baika paper. I cut eight woodcuts and printed thirty-two different configurations using Caligo inks. The prints were hand burnished with a wooden spoon so that the prints would be visible on both sides of the paper. The hangings were hung so that the free movement of air in the vast space made them ripple like water.
My installation is titled ‘Water’ and is based on the river at Woolwich. The Thames is a constant reminder of London’s past, particularly at Woolwich where there is evidence of a settlement even before the Romans came to Britain. Water is a flowing, transient, ever mutable life force that cuts right through the heart of London. In modern times the importance of The Thames as a thoroughfare bringing the rest of the world to the city has diminished but it remains a focal point, a point of reference, a landscape opening.
I was also inspired by the tapestries of Anni Albers and the large installation work of Ayomi Yoshida.
To make the prints I drew directly onto eight A1 size woodblocks and cut them by hand so that I could add more nuanced shaded areas. I printed on a handmade Japanese paper called Shoji Baika. The panels were hand-printed using Caligo inks- interchanging the woodblocks into thirty-two different configurations. I used a wooden spoon to burnish the prints so that the ink would be visible on both sides of the paper.
My print 'Meanwhile' is included in Woolwich Contemporary Print Editions and 'Gray' is in the Print Fair.
The Fragile Ocean
Two of the hangings from my series 'Water' were exhibited at "The Fragile Ocean" exhibition at St. Johns Church, Bethnal Green, London. This was a Sail Britain group show organised to showcase work inspired by the sailing residencies to the Western Islands of Scotland earlier this year. Contributors included many artists from the RCA as well as scientists from Imperial College. The video shows my prints hanging from a stairwell and rippling like water in the manner of a Japanese noren curtain.
Symposium evening looking at grassroots level education regarding plastic pollution, conservation and exploration.
2020 News
Teaching
The first part of this year found me teaching at Morley College, the City Literary Institute, The Art Academy and South London Gallery. All of my classes are for adult students and mostly on Japanese Woodcut but I have also taught Relief printing into Textiles and Relief printing into Bookbinding, to BA students at the Art Academy.
Virtual Exhibition
In the meantime 'Gray' has been included in a Virtual Exhibition- which has been very exciting to take part in, a first for me.
Japanese Embassy
My Japanese Woodcut classes were endorsed by the Japanese Embassy as part of their Japanese Season of Culture 2019-2020.
https://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/SeasonCulture/EVENT/Month/202001/08_SLG_JapaneseWoodcutPrinting.html
Gray
'Gray' was selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2020
My print ‘Gray’ is based on drawings made at the chalk cliffs at Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent. It is said to have got its name from the fate of those caught smuggling- deportation to the far side of the world, Botany Bay, Australia. Cliffs particularly in Kent are synonymous with the physical and mental border that bounds the British Isles.
My print is called ‘Gray’, gray for the name carved in the cliff and the tonal colours used to print it but also for the grey area surrounding Brexit. Names from all over the world have been incised in the soft chalk by visitors to this area of outstanding coastline. Further down the beach was a temporary encampment of Syrian refugees grouped around a bonfire. And yet this is Thanet, deep in Brexit country.
I am delighted that this print has been selected for the RA 2020 Summer Exhibition
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair
Asemic Writing
This Mokuhanga print combines my obsessions with water, reflections and the Japanese language. Asemic writing refers to shapes that suggest writing forms. I was interested in incorporating the flow of Japanese calligraphy and the reflections of reeds into a traditional Japanese scroll format. It is currently a work in progress. I am working on different versions, lighter, darker and experimenting with different papers.
Black Lake
Japanese woodcut with white calligo ink onto plisse fabric.
Kunstmuseum Reutlingen, Germany
Between Two Points
This is a four block mokuhanga print on Shiramine paper, exploring movement and time passing. It has been selected for exhibition at Kunstmuseum Reutlingen, Germany. The print has also been purchased for their collection.