A day off in Winter

Well, this post has been in draft form for a few weeks now, owing to ongoing, boring issues involving my laptop (which doesn't work as well as it used to), my newish ipad (which I can't get to do everything I'd hoped it would) and finally the library computer. I was almost going to abandon it, with all the other unfinished drafts(!!!) but decided that it might still be on interest. So...

I had been working really hard over the past couple of weeks and so, despite several impending deadlines, I decided to give myself a day off on Sunday and took the train to Swan Hill - on the Murray River, which is the border between Victoria and New South Wales.
Sunday is the only day you can get there and back by train from central Victoria, or indeed from Melbourne. (From Melbourne it would be a considerably longer day!) A mid afternoon train from Swan Hill to Melbourne is scheduled on Sundays only - presumably to take all the Swan Hill locals back to work or study after spending the weekend at home.
Because it’s quite a long country trip the train is one of the really comfortable ones with a buffet car if you need it. On a mid-Winder Sunday, it was also confortable empty, with plenty of room to spread out. I really enjoy travelling by train - sitting watching the the changing landscape, the small towns and farms, the flat land and silos dotted around northern Victoria. I had knitting and music and found it very fulfilling and relaxing 'slow' time.
If you were travelling with small children, they may be enjoy the simple pleasure of watching the farm animals along the way. Because you’re higher up than when travelling in a car and the train passes only a few times a day, there was a lovely view of cattle and sheep along the line, some grazing contently, others dashing in fright from the passing train. I saw quite a few calves and was highly amused by gamboling lambs. Now I really know what gamboling means - a joyous kicking up of both front and then back legs, a bit like a bucking horse.
I discovered that you can’t actually get to Swan Hill using a Myki travel card; you need a paper ticket. Fortunately the conductor was friendly and helpful, touching my Myki off after Eaglehawk (just past Bendigo) and selling me the required paper ticket. Also fortunately I had enough cash!
I arrived at Swan Hill at about 12.30 and enjoyed a twenty minute walk along the river to the Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery - my actual destination. Before going in I stopped at Spoons Riverside restaurant, just next door on the river, for lunch.  It’s really quite nice, with a big bright indoor space with full length glass all around and plenty of outdoor seating, all overlooking the Murray. The menu is fresh, with a focus on local produce.  They didn’t have the delicious terrine I had last time, so I opted for a chicken pie, one of the just-baked second batch for the day. It was on the small side, but tasty.
If you felt inclined and were more organised than I was there are lots of tables and seating along the riverside.  I saw quite a few people, caravanners mostly, enjoying their sandwiches in the sunshine, watching the river go by. There's also a lot playground equipment and free exercise machines along the river

Later in the afternoon, I got adventurous and crossed the very rickety-looking bridge to the other side for a very quick visit to New South Wales. I thought I was pretty brave. Signs indicated that only one large vehicle was allowed on at any time. (What's a large vehicle?!) The centre part of the old bridge lifts up to allow large boats to pass...or, at least it did once. There was also a sign saying that no more than six people at any time should be on the footpath part of the lift section. 

So, the real reason of my journey was to see the Swan Hill Print and Drawing Acquisitive Awards. I caught it on the final day, in fact.  It was well worth the trip. There was a terrific range of works. 

The winning drawing was Jan Davis’s quite minimalist Georgica #25, 2017, ink and stitching on Nepalese paper. (below)

The winning print was a lovely quiet book by Elizabth Banfield, from Loftia Park, 2017, linocut prints and stitching on kozo paper.

Interestingly the two winning works are similar in many ways - the use of colour, stitching and light handmade paper. Elizabeth's work was one of two artists books, both inspired by bushfires. The other, by Dianne Fogwell, was also a wonderful book 

Besides her prize-winning drawing, Jan Davis also had a print in the exhibition,which I liked very much.

