ThINKing in Print

‘Thinking in Print’ shows recent works by current Rangi Ruru Girls’ School art students and staff and opens at the Selwyn Gallery in Darfield today and runs to the end of June.

Rangi Ruru Art Teacher, Kate Rivers says students regularly see staff and artists in the school residency programme producing their own art, design and photography work.

“Not only do all staff in the Visual Art Faculty produce works but staff from other curriculum areas do so too, trying new things, taking risks and showing lifelong learning,” she says. “Our school is a vibrant and creative place, and all of us model behaviours we expect from our students. This includes producing works for this and other exhibitions.”

For some staff this is their first exhibition, for others, they are old hands having shown works nationally or internationally, and sometimes both.

“Our role is to inspire, challenge and empower our students. Staff are delighted to be showing our works alongside the girls who inspire, challenge and empower us,” says Kate. “As a teacher this is an incredibly satisfying and rewarding part of my job.”

Additional Information:

The range of concepts explored by the senior student printmakers presenting works for the show include ideas associated with Inherited Identity, Beauty, Dante’s Inferno and Place.

Many of the pieces see the use of cropping, repetition, layering, montage and texture. Works presented are from a range of mediums and include:

Intaglio Prints – marks and lines are scratched into plates and ink pushed into these.
Additive Monoprint – created by painting directly on the plate, that is then printed onto paper.
Reductive Monoprints – a reductive monoprint is created by adding paint to one surface, then removing areas of paint via wiping, masks, or stamping materials. The design is then transferred to a second surface to create an original print. 
Pronto Plate – A photographic technique based on the principle that water and grease don’t mix.
Solar Plate – UV sensitive printmaking to create photographic imagery.
Digital Laser Print – Photographic process to reproduce digital imagery.
Mixed Media Prints – Combining relief images such as woodcut and collograph (cardboard prints) with other processes such as frottage (rubbings) and the use of chine colle (collage).

The intaglio prints presented by Year 11 students are from a large still life set up in the middle of the room comprising of native New Zealand flora and fauna.

“Our lush native forests with dappled light are places of tranquillity and peace, and for some they are spiritual places evoking our school motto “Whaia to te Rangi’ Seek the Heavenly Things. Drypoints were produced by scratching into perspex with a needle, then pressing ink into the grooves and printing onto handmade Italian Tiepolo paper.”  Kate Rivers

The small Year 9 intaglio prints were produced after researching Surrealism and the anti-rationalism of the movement. Learning was informed by individual inquiry into printmakers such as Barry Cleavin, Max Ernst and Rene Magritte. By employing fantasy and dream imagery the girls produced creative and imaginative compositions, some of which evoke a sense of unease or make political statements, while others are whimsical and playful.

ENDS

Details:

Exhibition by Rangi Ruru Girls’ School Staff and Students.

Selwyn Gallery, Darfield 3-30 June 2016

Opening 6pm, Friday 3 June