Permanent Exhibition Space for Studio Printmakers at the Lake House, Takapuna

As members of Studio Printmakers Celia Walker and I are currently exhibiting a small selection of works in the Tindall Hallway at the Lake House Arts Centre in Takapuna until October 28^th.

Studio Printmakers is a collective of practicing printmakers who share the use of the onsite print studio at the Lake House for working on personal projects and as a communal place to gather to exchange ideas, attend workshops, organize exhibitions and meet visiting local and international printmakers and tutors. To find more out about Studio Printmakers visit the website HERE. New members are always welcome.

The Lake House Arts Centre recently approached our members and offered us the use of the Tindall Hallway to use as a permanent exhibition space for revolving monthly exhibitions. This is not an opportunity that comes up often, if ever, so we were more than keen to leap at the invitation. A small group of us donned our painting clothes and gave the space a spruce up armed with sandpaper, filler and paint.

The Tindall Hallway gets a spruce up!

The first two printmakers to exhibit were Vivien Davimes and Lianne Timlin setting the bar high with their beautifully presented works.

Celia Walker and I were next. We have both hung a selection of past works. Celia’s profile and more of her work can be viewed on the Studio Printmakers website HERE.

Artworks by Celia Walker

Artworks by Toni Hartill (2 at left), and Celia Walker.

I chose to exhibit a selection of my rock pool images, created over the last 4 years and ranging from drypoint, to four-block woodcuts and my more recent linocuts. This is the only time these have been shown together and, I think, it is interesting to see how I have approached the same subject matter with different techniques for varying effects. Its also interesting to look back on "old" works.

“On display here is a series of works exploring rockpools, a favourite theme revisited over recent years. Inspired by the concept of falling “down the rabbit hole” as in Alice in Wonderland, nostalgic memories of rock pooling in childhood, and the engagement of a wandering imagination, Toni toys with the idea of what it might be like to enter into the miniature world of a rock pool. Are we, the viewer, looking in or looking out? Are we off on a new adventure or are we hiding from the world?”

Artworks by Toni Hartill (near).

We will take our work down on the 28^th October and the next two printmakers will install their works. With over 30 current active Studio Printmakers members I’m sure this space will be put to good use and will be well worth stopping in to take a look at each time you are passing by. There is talk that we will use the space also to display collaborative, experimental and in-progress projects.

To find out more about the Lake House Arts Centre 

and where it is located visit their website HERE.

Please share this info so it becomes widely known 

as a place to pop in to see what’s happening next! 

And to support our printmakers. 

Works are for sale via the adjacent gallery shop.

Boundless - Printmaking Beyond the Frame - An update

A reminder that this show is still on at 

Aratoi - Wairarapa Museum of Art + History 

until 

26 November 2017.

I have not been able to see the exhibition in person yet as it has been down country but I hope to catch it when it travels to the Waikato Museum 4 May - 15 July, 2018. In the meantime I was given a copy of the beautiful catalogue for the exhibition, in the weekend. It is a wonderful record of the show and a chance to read more about each of the works. It also includes the introduction by selector Dr Carole Shepheard.

My 3D linocut rockpool "There Be Treasure" 

was selected to be in this show. 

You can read more about the process of making this, 

and the exhibition, 

in a previous blog HERE.

"There Be Treasure"
Linocut, Toni Hartill

Honour Ring Circular Print Project

Honour Ring is a collaborative print project organised by the Franklin Print Collective, bringing together emerging and established artists from around New Zealand by making circular print works about the things they honour. It was on at the Franklin Arts Centre in Pukekohe from 8 - 24th July and presented a wonderful and inspiring collection of works.

This was a project I couldn't let pass by without participating as both the format and theme appealed to me. Many thanks to Esther Hansen, Vicki Moore-Allen and Jude Gordon for dreaming up this project and making it happen. It is due to travel on to Christchurch, New Zealand.

Designing an image.

I chose to honour "community" as my theme as, to me, it is such an important concept to nurture in the world, be it family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, ...  print groups and organisations... without community we are but an island.... (hmmm now there's an idea for another work.) I used my beloved subject matter of a rockpool to illustrate this.

Carving the "key" block of lino, this is 1 of 3 blocks used.

 I have only been doing linocuts on and off for about 2 - 3 years now and so I know I have so much to learn. So, again, as in each project I take on, I set myself a goal of pushing myself to raise the bar on what I've achieved previously. In this project I wanted to further test how much detail I could include and successfully carve. I also wanted to challenge myself with producing an edition using multiple blocks that would require a more accurate registration system than my "by eye and hope for the best" technique of old. For this I devised my own pin and tab set up, much the same as the Ternes-Burton Pins but made using cut down flat-head nails, a  strip of plexi-plate and tabs made from acetate. 

There were many other questions I had along the way which I tussled with until I had a satisfactory answer such as: How do you transfer an image onto the lino so it remains crisp and clear while you carve? 

The completed "key" block.

Testing colours, making corrections.

Printing an edition - first colour.

Second colour is added.

Third and final colour, phew.

As always the final image evolves in unexpected ways as process and technique steer me in directions which I may or may not have anticipated. That first print reveal is always a MOST exciting moment as the heart literally flutters in anticipation - I kid you not, either I get very excited or I have a heart condition!

"Together we are an Ocean" Linocut by Toni Hartill
Paper size: A3, Edition of 5, $160 each.

What do I honour?

I honour the strength that comes from “community”, in all its many forms.

We have one world, we need to get along – strong communities nurture balance and harmony in a fragile world.