Another work that I really enjoyed was one of the two video works in the show. Todd Fuller's Billy's Swan is a very beautiful and moving stop motion video created using hundreds of chalk and charcoal drawings based upon a dream sequence from the 2000 film Billy Elliott.  The drawings are bookended by footage of Fuller himself dancing the sequence.

I caught the exhibition on its last day and unfortunately couldn't get a catalogue as they were sold out...which is a good thing (although not for me).

Fuller's work can still be seen at Bendigo Art Gallery, as it is a finalist in the Paul Guest Drawing Prize. I would recommend a trip to Bendigo to see this too, especially as you can also see Myuran Sukumaran: Another Day in Paradise, curated by Ben Quilty and Michael Dagostino.

Below is an installation shot of part of the Swan Hill exhibition.

After spending  some more time wandering along the river I returned  to the station, admiring the giant Murray Cod, before catching the train back home. It had been a really lovely day!

Something different - print and knitting come together

I've been thinking for a while about having a go at printing linocuts onto fabric. My first attempt brings together two of my interests - printmaking and knitting. I have cut quite a few plates of knitted textures over the past few years and so decided to print some onto calico to make some knitting bags. This was largely prompted by the fact that I've begun the journey into the Artists Market thing and feel the need to have a diversity of products.   I used some fabric ink that I've had for a very long time, from when I had a Print Gocco kit many years ago. It seems to have worked okay. I've ironed them to set the ink and all seems well, although clearly they need some more ironing!)

Working with what I have

I know I'm not the only one who has days sometimes when nothing works, I have no ideas and I feel like I should just give up trying to be an artist.  Last Friday was one of those - just terrible! (It didn't help that I was trying to print in greens. That, I think I should give up on!)
At least I have other creative interests and after giving up for the day I could do some knitting!

I have had a couple of much more positive days in the studio in the last week and also have to remind myself that part of the issue at the moment is that I'm working under the self-imposed restriction of working with what I have. As a printmaker who doesn't often work on a large scale I have lots of small pieces of 'leftover' paper and this year (being somewhat financially challenged!) I am attempting to use up what I have.

Also, I suppose part of the problem at the moment is that I have been working on a body of work that will hopefully have several  groups of outcomes - a series of square format prints in different (smallish) sizes, some larger works that will be pieced from yet smaller squares and a series of small artist books. So currently I have a lot of work in progress, but at times have difficulty in seeing how I will get to a finished state with much of it.
So these are some of the pieces that hopefully will eventually be part of something!

And trying out some possibilities for a pieced work in blues...

or this

(Most days) I have enjoyed experimenting with colour and layering forms both natural and manmade, using stencils on a gelatin plate, working with cardboard collagraph plates, and finally overprinting some with linocut text - fragments of Leonard Cohen lyrics/poetry.
Still a way to go!

Workshop with Lorna Crane

This time last week I was deep into a very stimulating workshop with artist Lorna Crane from Pambula.
It was part of the FibreArts Australia forum held at Ballarat Grammar - almost of week of art-making and mixing will lovely like-minded people. It was excellent!
Lorna is primarily a painter, but her speciality is that she makes her own brushes from a range of found and natural materials.  The brushes are themselves works of art, but are also the means for some very expressive, gestural mark-making.

So these are some of the brushes I made....

 and these are some of the first marks...

After a bit of messing about with the ink and the various brushes, we began to make some books...
working on different types of found papers and fabric, which we were then encourages to tear up and use to collage.  It was all very liberating experimental.  A bit like play...in a good way!

There was also some stitching (as this was a fibre foum).

Most days I went for a late afternoon walk around Lake Wendouree, which was very close and much bigger and more beautiful than I'd realised.

Work in Progress - and some finished!

I have been working!
I've been enjoying experimenting with collagraphs and gelatin printing, layering and experimenting with colour.

The main collagraph plate I've been using recently - a bit steam-punk!

Building up layers - gelatin prints and collagraph.

