Singular/Serial: Contemporary Monoprinting
May 28 – June 27, 2021
Greta Guzek, Jen Drysdale, Kim LaFave, Jennifer Love
MEET THE ARTISTS (ZOOM): Sunday June 6th at 2pm (click here to register)
The Sunshine Coast Arts Council is delighted to host an exhibition of new work by four Sunshine Coast artists at the Doris Crowston Gallery in Sechelt. This exhibition showcases the diverse work of a group of artists who have, in their distinctly individual styles, been exploring the possibilities inherent in using monoprinting on a gel plate as an essential element in their process. The making of a hand-pulled print adds, in its process, an extra excitement to the final artwork
Printmaking in general has been undergoing a resurgence in the art world. The boundaries that once defined it have blurred and for many artists, it is a central part of their art practice, no longer a secondary or reproductive activity. In one area, that of monoprinting, the gel plate is a recent addition to the toolkit, and is beginning to gain traction as an essentially painterly method that allows for multiple but unique prints from the same plate. Prints may be spontaneously executed with no preliminary sketches, or may involve elaborate planning and careful registration.
The works exhibited together exemplify these experiments in process, composition, materials and forms. From a similar printing approach emerges an extraordinary range of works that express that the alternatives for creating texture and pattern are endless.The balance of intended and unanticipated results lends an intensity to the mark making, and a freshness to the image printed.
GRETA GUZEK
Greta completed her Fine Arts Degree in South Africa where she grew up, and then immigrated to Vancouver in 1980. She worked as a Graphic Designer and illustrator, and taught print making workshops through Capilano College. Since 1990 she has worked as a painter and print maker from her studio on the Sunshine Coast. During the 80/90’s Greta showed her Serigraphs with the Downstairs Gallery in Vancouver and since then has exhibited her Acrylic paintings with the Ian Tan Gallery in Vancouver and the Westend Gallery in Victoria where she continues to have annual exhibitions. Links to gallery websites can be found at gretaguzekpaintings.com
JENNIFER DRYSDALE
Before arriving on the BC coast eight years ago, Jen exhibited her work in various galleries and artist run centres in Southern Ontario. Her work focussed on drawing and painting the human figure in its environment. Since then, her influences and imagery have evolved and creating art has become, most importantly, a process of mystery and discovery. Exploring the potential and pushing the boundaries of different mediums fuels inspiration for her next body of work. She paints with acrylic and oil paint, oil and cold wax and most recently began gelliplate monoprinting with acrylic paint and block printing inks. For Jen, monorprinting has evolved into a fine balance between control, loose manipulation and intuitive mark-making, garnering unexpected and surprising results.
KIM LAFAVE
Kim studied at Capilano College, the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary and the Illustrators Workshop in New York, before settling in Toronto where he had a prolific career as a freelance artist Illustrating such books as Amos’s Sweater (by Janet Lunn), as well as dozens of other beloved children’s books In his art practice Kim is moved to understand the world through ideas and conversations in drawing and painting and printmaking, capturing and abstracting key moments in time, landscapes and themes via dynamic, gestural imagery. Constantly evolving his vision and expression, Kim’s artistic process is one of discovery, reflection, deconstruction and re-assembly. By questioning each subject, through investigations in material, texture, line and colour, he distills essential meaning, value and power. The end result is at once grounded and complete, evocative and expansive.
JENNIFER LOVE
Jen creates abstract paintings using collaged hand-painted and printed fabrics or papers. While she uses a myriad of different techniques and tools to create them, in recent years she has become more and more enthralled with the possibilities inherent in monoprinting with a gel plate. Much of her current work is inspired by issues of memory and selfhood. Women’s names show up everywhere — overlapping, fading, disappearing, sometimes indecipherable. Her Memory Bank series continues with this theme, while exploring the use of letterforms as design elements. Layering — of colours, patterns and textures, of references gleaned from nature and human culture — is at the core of her art practice. She is particularly interested in intersections, disruptions and reversals where positive and negative space, natural and human-made patterns, order and randomness have an opportunity to coexist and interact. Her work is often bold and dramatic — infused with strong colour and hard edges inspired by midcentury modern design — while at other times she enjoys a softer, more neutral palette.
The SCAC would like to thank our generous sponsors who make our ongoing work possible: the SCAC Membership, the District of Sechelt, the BC Arts Council, the SC Community Forest Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Sunshine Coast Foundation and the Sunshine Coast Credit Union.