I received state government funding from Arts Victoria under the Arts Development: Creation category for this 9 week project.
The intention was to make new works on paper that responded to regional experience. I travelled to Portland and Beechworth heritage towns in the south west and north east of Victoria, in order to research local history and look for suitable objects to collect from those locations. Objects included scrap metal, pressed tin, old copperwork panels, cooking tins, baking trays and the tracings, text and coding from published maps from those two areas. Back in my studio in Boolarra (in the south east of the state) I prepared the objects so they could become printing plates and created etchings on zinc plates and printed these onto paper. The memories of human activity are represented in the printed surface of second hand objects, the hard edginess of metal plates are combined with the soft meandering contours of map sections collaged or printed into the work.
In my travels I discovered old Australian made Willow brand tin cookware that has a textured surface and lettering embossed into the metal as well as the 'Willow made in Australia' trademark. A collection of these provides a cohesive and nostalgic set of printed objects.
Orange Cake, 2006, 35 x 48cm (paper)
|
Tart or Square, 2006, 45 x 29cm (paper)
|
The acquisition of a hand written recipe book that belonged to my grandmother (Irene Cunningham) dating from the 1930s was an unexpected addition to the source material around the same time. Some of her recipes mention the type of tin to use - that I have collected myself - such as nut loaf tin, and sandwich tin for baking a sponge.
 |
Afternoon Tea Cake, 2006, 45 x 60cm (paper). Found metal printing, etching on zinc (handwriting), etching on aluminium (map). |
Since the completion of the funded project I have much to continue on with! A large collection of some 90 pieces of metal were added to the existing 'library' and I am still collecting! I collect from op shops, antique shops and junk yards, friends give me their own 'finds'. My mother's pantry has been cleared of old aluminium slice trays which contain years of accumulated knife scratches and dents. Some of these objects I simply ink up and put through my etching press, relying on the marks and memories of previous usage to create the image on the paper. Other prints are enhanced with tool marks and additions including hand colouring and collage.
 |
Untitled 2007, 98 x 71cm (paper). Found metal printing and handcolouring (copperwork circle and pressed tin cornice). |
The bottom of an aluminium slice tray is easy to cut out, bringing with it its own history and a dry point tool can be used to accentuate existing marks or reinvent the marks of carving up food. Taking this a step further, the section can be cut into smaller rectangles and etched with traces of lines copied from a map. Stamping words such as 'carve up' reinforces a social comment about the way we continue to treat real estate as another commodity to be consumed.
 |
Carve Up #1, 2007, 20 x 20cm (image). Found metal printing, dry point, etching, collage, stamping. |
In Portland I found a local history book with a quote from 1840's settler John Robinson:
"As we all had arrived from Van Dieman's Land direct, we knew nothing about the squatting regulations and by the end of April we were all quarrelling about our boundaries."
The connection between ideas of consumption, food and land ownership which I had been touching on in previous works was brought to sharp focus with a colonial statement like this! The quoted words were reproduced in a writing style of that period and the scratched up rectangle represents both a grided map and baking vessel.
 |
We All Had Arrived, 2007, 50 x 76cm (paper). Print from found metal (aluminium serving tray, knife & fork shapes cut from galvanised tin) softground and hardground etching on zinc (text and rectangle). |
Technical notes for printmakers - Intaglio Printing with found metal
Any metal put through an etching press should be uniform in overall thickness; reasonably flat (no chain links or zippers) and less than 3mm thick. e.g. Knives and forks from the kitchen vary in thickness and are difficult to flatten. For 'We All Had Arrived' I cut the knife and fork shapes from flat galvanised sheet metal.
Useful tools (to add to printmaking tools) include tin snips, metal files, hole punch, cold chisel, engineers hammer, anvil, sledgehammer, pliers, clamp, steel wool or sandpaper for cleaning. Angle grinder and Dremmel tool kit are optional, depending on types of metal being used.
- File metal edges and sharp corners.
- Wear cloth gloves when cutting with tin snips and filing edges.
- If you need to use power tools such as angle grinder to cut hard metals get some training and take all safety precautions - or ask experienced person to do it for you.
- Use dense foam rubber instead of felt blankets.
- Use thick acetate to protect press bed.
- Very thin metals such as shim can be 'padded up' with cardboard.
- When setting the pressure on the press tighten gradually, use prepared plate for test run and use layer of paper to see embossed impression.
- Use small rubber squeegees to push ink into surfaces and tarlatan and paper for wiping back.
- Relief printing is another option - by hand or with a press.
Stages of preparing plates from rusty wheelbarrows by cutting, unfolding and flattening.
See the printed image Laughing Waters, Keith's Wheelbarrow on the Home Page.