Chatham Spin I

This portfolio of prints was motivated by Joan Miró’s intaglio prints “Black and Red Series” from 1938. In that work,Miró combined imagery from two compositions, each etched on a separate copper plate. He used black and red ink alternately, and then rotated and superimposed the plates as he printed them on paper.

The two linoleum blocks for the prints in the Chatham Spin I portfolio were created with my collaborative partner, Rhonda Neufeld at a residency at the Thames Art Gallery in Chatham, On. As we walked together carrying the blocks and drawing on them, we rotated them ninety degrees about every ten minutes. There is no top or bottom as they were drawn with all four edges of the block in a top orientation before we had finished. We cut the blocks later at my studio in Vancouver and printed them at Rhonda’s studio in Armstrong, BC.

For printing, in a similar manner to how they had been drawn, Block 1 was printed in black and remained stationary. Block 2 was printed in red on top of it. We rotated Block 2 clockwise ninety degrees each time that we printed it. We printed all four possible combinations. Then we switched the colours on the two blocks to print the last four combinations.

The Chatham Spin linocuts are printed on buff coloured Arches Cover, image size: 12 X 12 inches, paper size: 19 x 19 inches. There are eight prints in the portfolio and they are identified verso as a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h. The edition size is seven. Complete sets are available in a clamshell box with silkscreened title, information and colophon pages. Chatham Spin I was completed in 2013.