Pop-up exhibition
I'm currently in the process of preparing for an upcoming up exhibition - this will be a solo exhibition focusing on ecology, which gives me a perfect opportunity to use my current print works outside of my own space and Whitecliffe studios :) Of the intended prints, all of which are drawn from stills in my moving image works, two are ones I tested out a few weeks ago and 5 are other images that I have been preparing to use for a little while. Most are from my current investigation into Maungawhau, Maungakiekie and Maungarei (Mount Eden, Cornwall Park, and Mount Wellington), but a couple of the images are taken from my work on Rangitoto last year - also of scoria and basalt formations.
Originally, these were developed with the intention of using them in my EOY or mid-year assessment, but after reflecting on my options with Sonya this week, I'm leaning towards possibly leaving them out for now... While I really enjoy the ambiguous landscape elements in each and the connection into the wider narrative around geological time and presence that I'm exploring, I do feel like they may need some extra context in order to fully come across in the seminar environment... In the pop-up exhibition, they will be paired with some of my moving image works (from this and last year's ecological/geological investigations), but this will not be possible for mid-year... At present I'm leaning towards presenting a sound work for mid-year, so whether I include these images or not will be decided upon closer to that time. Still, is nice to be doing so much printing!
Below are the images for printing this week:
Edit: printing notes from Struan at AUT:
reducing levels in Photoshop (see right) once the image is in Greyscale mode can be helpful for printing
printing on tracing paper seems to work a little better than transparencies (more reliable, less fiddling etc.)
For developer - 2/3ish scoop Crystal Water pH Increase (soda ash) + 15L water approximately (warm dissolves better)
don't have to waterblast the plate - strong hose is fine (especially for plastic)
make sure not to overdevelop the plates - if so you'll start to see too much white space and the film lifting. Plate should turn blue when tilted flat at eye level
Thinking about materials
In talking with Sonya this week, I mentioned the possibility of using different materials from each images space in the process of making my work - potentially to make inks or pigments. While my mind immediately goes to using earth or rock pigments from Tāmaki Makaurau, I do not want to overstep by using the earth for my practice - as a Pākehā artist I wouldn't feel too comfortable with utilising something so embodied with meaning as whenua, especially when there are plenty of brilliant Māori artists who are currently engaging with that realm in their work (Kauae Raro Research Collective for example).
Something I have been doing though is collecting small amounts of iron from the beaches around Auckland by using a strong magnet to extract it from the sand - this started from a curiosity about concretions and the collection of rare metals on (akin to rings of a tree's lifespan) and from looking at the elemental aspects of the landscapes I have been exploring (both terrestrial and celestial). I recently came across printmaking examples in which rusted steel plate was used to create a direct print, and I have been wondering if I could use what I've collected for a similar purpose. If not, I've also been wondering about mounting these iron particles somehow - perhaps on a printmaking plate... This comes after thinking about the inked plates Greg let me keep after our printmaking at AUT, and in thinking back on the geological connections between element and place - iron oxides in Mars' atmosphere and Rangitoto's lava flows, the layering of rare earth metals on the concretions, the presence of minerals on celestial bodies as observed by NASA, the metal-rich content of the volcanic flows around Auckland, the use of metals in traditional photographic practices (either as grounds or as liquid chemicals) … I think there are lots of things to be explored there. Sonya suggested that bitumen may be a useful material if I do explore that route, which as well as being a nice sticky ground for particles of iron is also connects into the history of photography (via Nicéphore Niépce, for which a lunar crater is also named), city building (roads and aggregate) and printmaking!
Re-reading On the Last Afternoon for my literature review has inspired me to think more deeply about about the material connections between the subjects, processes, and media I am working with; I feel like I started doing this initially this year, but I need to sit down and spend some decent time on it now that the pieces are falling into place a bit more.
Thinking about bitumen, materiality, photography, geology, etc.:
…and about Nicephore Niepce's work:
From The Lithographers Manual, Eight ed. Pittsburgh Pa: Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, 1988:
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