As part of The Wall Project at the Manning Regional Art Gallery, artist Di Podmore is creating prints (monotypes) based on her explorations of a site or particular aspect of Taree and its surrounds, by using handmade gelatine plates.
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”Each day I visit a site for approximately two hours and do a number of sketches of the environment, engage with community members who are passing, collect found items, create rubbings of interesting textures in the environment, take photos with my iPad and make notes of my feelings and sense of the place to capture the experience of the site,” she said.
Starting last week, Di has displayed on the gallery wall a list of the sites she will be visiting and invites the community to come and explore with her.
Back at the gallery she uses a variety of techniques including stencils, found items, direct painting on the plate, colour and ink manipulation on various surfaces including postcards, found papers, copy paper, old maps, traditional printmaking surfaces to create her monotypes.
Di uses a gelatine plate because with real gelatine, the plate is somewhat moist so the paint stays wet a little longer, giving you more time to work, and more prints per single paint application.
“The wigglyness and slight give of the gelatin is able to produce both soft muted tones and clear crisp lines for a much more detailed print,” she said.
“The plate is simple to make and no printing press is needed. If you are really adventurous you can even make prints out in the field.
“This is printmaking in a very direct instinctual form using water-based inks, acrylics and watercolour with hand pressure to pull the prints.
“The broader objective of the project is to push my artistic practice further into the creation of larger scale monotype images that directly capture the essence of an environment, the people and a place from the representational to the more abstract image,” said Di.
Interested community members can participate both in the on site visits and the production of prints at the gallery.
“The intention is to allow as many people as possible to play with a gelatine plate to produce an artwork. I would also like to include some of these community artworks on the wall,” said Di.
Her project will run at the Manning Regional Art Gallery until July 30. The gallery is open 10am to 1pm Wednesdays to Saturdays and 1pm to 4pm on Sundays.
