Sussex Printmakers is a small but friendly printmaking studio based at Colonnade House which offers a diverse range of stimulating, artist-led courses and open access studio sessions. Their second exhibition at the gallery will see recent works from artists Alix Mercer-Rees, Diane Longbottom, Lyn May, Michael Joseph, Nora Young, Peon Boyle, Rosemary Jones, Sarah Sepe, Sin Mui Chong-Martin, Shona Macdonald and Sue Hawksworth.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Inspiration for Lyn May’s work comes from living close to the South Downs and the Sussex coastline. She uses her photos and sketches to work up ideas for lino prints and wood engravings which she prints by hand. Lyn also combines her prints with computer generated solid flat colours for giclee prints and cards.
Peon is a Sussex-based printmaker who uses everyday objects or scenery to tell a story. Her recent work depicts the landscape where she escapes from her day-to-day roles of being a mum and artist. Within this landscape she finds balance in her life and gains strength for her mental well-being. The dynamic yet soothing colours — alluding to the organic materials depicted in her prints — have intricate, elegant and somehow minimalistic feelings.
Rosemary Jones is an artist specialising in linocut printmaking. Most of her images are of local landmarks in Worthing and the landscape of the South Downs. All of Rosemary’s prints are original handmade linocuts, made with real ink, on real paper, on a real press, by her. Each print is unique because it is entirely made by hand. Rosemary is also a photographer, and likes painting in oils and etching.
Diane Longbottom has identified as an artist since childhood. She is self-taught and excluding a brief period in interior design, her art has existed outside of her working life. Diane discovered printmaking around 15 years ago on a course at Badgers Press and was immediately enthused by it. She has experimented in many forms including intaglio etching, silkscreen printing, woodcutting and linocuts. Her inspiration comes from many areas, but usually she makes references to politics, consumerism, inequality and music.
For Michael Joseph the purpose of art is not to create a photo-realistic image of life. His work is a translation into simple artistic values like a line, shape or space to such an extent that it becomes stimulating it its own right.
In this way Michael is able to explore and experiment on any subject. He particularly enjoys the figure and working from life. It provides a framework for developing thoughts and skills rather like a musician practising scales and arpeggios. He will take a nude and dress it again, not in clothes but in his own artistic language. Rather than accurately copying the figure, his approach adds mystery and interest so that it will command attention.
Michael will jump from one medium to another responding to the previous piece of work, reforming and editing as he goes. For example, from a charcoal drawing he might find a sculptural element. The three dimensional piece might then suggest an idea in paint. As the method of working progresses, the image breaks further away from the representational and into abstraction.
Nora Young
Nora Young is a Worthing-based artist who works in a variety of media. The works she has contributed to ‘INK: Autumn by Sussex Printmakers and Friends’ are linocut prints using graphite, inspired by Margaret Atwood’s poem ‘Owl and Pussycat, Some Years Later’:
“We row out past the protecting sandbar,
towards the salty open sea,
The dogs-head gate,
And after that oblivion.’
Sarah Sepe’s prints are part of series made in her studio using hand burnishing techniques. They have been created using a reduction technique with two lino plates (there’s not a lot left of the surface of the original lino surfaces as more is cut away between each layer of printing) and have been built up with layers of ink to exploit the painterly potential of linocut printmaking. Each print is a unique and unrepeatable work of art.
Sarah’s art practice is based on printmaking, drawing and textiles. She studied at Northbrook College and at University of Chichester where she gained an MA in Fine Art. She is a founder partner in Worthing Art Studios which is now based at the West End Gallery and Studios in Rowlands Road where you can see more of her work. She is also exhibiting at Winkworths Estate Agents (next door to Colonnade House) and you would be very welcome to pop in to see the work there.
Sin Mui’s work is inspired by a visit to the Jurassic Coast early this summer, where the intricate imprints and multiplicity of the fossils tell stories of past lives. This experience made Sin Mui come to see the intrinsic beauty of the life forms etched into rocks and stones as prints. With the process of photopolymer etching, she used photographs of these complex patterns to make prints. Sin Mui is interested in the spontaneity of experiences in relation to nature, such as the ability to observe what is usually passed by unnoticed.
Sin Mui is an artist who draws and paints in oil. Printmaking is an exciting creative process that she has been developing over the last few years.
Sue Hawksworth has long been inspired by the effect humans and nature have on the landscape. Light and shadow play an important part in her work, enabling the pattern and form of the landscape to be revealed. Sue has explored these themes in a range of media including monoprint and collagraph, and enjoys working with different materials and processes to explore more abstract forms.
Sue’s recent works are based on sketches made in Yorkshire, Pembrokeshire and Sussex. She makes prints using a variety of methods including linocut and monotype. She also paints in oil, acrylic, watercolour and pastel.
Image: ‘The Old Gatepost 1’, Sue Hawksworth, monoprint, 15 x 20 cm
Shona Macdonald graduated from Middlesex University with a degree in Fine Art in 2000. She works predominantly combining collagraph printmaking with papercutting. Her work is concerned with death and renewal in the natural world, sometimes whimsical and illustrative and always seeking beauty.