Papyrus Gallery in Leura has been up and running for two and a half years - this is it's first exhibition. Papyrus specialises in works on paper ranging from heritage Japanese woodblock prints to local and International contemporary works in all mediums. This exhibition showcases the work of six artists contrasting a broad range of genres, mediums and styles.
Meredith Cooper is a local Blue Mountains artist who draws upon the amazing richness and variety that abounds in the Blue Mountains for any landscape enthusiast but she imbues it with her own sense of the magical or 'otherworldliness' which is achieved by her dynamic composition, her choice of colour and her method of employing it. She is working on an exciting new series inspired by the Mermaid's Cave in Blackheath and has returned to a medium very familiar to her - pastel.
She says it has "a unique, beautiful quality that can interpret the sensual earthiness of the landscape".
She says she attempts to achieve "a shimmering, oscillating, effect" from pastel which compliments her vibrant palette.
Some of these works in the series are represented in the exhibition.
They are large and challenging works which invest "the towering coachwood forests, and grand monolithic cliff faces" with a life that goes far beyond mere representation.
Meredith won the Blackheath art prize last month and is quite dedicated to depicting the essence of the majestic local landscape in all it's moods.
Paula Martin is an artist who wears many creative hats.
She is a teacher who has also worked as a scenic artist,costumer and prop maker for such places as the Nimrod, the Australian Opera ,The Sydney Theatre Co.,and the Sydney Olympics and the Powerhouse Museum. She also works on her own private work which include sculptural works, works with fabric, paintings, and drawings and she had exhibited widely.
For 2011 her focus is on "the theme of nurture in it's many manifestations and it's relationship to all our lives on this fragile planet. She aims for".. an intuitive approach that when successful, touches the essence of a subject. A junction of figuration and abstraction".
She has chosen a quote from John Muir's diary, 'My first Summer in the Sierra' to indicate her approach and paradoxically it describes some of her beautiful works-
"How deeply with beauty is beauty overlaid! The ground covered with crystals, the crystals with mosses and lichens and low-spreading grasses and flowers, these with large plants leaf over leaf with ever-changing colour and form, the broad palms of the firs outspread over these, the azure dome over all like a bell flower, and star above star."
Her work for this exhibition is characteristically free and bold in execution using a variety of mediums (eg; gouache,charcoal and ink) and shows a keen sense of design.
Greg Somerville is a dynamic local artist who has a science background. Since then he has moved into working with fabrics and creates sensational quilted pieces using his own very intricate designs as a platform from which he can create these layered, stitched and printed pieces.
He says of his work; "artmaking for me is a series of visual, mechanical and philosophic proplems to be played with:
the interplay between conscious structure and the great dynamic unconscious, tradition and innovation, movement and stillness". There are both his fabric pieces which employ screenprinted, appliqued, embroidered,quilted cotton fabric and his drawings in the exhibition.
Marianne Walsh is also a local artist whose work appears regularly in the gallery. The majority of the works represented reflect her interest in the surfaces of the escarpments around the upper mountains. She has experimented with various papers particularly Japanese washi papers for its translucent qualities. She loves the gestural qualites of sumi ink and exploring colour.
Two printmakers are featured.
Tom Kristensen has been represented by the gallery since it's inception. His work is well recognised overseas and as an enthusiast of all things pertaining to the Japanese woodblock
and it's history. His work covers many genres but in this show he has given us some of his 'Manga' works,including his latest print hot off the press!
He says of his take on Manga "..it is egalitarian in spirit. Enjoy the playful irreverence, the multitudes of magical characters and the colourful dynamism of design. Manga is the modern equivalent of the Japanese woodblock print; an anti- elitist creation that tries to deliver all things to all people".
He has chosen four of his works which span the years he has been printmaking. They reflect the diversity of subject matter that manga can tackle,and reveal the common thread of manga which is the cartoon. Tom draws on diverse sources to make political/social comments including folklore and ancient symbols that are as pertinent today as they were centuries ago.
Micah Schwaberow is a well known American woodblock printmaker. He produces very small, technically beautifully controlled prints -landscapes and still lifes are his favourite subjects.
He says of his work:"I am trying to make woodblock prints that don't look like woodblock prints, the wood and the knife invisible, the colours and edges as soft and resonant as a watercolour. I think of my work as colour haiku, large places carefully compressed, intimate glimpses through small windows."
His favourite artists are Monet and Morandi - Monet for his luscious colour and Morandi for the economy of his composition. Both these influences can be seen in his work.
For this exhibition we have a mixture of landscapes and still life woodblock prints and some beautiful still life collages. He says that his work is not spontaneous - the process in itself requires test after colour test. This results in quiet,very balanced works which is evident in both his landscapes and still lifes.
The exhibition opens on Friday 8th July and runs until August 21st.