biography
The woodblock print is never a “blank canvas” and this organic nature of the medium is part of what I find so enticing about creating in this medium. In my works the voice of the wood and paper are often empowered to speak through the wood grain and paper fibres in the prints. I have studied and practiced art in a number of mediums, drawing, painting, etching and sculpture, however, I chose to work in woodblock because it is an accessible form and more environmentally and socially sustainable. Making woodblock prints is slow art and it is often small art. Some of my work uses recycled or found wood and most of my paper is handmade from bamboo, mulberry or hemp. In a world of climate change, species extinction, artificial life and rapidly increasing technology, the handmade woodblock print is an age old accessible medium that connects art and people. My woodblock prints demonstrate a number of printmaking techniques including single block, reduction block, multi block, jigsaw block and hand coloured prints. I am one of few Australian artists working in the colour woodblock multi block and reduction technique and these works are highly sought after. The multilayer art prints I create take a great deal of time and skill. The technique requires each ink layer to be placed with precise registration and an in depth understanding of colour layering. These blocks in my landscape series are also worked in mirror image in order to show the landscape as it is. I have a deep connection with the landscape and the natural world that has inspired these works.
