The  Knowledge

 

 

 

 

Washing 1988  Edition of 18  Image: Michael Munro.

Dancers  Edition of 20  Thanks to Michael Munro for the image.

The relationship between lino cutting and wood engraving is plain to see in this work. It is difficult to believe that the relatively soft linoleum could take such intricate cutting and have it sustained through the printing process. Boxwood blocks in contrast are made from hard endgrain designed for fine cutting and this makes a wood-engraving instantly recognisable.
This artist is equally adept with the graver as with the v-tool and she brings this skill to a finely judged and balanced image.
This print has lost some of its colour intensity possibly due to the effect of acid in the paper and prolonged exposure to light. Even so, the limited colour range adds to the feeling of an engraving. Caustic etching and engraving are closely combined to produce the lichen-covered texture of the stones.
The image is full of sharp points such as the barbed wire, dead thistle heads and grass that seems almost frozen.

Edition of 20  Print size: 61 x 42 cms

Barbara holding a print using a steamroller for a press.  The event was held during Blairgowrie’s Arts and Music Festival and the engine was provided by Alan Atkinson of Preston. The print and block are now in the collection of the Lillie Art Gallery in Milngavie. The little girl with pigtails sitting on the horse is Barbara herself as a child.

 

A special presentation print for the world conference of the Textile Institute held in Dundee between the 19th and 22nd November 1990. This would have been an attractive gift for each delegate but an embarrassment for the Institute that the artist’s name was misspelled four times in the text. The presentation folder bears the logo of the former Dundee Printmakers Workshop which was based in Seagate for many years. The print run of 500 was probably produced by lithography then each one autographed by the artist.

She describes the print in the following way.

The print ‘Woven Lilies’ aims to show the City of Dundee and its relationship to the textile industry. The shape and borders of the work are based on a hand-weaving frame. The ‘weaving’ on the frames shows the sea and ships, the lilies which are the emblem of the City, and the Eagle symbolising the famous jute mills of that name. Behind the frame are a small row of houses in Angus where flax was first spun, and a cupola from one of the Victorian mills that still dominate the skyline of Dundee. The Bangladeshi lady in all her finery illustrates Dundee’s historical links with the sub-continent of India and the jute industry.

Aberdeen Art Gallery

According to their website the gallery has a varied collection of work including lithos and titles such as Craigievar and Crathes from 1985, possibly the results from a workshop at Peacock Printmakers, but inaccessible until late 2019.

Hunterian Glasgow

Back Garden Geese  1975 10/100??

Antares  1974  10/20

Circus  1973  9/20

Hang From The Sky   1984  4/23

Lillie Art Gallery Milngavie

to be announced

Meffan Institute Forfar

Red Shed   1980   24/30

Turning the Money   2005   4/16

Perth Art Gallery

Bee Orchid  1973  17/20

Dundee Art Gallery

Illustrated Leg   1980

Kinettles Sheep (litho)  2016

Grampian Hospitals Art Trust

Tenament  1991   7/18

Washing   1991?   16/18

Art in Healthcare

Hot  1986

Rook  Edition of 22.  Thanks to Neil Murray for this image.

 

A very early print from 1970 illustrating Blake’s poem. Her style and sense of composition are already well established.  Edition of 12.

Thanks to the Compass Gallery for this image. http://www.compassgallery.co.uk

These are lino blocks for three different prints. This shows what remains of a block when the last colour has been printed.

Thanks to the Compass Gallery, Glasgow for this image.