Making an impression

Dunedin artists Lynn Taylor (left) and Marion Mertens examine some of Taylor’s work which features in Proof. Photo: Peter McIntosh

Two Dunedin printmakers have been included in the first survey of fine art printmaking to be published in New Zealand. Rebecca Fox talks to Marion Mertens and Lynn Taylor about their work and Proof, Two Decades of Printmaking.

Control freaks need not apply. No matter how much skill, technique and creativity that is used to create a print, at the end of the day there is no guarantee of what will appear in the end.

"You are not in complete control," printmaker Lynn Taylor says.

"There is this thing called graphic surprise in print making where you get what you don’t quite expect but it is what you have to work with. The process does not allow you to totally tell it what to do.

"With a pencil drawing you know where your lines are going but this interaction between the paper and the plate, the ink and the press, often has its own opinion."

Yet that uncertainty is often what attracts artists to the medium which has had a fluctuating history in New Zealand. That history is covered in a new book Proof, Two Decades of Printmaking by Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ).

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, PCANZ has pulled together 166 works by 151 artists, including Dunedin’s Marion Mertens and Taylor to showcase the breath and depth of New Zealand’s printmaking.

"It’s very inclusive. Some work as professionals, some are educators, some are just learning and coming in to print."

The book showcases the many different techniques happening in contemporary printmaking, from the reduction prints Mertens creates to the photographic perspex lightboxes Taylor etches and everything in between.

"It has evolved so much from the time when it was very reproductive art using etching or lithographic work. It’s changed so much."

Mertens’ work submitted for Proof, of a colourful cicada, uses one of the earlier and more traditional methods of printmaking — reduction printing.

A latecomer to printmaking, she studied fine art in the 1970s and went on to become a paper conservator. She has come back to it in recent times, doing a course at Dunedin Art School to refresh her skills and buying a printing press.

"Printmaking is a more interesting process than making marks directly."

The cicada print came about after Mertens was out in the garden one day and a cicada landed on her gardening glove. She grabbed her nearby camera and took a close-up photograph.

"It was the summer of cicadas, there were so many cicadas in the garden."

Originally hoping to create a mezzotint, she soon realised she could not achieve the layers of colour she wanted, so instead tried a lino print, which enabled her to cut away the details and create layers of colour.

"You layer and layer with less and less on your block each time and you can’t go back. I love that whole process of figuring out the mechanics of how to get to what you have in your mind. It’s not like drawing a picture of something — the process has to filter through the mechanics of the process and you get surprised and that’s cool."

Matching the process with the idea and imagery is an important part of the creative process in printmaking, Taylor says.

"Some imagery does not work with some techniques but can work with another. That can cause disappointment."

Mertens believes it is important to follow the direction the work is taking for it to be successful.

"You just have to serve and go with it."

Taylor says while the maker might think they have ruined something, "you take it one more step and it’s the best thing you have ever made".

"There is this up and down. You have to stick with it and stay committed."

She still remembers the advice she got as an art student to put away a work that was not coming together for six months and then revisit it before throwing it away.

"You’re often too emotionally invested as well."

Taylor should know — she has been a practising artist and teacher for more than 20 years.

Her work in Proof is an image of the acrylic boxes she created, on to which she has etched laser cutter images of photographs she has taken over the years and wallpapers.

Marion Merten’s Cicada print that appears in Proof. Photo: Supplied

"I like working with light processes. It becomes like stained glass, becomes opaque as it’s etched."

The cubes are then illuminated, enabling people to read through them different narratives. They can also be stacked and arranged like building blocks.

"Not all imagery suits. I had to manipulate imagery on computer, make up a pattern for the cube and etch away."

Taylor also has an interest in the printing plate itself, and touch.

"I didn’t print these. Just made the plates themselves so people can touch. You touch the work, you become the print, it’s on your skin, embedded on you."

The cubes continue the themes Taylor often follows in her work — nautical, mapping, nature and the environment.

She likes that the process allows her to be "loose and free" in parts of her work and then in others very precise.

"I like to work with opposites. It makes the balance."

For Taylor, the PCANZ and its forbearer has provided essential networking and training opportunities over the years.

"It is a very inclusive community. What has been good about the print council over years is that they have been like a family, like my North Island family, as I’d go up every year for summer school."

While the council has been North Island based, it is hoped to grow membership in the South Island.

There is no shortage of interest in printmaking, with workshops and "summer" schools filling up quickly and strong interest from students at art school.

"There is huge demand."

Taylor puts the interest down to people liking to share knowledge, techniques and equipment in workshops.

The value assigned to printmaking in the art world has had its ups and downs over the years.

"It has always been a bit undervalued. It was established for an artist who made a painting and then a printer would make a print of it and those sold off more cheaply, but it is actually discipline in its own right now. Sometimes [there is] friction getting that recognised."