Between Islands 26th Oct – 30th Nov
Between Islands is a special presentation of new and recent work by six artists recognised for their interest in seascapes, ranging over mezzotint, etching, carborundum, monotype and digital media. The exhibition is curated in partnership with Glasgow Print Studio.
Between Islands, opens at Graphic Studio Gallery: 26th October, 4pm
To be opened by Anne Hodge, Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Ireland
Form Glasgow Print Studio: Gregor Smith / Lin Chau / Marion MacPhee
Form Graphic Studio Dublin: Niall Naessens / Elke Thonnes / Yoko Akino
YOKO AKINO
Yoko Akino was born in Kyoto, Japan. She moved to Ireland in 1996 and joined Graphic Studio Dublin where she has worked ever since. She lives by Carlingford Lough on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth.
“I grew up near Kyoto with my grandmother Fuku Akino, a well-known painter working with traditional Japanese pigments. I learned the qualities and the spirit of art from my grandmother; that an artist should be fearless and experimental in outlook while respecting and learning from the vision and techniques of the past. Apart from the time spent at her side I am self-taught. My interest in crisp lines led me to study etching. I have always been inspired by the constantly changing Irish weather, the dance of light and shadow and the shifting colours. In recent years I have been particularly captured by the coastal environment and offshore Islands. The movement of waves evokes in me a sense of the ocean being alive and I have tried to capture this experience in my prints.”
MARION MACPHEE
Marion MacPhee’s singular studies of whales and coastal landscapes are the product of expressive draughtsmanship. Working across etching and monotype, she creates stark images that draw the viewer into personal contemplation of their relationship to the natural world. The inspiration for her practice is mostly drawn from travels to isolated and remote coastal environments. In particular she’s drawn to the islands of the North West of Scotland and Ireland where there is a raw energy and history bound into the fabric of these areas.
MacPhee was born and brought up on the Isle of Skye which retains a strong influence over her work today. Her process begins with initial sketches and photography taken on-site to be used as reference back at the studio, but these are intended to spur exploration of essence and atmosphere of place as opposed to exact replication. In the development of images through the printing processes, uncertainty of outcome is always a factor and underpins the continuous development of her practice.
MacPhee has exhibited widely and shown at national and international art fairs. In 2019 she was invited by Barbara Rae RA to exhibit at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Other recent group exhibitions include RSA Annual Exhibition, Scottish Landscape Awards and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2023.
MacPhee was born in 1979 and graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2001 with a BA in Visual Communication. She is currently living in Glasgow and is a member of Glasgow Print Studio.
“Several of the exhibited monotypes are from a series of new works inspired by a trip to County Mayo, Ireland, in August 2023, where I completed a monotype course taught by Ron Pokrasso at Ballinglen Art’s Centre, Mayo, generously funded by The Provost James Rae Trust.
I was very inspired by the wild, unforgiving landscapes, changing skies and the force of the Atlantic ocean. I also found local mythological stories and customs of great interest. Touring the area I discovered magical, remote places which have stayed with me. The particular feeling is hard to describe, but I feel compelled to re-create them. Specifically, Belmullet I and II were inspired by a place called ‘Aghernagallach’ which is the closest point to America.
Alongside the Irish works, The Outer Hebrides in Scotland are a significant place for me. Luskentyre Beach in Harris and the Uist islands are recurring subject matters. North Uist VII is one of a series of recent large-scale monotypes inspired from a series of trips made after lockdown to the Outer Hebrides.
I enjoy the gestural, fluid process of creating a monotype. I often spend the best part of a day creating the image in one sitting, often discarding many attempts in the process. In some sense you have to abandon all control, and that’s where things start to happen.”
NIALL NAESSENS
Niall Naessens is a draughtsman and an etcher who makes landscapes. He lives and works in Brandon, West Kerry.
“Landscape imagery extracted primarily from the topography of West Kerry, where I live and work, embellished with memory, dreams and invention establish my pictures. The human figure, often an artist, occasionally a philosopher, often appears inviting us to share their outlook.
Developing a brand of 21st century Irish Romanticism, I enquire into our emotional connection with the world. With colour and motif I contrive to portray my world in fantastic compositions.
Avoiding the picturesque for the sublime my work modestly proposes several meanings. The isolation of the artist in a remote place is central to my work but satellite themes around geology, time, environment, philosophy and physics are tacitly suggested.
The irish language poet Cathal O’Searcaigh titled my recent show Ar Imeall an Iontais – The Edge of Marvellous so describing, more succinctly than I can, the realm my work occupies.”
