Rachael Ashley

PRINTMAKER PROFILE

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a graphic designer, photographer and printmaker based in Brentwood, Essex although I I was born and grew up in West Yorkshire. I moved to London in 1991 to study Fine Art and History of Art at Goldsmiths College. Later, I completed an MA in Communication Design at Central Saint Martins, specialising in photography. After graduating, I worked in London as a graphic designer for many years before a short course in screen printing prompted a return to making creative work.

Generally, I use photographs of the places around where I live or grew up to form the basis for my screen prints. Then, using Photoshop, I carefully layer up elements to form stylised landscapes. I use a medium format camera in order to capture as much detail as possible, as the process of producing positives for screen printing is inherently reductive.

Often in my landscapes, human interventions, such as stone walls on Pennine hillsides or pylons on the Thames Estuary, are contrasted with natural features such as trees and reeds; thereby emphasizing the fragile balance between the man-made and the natural.

I have been a member of East London Printmakers since 2019 and have taken part in a number of UK print fairs.

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