Louise Dearden

PRINTMAKER PROFILE

ARTIST STATEMENT

Visual art provides for me a fascinating and powerful alternative means of expression to the written word. Writing had always been the heart of my communication since discovering the world of books as a small child, until in 2017 I picked up my first piece of vine charcoal in the studio of American artist Elizabeth Locke. Under Elizabeth’s expert tuition, I acquired a degree of technical skill in the four elements of line, tone, texture and colour, beginning with charcoal and transitioning to oils. My experiences during the time spent in Elizabeth’s studio have nurtured my natural curiosity and desire to explore different mediums and approaches to visual art. Every artistic encounter is met with an open heart and mind.

In 2021 at the Newlyn School of Art I was introduced to the world of printmaking and in an instant, a passion was born.

Print studios–with their papers, plates, inks and mark making tools, their hand-operated presses–are places of engagement and kinetic energy. They are also magical places, where ideas take form in unique ways. The air is filled with anticipation, the element of the unknown, a sense of relinquishing control of the outcome and the never-ending surprise as the print is revealed.

For me, the printmaking process offers growth and transformation–physically on the paper, and spiritually and emotionally within myself as the artist. The mediums and methods employed lend themselves beautifully to recording each stage of development as the path of creating an image unfolds. The translucent, light-filled nature of printing inks often brings a sense of grace and wonder to the work that emerges.

L-Dearden-self-portrait-

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