Recently got to the point of finishing some small  (18 x 18 cm) works off - with some linocut text for an exhibition with a 30 x 30 cm size limit.  The size they will be when framed.
Still a bit Leonard Cohen obsessed!

For Leonard 1

For Leonard 2

For Leonard 3

For Leonard 4

Too late for a quick look back !!

Oh my goodness, I started writing this post as a quick look at the last few months of 2015 as the year was finishing!
But now it's long gone!
I was just going to touch upon some of the highlights of the last two or three months of the year.
I'm going to have to give up on that and just mention a couple of things here now, then start off 2016 with a new post about current things.
Forgive me.

During 2015, my first full year of living in central Victoria I was very happy to become part of the Goldfields Printmakers group. More information about the group can be found here.
James Pasakos, from Federation University, Ballarat, attended  IMPACT9 - the international biennial printmaking, held in 2015 in Hangzhou, China, from 18 to 21 September. There he presented a folio of prints by members of the group referencing the history of the Chinese prospectors in the region during the gold rush of the later 19th century.
For my research I visited Bendigo's Golden Dragon Museum and Chinese Garden. I was very impressed by the huge collection of artefacts, objects and installations.  I could have stayed much longer than the time I'd allowed! I'll have to get back there.

I've always been attracted to ginger jars, so used one on each print, combined with
calligraphy on the first taken from the inner wall of the garden.
Well-known Beijing poet and calligrapher Ke Wen Hui arrived in Australia for a family visit in 1998. Upon viewing the Golden Dragon Museum he was impressed by the Chinese heritage in Bendigo, and composed several poems, painting them on the walls.
The given translation of the poem I used is:
'In deep thinking, visitors will go home with cranes nestled in their sleeves. Behold the beauty and prosperity of the Garden. Surrounded by the tranquility of this environment, you will only think reflective thoughts.'
The other image on the second print is a detail from an embroidered garment.
(Somewhat dodgy images, sorry.)

My last post was just before a small solo exhibition I had in October/November at 69 Smith Street gallery, a small artist-run gallery in Collingwood (an inner suburb of Melbourne). The gallery is a double-storey shopfront with multiple spaces. It's nice to exhibit there because there are always several other solo or group shows there at the same time and so you get quite a good audience.  I had a small space upstairs and showed prints from four different bodies of work.  The last year or so has been a time of trying to work out where I'm going.

At the opening, with a couple of works from the series With these hands - self portrait.

I have made quite a lot of work relating to knitting and other needlecrafts over the years.
The works in the image above continue that theme.

There were a couple of recent works from the ongoing series, A Taxonomy of (Art) Cats and new works messing about with still life elements and layering.
This one is more recent; getting a bit braver with colour!

I'm really enjoying working on this series, being very playful and experimental with colour.
I'll post some more images quite soon.

 

Simple Things

I've been very busy making work for various exhibitions and frequently forget to take photos of works in progress. But i have a small solo exhibition opening next week and so post this quickly here and hopefully may get back at more length very soon.

With these hands - Self-portrait 2 2015

PENNY PECKHAM

Simple things - Linocuts

69 Smith Street Gallery

69 Smith Street, FITZROY 3065

Opening - Friday 23 October, 6 - 8 pm

21 October - 8 November 2015

Wed – Sat 11am – 5pm, Sun 12pm – 5pm

Penny Peckham works primarily as a printmaker, and with a background in Art History, much of the work she produces relates to her areas of research, particularly art by or relating to women. This exhibition includes linocut prints from several series.  The newest, which gives its title to the exhibition, is an exploration of simple still life elements. There are two works from the series  A Taxonomy of (Art)Cats,  prints of cats taken from various of Art Historical sources, and organized into playful scientific classifications, and the With these hands (self portrait) works are part of an ongoing series of long standing. 

Printing knitting!

