Talk tonight at Bath Contemporary / March 3rd 2017
Apologies for the very short notice, but if you're near Bath tonight, and you're not busy, you may like to visit Bath Contemporary at 6pm, where I'm giving a short talk to launch my new show of works there.
Patreon Experimental Print Club, edition #3 posted
After a surprisingly complex assembly process, the 3rd piece for my Patreon Experimental Print Club was editioned on the Winter Solstice and sent out to my Print Club members shortly after. Entitled R2 / helios helianthus, it’s the 3rd piece that I’ve made exclusively for my Print Club members.
Laser cutting R2 at Bristol Design Forge
I spent a fascinating afternoon at Bristol Design Forge yesterday, making an initial test cut on a pair of metallic Lambda prints, working towards completing the 3rd edition for my Experimental Print Club.
In essence, the laser cutting technology allows for incredibly fine cutting of the photographic paper, which I've then reassembled onto a thin sheet of metallic gold card.
Flow 8VO / 1080p 3 minute edit / Patreon Experimental Print Club, edition 2 ready to post
Just completed, the 2nd edition for my Patreon Experimental Print Club. This piece is a 3 minute edit of my Flow / 8VO screen art work, stored to USB. The work is produced in an edition of 6, dictated by the membership of the club, currently also 6!
If you’d like to know more about the Print Club, or join up, there’s a lot more information online here - https://chuckelliott.com/experimental-print-club-list-01
Flow 8VO / 3 min edit
I've been working on the second edition for the print club, which I hope will make an interesting addition to the collection. After being asked to re-edit my Flow / 8VO screen work for the annual Autumn Open at the Royal West of England Academy, I realised I could use the resulting 3 minute edit as the next piece for the club. Edition 2. Which means the R2 / helios piece I'm also currently working on will become Edition 3, to be completed shortly…
Radial / TWO / helios helianthus / Second edition / Patreon Experimental Print Club
To complement the concept behind Bloom, I've started work on this new piece, reinterpreting my Radial / TWO geometry as a work on paper, that will see it recoloured, laser cut, and interlaced with a sheet of gold foil. These two components will then be applied to a backing sheet of handmade paper, debossed, and will hopefully form an intriguing new study, that will radiate a little late season sunshine this Autumn. That's the plan anyway.
Bloom / editioned
Ros Ford and I completed the Bloom edition last week at BV Studios, and after 4 or 5 days drying time, the completed, editioned, etchings are packed and in the post to my Experimental Print Club members today.
It's been a fascinating process working with Ros on the etching. For clarity, Ros made the copper plate, and has done all the inking and printing, my input has been the original drawing, the film work, all the digital stuff, and the print finishing. I've chosen to leave one naturally deckled edge, and 3 cut sides, partly to show orientation, but primarily to make a real feature of the beautiful softened edge of the handmade Somerset paper. All the prints also have a full watermark in the bottom r/h corner.
Bloom / Patreon Experimental Print Club / 1st edition, April 2016
We're looking forward to inking up the copper plate we completed a few weeks back, and actually printing the first edition - Bloom - at BV Studios this week. After a certain amount of trial and error, we've chosen to use a digital bitmap of the original drawing at 500 ppi, transferred to the copper etching plate using a laminated photopolymer film, exposed with an aquatint screen. All good stuff. There are just a very few decisions left to be made about the exact hue of the black ink, which is likely to be fairly warm.
Happy Christmas, 2015
I thought it might be a good time to send out a blog post on my Patreon page, to mark the end of the year, and let you know a little more about what I've been working on. Maybe you'll be able to find a quiet moment over the holidays to have look at some of the content, here's hoping!
Patreon Experimental Print Club
I've just started using Patreon to host a new, very particular Experimental Print Club. Somewhere along the way it seemed like a really good idea to start making more ephemeral, experimental print work, to set alongside the larger pieces I'm making with Perspex and laser technologies.
Maybe there's an opportunity here to get back in touch with the roots of what being a printmaker can be, creating beautiful, intriguing, ephemeral works on paper, that can be enjoyed in the moment, stored, given away, or displayed around your home. A little like a bunch of cut flowers from your garden, fabulous, but transient, to be replaced by new blooms in the not too distant future...
BeBop / an early days sketch
I've been clearing through old work on my hard drives, as I prepare to move to a faster machine next week. I'm hoping it'll allow me to work more flexibly this autumn. As a result, I've been re-visiting a vast number of studies in progress, that have been reworked along the way, and ultimately become quite different pieces in their final iterations.
Generator 2012 / a short film
A little before the launch of my 'Generator / process and progress' show in Nov 2012, the Catto Gallery commissioned a short online film, made in my studio during the run up to the opening. You can view it online here…