We find out what inspires artist and Centrehouse Children's Drawing Techniques and Silk Screen Printing teacher Laura Carey

CH:  I see on your CV you studied print-making in Ireland. What bought you to Sydney?

LC: After a while in the art scene in Ireland, I found myself in a bit of a rut. I’ve always loved to travel, and I’d met some really great people from Australia so I decided to come here to study and focus on my work. Really, it was a bit of a whim, but it turned out to be a great decision!

CH:   Can you outline for us the general print making process?

LC: In screen printing, the first thing is to find images and make them into stencils, either by hand-cutting stencils or using photographic exposure. You have to think backwards in a way; figure out what you want and then make each individual piece into colour layers, it’s kind of like a jigsaw puzzle.

Example of stencil by Laura Carey 

After that, you can start printing! You print one colour at a time, so you have to line up the screen very carefully. Then you use a squeegee to apply ink through the screen onto the paper. Wait for that colour to dry and then start over with the next colour. If you’ve only got a few colours it’s pretty simple, but when you create complex images the process can be quite challenging.

CH:   What appealed to you about the process of making prints?

LC: I became interested in printmaking after being exposed to some basic workshops at the beginning of my fine art degree in Dublin because it was such a different way of image making , there was so much to try and so many new tools to make images so I just had to explore more.

CH:   If there was one print making process that everyone should get the chance to do at least once in their lifetime, what do you think it should be?

LC: Obviously, I’m a little biased towards screen printing, but there are so many other fantastic print making processes like lithography, etching, lino cuts, wood block printing and so on. Any of them would be a great experience.

CH:  What is your favourite print making process and why?

LC: I really like the screenprinting process, and how it becomes part of the work itself. I try to allow my work to form in the process. Screen printing is also very versatile; you can use drawings, photos, shapes - a lot like collage. I like that you can play and experiment with the different elements of the image like colour or composition , you can add or take things away etc. It can be used in so many ways; most of my work is on paper, but I’ve also made books, magazines, cards, and prints on fabric.

 Stencil printing on fabric by Leanne Garrity

 Printmaking for gift ideas by YaChin You

CH:     I have been having a look on your blog http://lauracarey.wordpress.com/ and see your own art work uses a variety of materials. Can you outline what informs your artwork?

LC: My work is multi-disciplinary although I am a printmaker, I dont feel confined to that, I work with drawing, painting, collage, video and installation to explore my art practice  My work has been heavily based around my personal relationship to suburban life, having been intrigued by the mass of suburban landscape that surrounded me in Dublin. My work looked at our evaluation of the landscape in which we live. Looking at the houses around me has allowed me to see how we are all trying to stand out among the banal. From travelling and experiencing new landscapes I have found I am very influenced by my new surrounding, I am intrigued by being able to connect, capture and depict what I find my self surrounded by. Robert Rauschenberg had a quote I loved ,  he wanted to work "in the gap between art and life," which I think suggested a questioning of the distinction between art objects and everyday objects. I try to look at the everyday in the suburban/urban landscape, that I find my self surrounded by and reexamine what we may usually overlook.

Laura Carey, Clevelizabeth Street, 2008. Ink on paper. 

I have also been working on ideas that focus on the interrelationship between fiction and reality. I take these banal images of the world around me and try to deconstruct them and create a new image somewhere between the reality in front of me and a created distorted beautiful alternative. I have been working on creating  a world that is instantly recognisable but at the same time allows the viewer to escape from the everyday and see the ordinary in a new uncanny.

CH:    Who are the most inspiring artists for you?

LC: It’s hard, screen printing has so many iconic figures like Andy Warhol and Tim Marr. I find Robert Rauschenberg’s use of appropriated images in screen printing very influential. He was always experimenting with new techniques and questioning what would work. Outside of the screen printing world, David Hockney uses colour in very concentrated and saturated way; even if you’re looking at something dull and dreary, his colours animate it and fill it with life.

Laura Carey, Björtusalir, 2007. Ink on paper.

CH:      How do the projects you have planned for Centrehouse fit into your art making philosophy?

LC: I really like to experiment and create different things, so I want to show people how versatile screen printing can be. I’ll be teaching people how to use their own images, designs or drawings to make stencils by breaking them up into two or three colours and cutting out stencils. Then we’ll use the stencils to make a number of prints on both fabric and paper. We’ll provide canvas tote bags, but if anyone would like to bring t-shirts ,pillowcases, teatowels or notebooks in we can print on those too. One of my favourite parts of screen printing is the process, deconstructing an image and putting it back together in a new and beautiful way, so I’m aiming to teach that process and all its possibilities.

Laura Carey, The Robin in the bushes, 2008. Ink on paper.

Exhibition News

'Imaginary Narratives, Here to There,' an exhibition of figurative prints by Bernhardine Mueller & Denise Scholz-Wulfing

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the opening of an exhibition by two of Centrehouse's print making teachers. Bernhardine Mueller has been teaching print making at Centrehouse for many years and has a Solar Plate workshop coming up in the early part of 2012 and Denise Scholz-Wulfing has taught our print making classes during the term, which we will be offering again in Term 1 2012.

Denise's etchings are hung as a narrative that is based on a series of illustrations of the Book of Job, by William Blake. The difference with Denise's work is that she tells the story with Mother Nature as the key protagonist, who tests Job and his treatment of the land. The story begins with Job tending his flock , where there is a definite divide between the bush and the farm. Mother Nature then turns her back on Job and he is faced with plagues of rabbits and locusts. Job finally decides to work with Mother Nature, repairing the land from the ravages of over farming, seeking redemption and finally living again in harmony with the land. This series of nine etchings is technically very skillful, with each one engaging the viewer with subtle messages and a dense patchwork of imagery.

Image 1:

Denise Scholz-Wulfing, The Job Series, Tending the Flock, etching and collagraph

Image 2:

Denise Scholz-Wulfing, The Job Series, Harmony, etching and collagraph

Bernhardine Mueller's etchings also look at man's relationship to nature, however she constructs her 'little vignettes' from the imagination and these works have a uniquely Australian feeling, using humour to ask questions about the way man interacts and sometimes struggles with the environment. There are recurring themes of the vessel in her images of boats and balloons that seem to help secure and navigate her characters through. Bernhardine has hand coloured these prints, bringing her characters alive and giving the works a more painterly quality.

There are a couple of more abstract works in this exhibition, that are layered with references to the Australian landscape. Being less literal, these densely patterned works make you feel like you are standing right in the midst of the thickly tangled, yet beautiful rainforest or bush. Bernhardine masters the traditional techniques of print making in a fresh and inspiring way.

Both women are extremely passionate about printmaking and having attended classes taught by both of them, I have come to realise that to create such high quality and compelling images from printmaking you really need to get the technical aspects right. Both Bernhardine and Denise can help you on your own journey.

Image 1: Bernhardine Mueller, Dancing with the Wind, hand coloured etching

Image 2: Bernhardine Mueller, Fish River, hand coloured etching

This joint exhibition 'Imaginary Narratives, Here to There', continues until Friday 12th November 2011 and is held at the Marianne Newman Gallery in Crows Nest. For information on the printmaking workshops and term classes, call us on 9428 4898. by Felicity Martin.