Print and Clay Symposium
The Clay and Print symposium was a 3 day event organised by Lia Tajcnar and hosted by The Australian National University Ceramics Department in June, 2008. Virginia Walsh attended the symposium and writes about her 'three day romp through a cornucopia of printmaking techniques". The exhibition, Clay and Print: the Collaborative Process, brings together work created in response to the symposium.
Clay and Print: the Collaborative Process
The exhibition Clay and Print: the Collaborative Process brings together work created in response to the recent Clay and Print Symposium held at the ANU School of Art. The symposium encouraged collaborations between printmakers and ceramic artists with the aim of providing experimental and innovative ways of applying print techniques to ceramics. Both the demonstrators and the participants of the symposium were encouraged to submit ceramic tiles that engaged with the different possibilities of using print on clay. Rather than presenting 'the finished artwork' the work in this exhibition highlights the research, experimentation, play and discovery of the creative journey and the richness in collaboration across mediums, techniques and ideas.
- When: 23 July to 3 August, 2008
- Where: M16 Art Space, 16 Mildura Street, Fyshwick, Canberra
- Opening: Saturday 26 July at 4.00pm
Print and Clay Symposium
The Ceramics and Print Symposium held at The Australian National University in June was a three day romp through a cornucopia of printmaking techniques guaranteed to set the creative juices flowing. Lia Tajcnar and her team of organisers assembled demonstrators from Canberra and beyond.
The event was timed to coincide with the visit to Australia by Suzanne Wolfe, professor of art from the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Hawai'i. Suzanne draws on imagery from feminism and other social issues and uses a number of printing techniques to produce witty illustrations on her ceramics.
It was also terrific to have ceramic artists such as Mel Robson and Virginia Jones visit from Queensland and printmakers from the ANU School of Art. Local ceramists Sarit Cohen, Joanne Searle, Anita McIntrye, Avi Amesbury, Margaret Carlin and many others were very generous in sharing their approaches to printing on clay. The range of techniques demonstrated throughout the 3 day symposium created a hub of dialogue and exchange and included printing on Keraflex, decals, monoprints, relief prints, tissue transfers, stencils, sandblasting and Gocco prints.
It was interesting to see how printmakers approached the clay surface and to have an opportunity to delve into the language and tools they use in their own printmaking practice. Sasha Kukoc from the ANU Printmedia and Drawing department, demonstrated how she incorporated printmakers' tools such as copper plates, silk screens and painting mediums with ceramic pigments to achieve very effective image transfers onto a clay surface.
Patsy Payne, Head of the ANU Printmedia and Drawing Workshop, showcased the work she had experimented with during a residency in 2007 in San Bao, on the outskirts of Jingdezhen in China. Patsy had tissue transfers made to her designs and was able to experiment with different modes of transfer onto a variety of pre-made ceramic forms. Her experience was so enjoyable that she returned for a second residency this year.
As a gadget lover it was exciting to see Lia Tajcnar use some simple tools that allow the creation of plates for intaglio and relief prints (Solarplate Etching) and stencils (StencilPro). The Solarplate Etching, www.solarplate.com, is made of light-sensitive polymer material. An image, hand drawn or printed directly from your computer onto a transparency, is placed over the plate and exposed to the sun for a short time. The plate is then soaked in water where the unexposed parts of the plate are dissolved. The whole plate or a section of the plate can be inked up to transfer the image onto wet clay.
StencilPro, www.cbridge.com, uses a similar technique to the Solarplate Etching but in this case a screen is cut and is used in the same way as a more traditional silk screen to transfer images. Both techniques have the advantage of avoiding dangerous chemicals, are quick to produce and use readily available resources (the sun and a small amount of water). For the potter interested in using print techniques it is rare to have access to all the tools of the printmaker. These 2 simple yet effective tools enable us to explore all those ideas that we were not quite sure how to exploit.
Over the three days so much ground was covered it would be impossible to do justice to all the fascinating techniques in a short story such as this. Perhaps we could encourage the ANU Ceramics Workshop to do it again sometime?
Virginia Walsh
July 2008