"Individually we are one drop. Together we are an ocean." Ryunosuke Satoro

Rockpool linocut, early proof by Toni Hartill

A lesson to be learnt, perhaps: 

In the process of working on this image I began with a certain idea in my head about how I wanted the final image to look and with the pre-planned intention of creating the image from layering 3 separate lino blocks. For this reason I didn't want the key block, the darkest and final block, to be too busy or it wouldn't allow room for the other colours to create the illusion of depth or shadow. So, when I initially proofed the key block, I felt it was too busy and so I went on to cut away the design, especially on the outer ring. 

I only wish I had taken more prints from the block at this stage because, in retrospect, I actually really like the effect of this initial print. It feels really solid and... rocky. I try to be responsive to my work as it progresses and to seize on happy accidents, as and when they evolve. In this case I was focused on trying to achieve a pre-determined effect and so lost sight of the possibility of what was actually in front of me. I would still go on, in this case to strive to achieve the effect I was after in the end BUT I wish I had recognized the merits of the image in the early stages and taken a detour to print an edition. As this realisation dawned on me, albeit a bit further down the track, I did print a couple of other editions of the image, one of just the key block outline, a much simpler and cleaner image and a second colour version where I put more colour and texture back into the outer ring by applying the ink in a sort of circular rainbow roll effect. I can easily look at any of the versions of prints and see things I like and things I would change but all in all its been another great learning experience. Below is a gif showing the various versions of the image as it developed over time. 

If you are interested in purchasing any of these prints please contact me directly and follow my facebook page for updates of when and where the exhibition travels to in Christchurch.

Thanks  for visiting!

My 3D rockpool for Boundless Printmaking exhibition - the making of.

The making of a 3D rockpool by Toni Hartill.

Creating a larger, more refined 3D rockpool had been on my to-do list for a couple of years and I had ambitions to complete it in time to enter into "Boundless - Beyond the Frame", a printmaking exhibition organized by PCANZ (Print Council of Aotearoa New Zealand) and judged by Dr Carole Shepheard. The initial exhibition was to be held at Pataka Art + Museum, Porirua, New Zealand: 20 May - 13 August, 2017. From there it will move to Aratoi Museum of Art and History, Masterton for 16 September until late November, 2017. And finally it will travel to the Waikato Museum, 4 May til 15 July, 2018.

"Sea Nest" by Toni Hartill
My earlier 3D rockpool.

This is a project that evolved from an earlier, smaller rockpool and I felt like I had unfinished business, to push my idea further. There were a great many stages and this is often what puts me off such a project - I have big ideas that then require a lot of planning and experimentation and then I doubt myself and.... well, often projects are set aside to languish in drawers perhaps until I get "brave" again and steel myself to have faith that it WILL work, probably, maybe... or not.

In the end I did manage to plod on to see this project through to a finished piece and I was very pleased, honoured and relieved, when it was accepted in to the exhibition. The minute a work is completed and couriered off to its destination its so easy to forget the many hours and steps it took to create so here is a pictorial short version of the process showing most, but not all, of the steps.

A lengthy drawing and planning process

Cutting tools used included gouges, dremel and knife.

Testing progress by doing regular pencil rubbings.

Inking up for the first proofing - exciting!

First proof, checking details.

Creating colour and pattern under-layers using
lino blocks and acetate stencils.

The deep teal rockpool lino block is printed over the under-layers.

The final black lino block is printed.

Detail of rockpool final print.

The backs of each print is inked with multiple layers of black.

Cutting and assemblage - nerve-wracking!

Final gluing - no turning back!

Glued and clamped.

Multiple crocheted supports were constructed til the fit was just right.

The finished crocheted support ready to attach.

Final fitting.

Creating a box to transport it safely was a sculptural 

project in itself.

All set to go!

"There be Treasure" linocut by Toni Hartill

"There be Treasure" detail, linocut by Toni Hartill

 Artist Statement: Pop-up theatres, shoe-box dioramas and press-and-fold paper toys all spark the nostalgia of childhood memories, of the magic of taking a two dimensional image and transforming it into a three dimensional "world". Through a combination of techniques including monotype, caustic etch, linocut, and old-school paper craft, I venture to reignite the viewer's magical childhood powers of imagination to step through the looking glass and enter the Lilliputian world of this rocky pool.

A 2d image holds the viewer at arm's length, as a spectator, viewing the work from a single perspective. Transforming the image into 3 dimensions the viewer's perception and involvement changes. The transition becomes easier, for the viewer, to cross the divide between impartial spectator and engaged participant as they alter position to peer into the depths to see what is hidden and to view the changing vista.

Inspired by the natural environment I am drawn to look for beauty in unexpected places and I endeavour to draw the viewer in to share in my experiences. My often visited theme of rockpools stems from my fascination since childhood of these mini microcosms abundant along our shores, each one unique in its inhabitants and ecology, tiny treasure chests of the sea.

Participants in the Boundless exhibition at Pataka Art + Museum, 2017.

Boundless - Beyond the Frame
printmaking exhibition at Pataka Art + Museum, 2017.

Thank you for visiting.

I hope this gives you an insight into the many hours of work that an artwork can entail. 

What you don't see here are the many hours of experiments and tangents one goes on in trying to work out how to proceed next. 

Hmmm... now what am I working on next? 

Woodcut "Sea Nest" - 3D print

"Sea Nest" by Toni Hartill (sold)

"Sea Nest" by Toni Hartill

This artwork was a natural progression from my 2D woodcut images. I imagine rock pools as little treasure chests or waka huia of the sea. 

I also think of them as “sea nests”, nurturing and protecting the life forms inside. The nest can be either wall hung or can sit on a flat surface.