THE PRINTMAKERS OF VENICE MOK Gallery, 2 September 2018 mokgallery.com
Above: Katie Barnard Du Toit, Xnu I, etch on Fabriano, 30x45cm, 2/15, Venice, 2017 Right: Emily Cucalun, Imaginary Boundaries, Screenprint on paper, 35.5x50cm, Venice, 2017
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n September 2017, seven artists from different countries arrived in Venice to partake in a printmaking workshop. These individuals would soon bond with each other in a professional printing studio that form part Scuola Internazionale di Grafica Venezia. As a group they would bring with them a rich mixture of cultures, ages, races and experience. In the spirit of the Biennale, evenings were spent around an Open Table (Tavola Aperta). As printmakers they discovered what inspired and drew them in, resulting in a feeling of connectedness that would seem perfectly fit for the 57 Venice Biennale’s theme of Viva Arte Viva. The Printmakers of Venice Exhibition is all about artmaking, laughter, friendship and fun. Of all the secrets and talents they have, the most divine is the humour they share.
On what impact the group dynamics had on them: Mei Fung Chan (China): “The melting heart of Venetian gelato springs into our multicultural artistic practice”. Emily Cucalon (USA): “I was inspired by the collaborative environment (and isolation) of living and working with strangers, who quickly turned to friends, both inside and outside the studio”. Katie Barnard du Toit (South Africa): “I knew the fellowship would provide me with the freedom of time and space to develop work and creatively explore new ideas, but to discover that I was surrounded by the Ya-Ya sisterhood crowned it as the ultimate experience”.
“I was inspired by the collaborative environment (and isolation) of living and working with strangers, who quickly turned to friends, both inside and outside the studio”. 44
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