Printers Inc.: Ink Off the Wall

Artist’s Statement

Waveform I, II, &III are part of the series Touching Visions. This ongoing series positions the body as an archive of sensation, experience, and action. The work is created through repetitive labour-intensive and experiential means, such as stitching, and documenting performative actions, and multi-layered digital and analog editing of images and sound. Each piece, an embellished imprint of a moment or action, takes shape through manipulated experimental systems of record keeping.

Biography

Amy Ash is an interdisciplinary artist engaged with collective care through processes of shared meaning-making. Her practice flows from curatorial projects and writing to teaching, socially engaged action, and hands-on making. Blurring the lines between disciplines, she traces connectivity through the intersections and overlaps between memory, learning, and wonder, to incite curiosity and kindle empathy.

Amy has exhibited and curated programmes internationally, with projects commissioned by National Gallery London (UK), The NB International Sculpture Symposium, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, and Platform Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts (MB). Her work has been awarded the support of groups including The Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation, The Peter McKendrick Endowment Fund for Visual Artists, ArtsNB, and Arts Council England. She is a member of the International Association of Art Critics, and an instructor with the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design.

Of settler ancestry, she lives as a grateful, but uninvited, guest in Menahqesk/Menagoesg/Saint John, New Brunswick, which sits on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq, and Peskotomuhkati Peoples.

Artist Statement

The work in the exhibition “Printer’s Inc.” began with explorations into the process of wet mounting prints using a variety of Japanese papers. Making prints on fragile paper and then mounting them onto other paper using Jin Shofu, a wheat paste glue. This allows for easier framing of fragile work, adding strength through layers. The small prints on bright coloured backgrounds show the traditional use of this technique. Prints are soaked to the point of dis-solving with the Jin Shofu, then the secondary paper applied onto the back of the print. This is dried and stretched by gluing the resulting layered papers onto a solid surface to stretch and dry flat. Because her work has been primarily multi dimensional, she then began exploring sculpting paper, initially by building layers up on existing surfaces (in this case, commercial lampshades.) A combination of papier-mâché and wet mounting prints developed into the series of bowl forms. Large sheets of Ginwashi paper wetted with Jin Shofu and dried over form-work to create paper structures which were later used to support multiples of printed images. Her understanding of structure is evident in the ribs that help maintain these forms when freed from their molds. Patterns in dimensional orientation emerged. Simple single images became multi layered offering depth as well as repetition.

Biography

Alanna Baird is one of New Brunswick’s most diverse artists. She is best known for her playful work with recycled metal, her fish sculptures have become iconic to St. Andrews where she makes her home. Explorations of new materials are the focus of her current work. Alanna’s roots in ceramics have resurfaced in her work with lost wax cast bronze, and her explorations into plastics through her calligraphy using a 3D printing pen. She is also an accomplished printmaker who works primarily with Lino block printing, and Gyotaku (Japanese technique of fish printing). Alanna has been involved in the Printmaking Studio here at Sunbury Shores as both a member and instructor, her understanding of dimensional space has been transformative to the studio during recent renovations.

Artist Statement

Nathan Cann’s acts of print hone upon the haunting of lands—relentless industries keeping afloat Atlantic Canadian notions of colonial heritage, intentions which often find themselves misguided or victim to degradation, the reclaiming of lands by nature, time, or economics. This printed matter is often paired with minor installation so as to further query a place and what haunts said place. The haunting in this instance does not refer to a ghost or supernatural thing, but that which draws inquisitiveness of such places. And more often than not does this intrigue lead to different tales, things acting as a commutation of histories, landscapes, peoples, something sacred or something scarred. Such inspections include On Route, a work examining New Brunswick’s reliance on infrastructure for tourist value; and Prepare, a series of variable collagraphs regarding the 2019 flooding of Maugerville, N.B., and preparations for the ever-changing climate.

Biography

Nat Cann has exhibited and curated programs in Canada and internationally, and has gratefully acted as a mentor, instructor, and technical assistant to numerous students and professionals unversed in printmaking. Nat has been granted residencies in across Canada and his recent print projects have been commissioned by organizations like Third Space Gallery’s Third Shift (Saint John, 2019 & 2021), Third Space Gallery and ACAP Saint John publication, Shorelines (Saint John 2021), Connexionarc’s Roadside Attractions (Fredericton 2021) and Exhibition Air’s Residency program utilizing carbon captured materials to create upcycled intaglio and screen printing inks (Calgary 2021). His work has been consistently supported by ArtsNB’s Career Development and Creation & Documentation programs.

Nat obtained a BFA from Mount Allison University (2012) and now resides and works in Saint John, New Brunswick, a colonial coastal city upon the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq Peoples.

Artist Statement

This series of prints and sculptures are meant to evoke the act of collecting and observing while being immersed in the textures found in the landscape. I am interested in creating works that distill an essence of nature into poetic objects. All of which are inspired by sensory experiences I have had while walking in the forest, being amongst the trees, finding birds nest in the winter branches and picking wildflowers from the ditches along rural roads – they are impressions from nature, both literal and metaphorical. To create the works on paper, I have used drypoint etching and embossing techniques along with forms of paper making. The sculptures in this series are made by pit firing clay and kiln casting glass.

Artist Biography

Ryan Livingstone is a multidisciplinary artist working with sculpture and printmaking. Born in New Brunswick, he started his studies in fine craft at NBCCD before moving to Toronto to continue his studies in printmaking and painting at OCAD-U, receiving his BFA in 2010. He has shown his art in both public and commercial galleries, participated in Nuit Blanche and has permanent public artwork installed in Toronto. His artwork often reflects his connection to the landscape found here in New Brunswick.

The Colour Notes Series: Artist Statement

Decoding an image from an etching’s black lines on white paper is a bit like a solving a puzzle. A colour clue in the title of a black and white etching invites the viewer a little further into the game. Adding colour notes to the picture asks the viewer to imagine which colours match which objects. To play with the art a little more, please colour a postcard. There are no rules: colour the postcard using the suggestions by the artist, or according to your own fancy. Art has always been a game of the imagination.

You can take the postcard home and send it to a friend. Or, you are invited to put your own address (or your friend’s address) on the back of the postcard and add it to the exhibition; at the end of the show, we’ll mail the postcard to its destination.

Bob Morouney 150 Word Artist Bio

Bob Morouney likes long romantic walks. He walks along the creek to the river, along the river to the bay, then around the bay to the ocean. He’d like to walk around the ocean but he only has two legs. He likes long walks through countryside, towns, cities, enjoys walking where people work and live. He likes long walks at dawn and then again at sunset, and he’s not averse to champagne, candlelight dinners, and intimate fireside conversations that skirt around topics political, pandemical, and otherwise polemical. Bob likes the feel of sand between his toes, the wind in his hair, and the touch of all sorts of mark-making implements against all sorts of mark-accepting surfaces. Bob is currently looking for his soulmate. She said she was going to dump the compost bucket and bring in some wood for the stove. Bob looks out the window of his studio and