Planning on combining these two plates as a single image. Have printed the knitting hands (mine) several times in order to play around. Perhaps I should remove all of the dark knitted fabric...or lighten it  up very much, leaving just just a suggestion?

Making Connections

In the last couple of weeks or so I've managed to get to see a handful of fabulous exhibitions locally.
First, I went to Woodbine Art in the lovely village of Malmsbury for the opening of Melinda Harper's exhibition of paintings, prints and embroideries. Some of the works actually combine painting and embroidery. She lives not too far from me in central Victoria and is a founding member (as am I) of Castlemaine Press, a printmaking collective, which was launched last year, not long after I moved to Castlemaine, and which will have its own studio in the next few months at Lot 19.
I've admired Harper's colourful abstract paintings for some years. In fact, you can see her influence in my series of paintings, From the Book of LC - Leonard Cohen lyrics set within coloured abstract fields.

There is also a link to the work of Vivienne Binns (the subject of my doctoral thesis). Her In Memory of the Unknown Artist paintings look like modernist abstract paintings, but they bare actually based upon what she calls 'domestic surfaces', including carpets, bathroom tiles, as well as knitted rugs she purchased in country op shops. One of Harper's painting/embroideries is based upon a piece of cross stitch that she found in a Castlemaine op shop. A tentative link perhaps, but these works certainly reference needlework, an art form not always considered 'art'.  There is to be a major retrospective of Harper's work, opening at Heide Museum of Modern Art in late June, which I'm looking forward to immensely. Here is some information about it.

I also went to Bendigo (for a job interview) and so dropped into the Bendigo Art Gallery for lunch (which was delicious) and to see Imagining Ned. There were a few familiar (from Heide) Nolan and Tucker works there, as well as some Kelly-inspired work by contemporary artists, including a fabulous linocut print - Self Portrait as Ned Kelly aged 50 - by Clayton Tremlett, another Castlemaine Press founding member!
There are a couple of tapestries of Nolan paintings, which are particularly beautiful.

There is an exhibition catalogue that can be viewed in pdf available here.
I also went across the road to LaTrobe University's Visual Arts Centre, which almost always has interesting exhibitions. I was happy to chance upon an exhibition of Denise Green's work - an Australian artist based in New York. There are a couple of small paintings by her in the Heide collection, which I do admire, currently hanging in the laundry in Heide II.

These earlier works have the simple forms that Green has used for much of her career.  The one on the right has the fan form which she still uses extensively, somewhat modified in the painting below, in the current exhibition.The inspiration for the fan shape came from two 19th century Chinese artists, Ju Chao and Ju Lian, whose paintings were made in the form of fans and album leafs.

Whistling Winds (for Mondrian) 2011  acrylic and pencil on canvas 203 x 306 cm

There are two works that directly reference colour theory and utilize colour swatches. The signature fan shape is a consistent element across the multiple small panels.  There is something scientific about these two works, in the systematic arrangement of panels that relates both to colour theory and to mathematics. There are multiple influences cited in the catalogue, one of the most important being

Philip Fisher's book, Wonder, the Rainbow and the Aesthetics of Rare Experience, in which he discusses Descartes theories on the passions and emphasizes wonder as the primary philosophic experience.  He further relates wonder to the experience of the rainbow. So in these two works Green uses the fan shape to stand for the rainbow.

Nine Points 2010-2011 45 silkscreened paper collages on panels, overall dimensions 123.5 x 325.5 cm.

In the most recent works photographs of waterholes around the Bendigo region are spliced together with sections of unrelated abstract studio-based drawings.

Bendigo: Trees 2015 one photograph and five drawings 45.7 x 66 cm

As you can see, quite a diverse exhibition!

