spowers & syme no.23
in 2023 (its a sign)…
due to so much wonderful frivolity of renovations and life, being that the sun has warmed my bones this year so much more than any other, swimming has been high on my agenda, lunching and relaxing and spending thoughtful quality time with my loved ones has been the priority this year thus far… I have felt a control and a freedom that I have not felt before until now… curious i do know but it is where i am…
my artblog has not been imparted to the masses, therefore today i write this and want to share that i had a unique opportunity to see the Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme printmaking exhibition last week with a wonderful and encouraging artist friend of mine at the S.H Irvine gallery in Sydney CBD, the gallery is beautiful, it is right next to the Harbour Bridge and holds a special meaning to me…back to the S and S….these two women were wonderful friends who were artists and worked tirelessly in the area of printmaking, they were pioneers in my mind.
i have always appreciated Ethel Spowers as a young artist, but did not know of Ms Syme, these two seemed to work furiously at their craft, my only thoughts is that what if i had worked at their same pace? how i would have achieved so much more in my art making till now? … but I should not look back but forward, so they say, today is a new day, and a brand new year, and i know that mrs button has come so far, compared to what it may have been… life has a way of planning things for us and i am, well…beholden to the belief of, well, going with the flow, so I just go…
they immersed themselves in their art, in learning technique and i do believe they mastered their technique in specific and unique ways that explored the notion of their time they had here on earth, a note of interest was the repetitive nature of the figures or subjects in their work, this gave the work an impression of movement and works being animated, an artist must keep on moving…they went to the Grosvenor school of art in the UK, and were under the guise and tutelage of Claude Flight who had written a wonderful book on linocuts which i would love to see one day, like, to turn the pages, not just in a glass cabinet… i wonder if it is in the state library?? pondering… so these ladies were into Japan…especially Japanese printmaking… some of thier works reminded me of Japanese woodcuts, so gentle and thoughtful….time, contemplation, patience, it takes me back to when i first learnt printmaking in Mackay, Queensland, over ten years ago now… presently, i am quite enamoured by all things Japanese, the food, the art, i even watched a film on SBS called Tokyo Sonata the other day, it was so quirky and good and cool…
so if you get a chance, look into these two remarkable women and their prints they are a wonder to behold and they have shared so much to inspire me, after the exhibition, i wanted ever so much to start a linocut….so inspo!
i have reflected much on my artmaking and practice and have decided to pop my artworks for sale on bluethumb, i had attempted this once before, but now have decided to step up the tasha button world and journey and see what eventuates, i do know there is a plethora of art in drawers and other places that could adorn another humans’ world or space and give them delight and that’s why one creates, it is what is within that seems to come out pictorially… so if you are a bluethumb subscriber, please follow my page, thank you kindly, for now it is the last week of holidays, then i sojurn back to the books, the books are lovely though…
thanks for reading…