Tom Jeffreys essay and documentation of work exhibited in NATURE RESERVES at GV Art Gallery is now available to online
Nature Reserves includes a stone lithograph by Victoria Browne entitled Caught the Wild Wind Home, first exhibited in her recent solo show 'Training Nature'; focusing on mankind's attempts to manipulate and control the natural environment. Taking inspiration from the Flemish dedication to topiary, Browne developed a series of reduction relief prints, highlighting our attempts to improve nature through constant pruning and shaping.
Caught the Wild Wind Home, however, is situated closer to home and depicts a coppiced Sweet Chestnut tree in Norsey Wood, Essex, near where Browne was born. The work was conceived during a five-day field trip to the medieval forest where harvesting the regrowth of mature trees is still practised. Stone lithography is a labour intensive nineteenth century printmaking process, involving hand grinding Bavarian limestone with different grades of carborandum. The cumulative drawing, which necessitated the use of magnifying goggles, was created on the surface using oil-based crayons and etched with a nitric acid and gum arabic. The ensuing work was printed on Van Gelder Simili Japon paper during a residency at the Frans Masereel Centrum for Print in Belgium.