In the second, smaller space is a very beautiful and moving exhibition by Maree Santilla, Desiring the Undesirable. On moving to rural Victoria a few years ago Santilla was profoundly affected by the everyday sight of roadkill. She collected broken and fragile carcasses of foxes and other animals, bound them in ceramic bandages and fired them in a kiln, so several of the works include both a crumbling ceramic cast of the body and skeletal remains after the firing. These artefacts/relics are laid out within items of domestic furniture from the post war soldier settlement period.  Lighting and reflections are used to emphasise their fragility. Worth seeing if you can.  I should take photos, I know, but there is more information and some images here.

Simple things

As well as doing a bit of gelatin plate printing lately, I have also been doing some planning and cutting of lino plates. I've decided to revisit a favourite theme from a few years ago for a postcard exchange with the theme 'first'.

'The first thing she ever knitted'

I also proofed this plate, which I'm planning to print over a second plate of large circles, very pale possibly translucent grey. Yes, keeping with the circles...and other simple objects.

Simple objects can be carriers of multiple meanings. Thinking of the work of Australian artist Katherine Hattam and of course, Van Gogh.

I originally had all the writing in the lower-case script, but thought it might work better in capitals. 

Both are on the plate at this stage. I need to get rid of one, also clean it up a bit and fix the nick in the arm of the chair! Planning to fill the gap on the second plate.

  

Progress - circles and gelatin

Just a few images of the progress I've made recently. 
The shoe-box is just about done.  It's been a lot of work!

 

And I've had a few more sessions messing about with gelatin printing - some days more successfully than others. These are some beginnings, works in progress, experiments and a couple just about done...the print, anyway.  They might be book pages.

 

As you can see, some more successful than others.  But there are possibilities!

I suppose it is too late to wish you all a Happy New Year!

I am beginning to settle into my new life - and am loving it! I've never lived in the country before, but have for many years had a desire to do so eventually, and have been talking about making this move - to Castlemaine - for about ten years. So, it has taken me a while....
I'm currently driving to Melbourne once a week for a couple of days work, and am really enjoying it; getting to see the countryside in the best light, particularly the early morning, but early summer evenings are lovely too.  I've begun to realise why so many artists are drawn to the landscape as subject. I'm beginning to feel quite emotional when I reach the hills as I near home - after only a few months!
And although I've still two or three fairly major things to organise - particularly getting a shed lined and insulated and transformed into a decent studio - I do have a small studio space in the house and have started playing around pretty regularly with ideas and media.  I visited the studio of a new friend, a local artist, and we had a lovely couple of hours of show and tell, which inspired me to get back to making books.
So I made a gelatine/glycerine plate, pulled out some book works-in-progress and have had a few sessions playing.
I'm quite pleased with these experiments and beginnings.

 

I am also currently working something to have a small presence in the Castlemaine State Festival in March - having a lot of fun cutting circles from prints.

 

I've got a month or so to fill that white shoe-box with circles.  It's a looking back at my printmaking up to this point.  Seems a reasonable thing to do, with everything changing...and moving made me realize what a lot of work I have sitting around in boxes and folders. 
I'm very much steeped in Leonard Cohen lyrics/poetry at the moment, as I'm reading another biography - I'm Your Man, by Sylvie Simmons - given to me by one of my lovely sons for Christmas (although he didn't actually choose it. You get the best presents when you buy them yourself!)  The biography is the best I've read...and it makes me go back to the songs, listening closely.
So the shoe-box of circles of prints will be titled after a Cohen song - That Don't Make It Junk. The lyric goes, 'took my diamond to the pawnshop, but that don't make it junk'. These are all quite flawed diamonds - mostly student works, proofs and unsuccessful prints.
I also had one more miniprint edition to send off in January - for the Winged Messengers Exchange, which will be exhibited at Hahndorf Academy in the Adelaide Hills during Adelaide Fringe Festival. Proceeds from sales will go to the Bird SA conservation fund. Some more information and images can be found here.

 

There are birds there! See, four of them, on the wire, (another ongoing Cohen-esque theme in my work), and it's not the first time, either, that I've used the 'Counting Crows' rhyme!