Niall Naessens completed his MA Fine Art Print at NCAD in 2013. He is a long-time member of Graphic Studio Dublin where he has been involved in many initiatives and projects, including Director of GSD for five years. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers in 2020.
Nessens has had 29 solo shows in Ireland and abroad and regularly participates in group shows and projects. Most recent solo shows; SO Fine Art Dublin 2021. Graphic Studio Dublin 2023, An Gailearai Gaoth Dobhair 2023 and Grilse Gallery Kiilorglin 2023 Greenlanes Gallery Dingle 2024. He has work in Kwaidan, an exhibition of prints travelling Japan and Ireland. Naessens has just completed work for Between Islands at Glasgow Printmakers and Graphic Studio. He also has work in Boyle arts Festival, MÓR Graphic Studio, Wollwich Print Fair and RE at Bankside Gallery London this year. He is next working toward A Walk in the Sublime, a solo exhibition at the Ashford Gallery, Royal Hibernian Academy Dublin in 2025.
GREGOR SMITH
Gregor Smith is a Scottish painter and printmaker living and working in Glasgow. He studied drawing and painting at Edinburgh Collage of Art from 1962 to 1966, subsequently teaching art in various schools in Central Scotland from 1968 to 2006. During this time he painted and exhibited in several galleries and principal annual exhibitions in Scotland and London. In 1983 he was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour.
“The exhibited works here are similar to a slice out of my current printmaking practice and for me, fits the invitation for Between Islands.
The subject could promote endless discussion but here it is restricted to presenting my visual observations mainly with a Scottish inshore coastal focus. This from someone raised among the steelworks, pits, mines, and farms of Lanarkshire.
Information for printing and painting is sketched on site mainly around Scotland during Autumn to Spring. The site may be on land where the drawing can be more exact or at sea where a rapid response to the subject is best. Working outside has to be achievable, especially where high winds are not uncommon. Drawing materials are kept to a few, mainly soluble graphite sticks, selected pastel earth colours, a small sponge and some heavy-duty bulldog clips. The sketchbook is carried in a plastic folder with hardboard backing. Location, day, date and time are noted and the sketch annotated both on site or later if required. Winter weather brings its own dramatic backcloth, precipitation and turbulence, vanishings.
ELKE THÖNNES
A native of Cologne, Germany, Elke Thönnes studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Kassel before moving to Ireland in1988, graduating from the National College of Art and Design in 1991 with an honours degree in Fine Art-Painting. Her practice includes painting and sculpture, but she is primarily a printmaker, based at Graphic Studio Dublin. Thönnes has exhibited widely in Germany and Ireland and her work is held in the collections of Ireland’s Office of Public Works, Queens University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin, National Library of Ireland, The British Library, Dublin City University. Thonnes was recently commissioned to make to make a series of prints for the Davenport Hotel, Dublin.
“My work is largely influenced by my emigration to Ireland, by the tension between the loss of familiarity with language, culture, and habitation and the excitement of exploration. The search for a grounding and a structure leads me to explore maps that, apart from their inherent beauty, also serve as a key to understanding the history and development of urban spaces and the surrounding landscape. When I moved to Ireland my work changed dramatically, from being almost exclusively abstract to becoming at least in part quite figurative, exploring Irish landscape and architecture.
Having grown up in a country that is almost entirely landlocked, the sea is an immense draw for me and often features in my work. I use various approaches and techniques for these prints including monoprinting, carborundum, etching, and photo intaglio. “
LIN CHAU
Lin Chau is a multidisciplinary artist based in Scotland. Much of Lin’s recent work revolves around displacement and the passing of time. She became a member of the Glasgow Print Studio in 2016 after graduating from the Glasgow School of Art with a Master of Letters in Fine Art Practice from Sculpture & Environmental Art and a Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons) in painting and printmaking. Her works have been exhibited throughout the UK and Europe. Selected solo and group presentations include Glasgow Print Studio, Mackintosh Museum, DRAWinternational France, Royal Scottish Academy.
Chau’s practice involves travelling and walking, often on coastal routes. While immersed in the landscapes, she sketches extensively, drawn to the vitality and movement around her. The energy and dynamism of the sea, the changing colour of the sky, and the interplay of light and shadow in the waves and fields are all elements that she captures in her works. As with most of Chau’s work, her sketches become her aide-mémoire and are further developed into prints using different printmaking techniques such as etching, monoprint and chine-collé with Xuan paper to convey the sense of a place. The influence of Chinese brush painting techniques stems from her five-month training at the School of Chinese Painting in the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 2012, which broadened her artistic approach and inspired her choice of material.
