Dallas Richardson’s upcoming retrospective exhibition at Gallery Pejean is a look back at her forty-year career in the world of printmaking.
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The Legana-based artist specialised in the medium of etching for the bulk of her artistic career, mostly creating prints of natural objects and landscapes she encountered.
Etching is a form of printmaking, whereby the artist uses acid to cut into metal plates to create a desired image.
Richardson learnt the craft at the East Sydney Technical College from Australian master Earle Backen – a man who’s works hang in the National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of New South Wales.
However, Richardson’s work has been scaled back in the last five years, with her focus turning toward linocuts and intaglio prints – both less heavy-duty methods than the acid-based method of etching.
Richardson’s latest exhibition is an exploration of her work through the 1990s to the mid-2000s.
“When I just moved into this new studio, I had the chance to look through my past work and thought, ‘wouldn’t it be great to share this with others and have an exhibition of it?’,” she said.
Most of the works she stumbled across are from a series she calls “the rock series”.
The series features, as the name suggests, rocks in a number of different backgrounds, from the everyday to the surreal.
In some pieces the rocks are positioned on a mundane object such as a crate, while other times the earthly creation is portrayed as “floating in space or cocooned in the earth”.
It is about transition and renewal of the fluctuating human condition.
- Dallas Richardson
Richardson explained that the rocks are an allegory for the human condition.
“The rock became something that represented the self – it really did represent the sort of human condition,” she said.
“It is about transition and renewal of the fluctuating human condition.”
The exhibition will also feature prints of a number of Launceston icons, such as Princes Park, City Park and the post office.
Also featured in the show are a number of prints depicting the serene Pipers Brook.
Delamere Winery – a vineyard founded by Richarson and her husband Richard – provided unique inspiration for her works.
“When you’re working with etching you’re exploring all the time, and you want to work out which technique will suit this image,” she said.
“So I looked around at the local scenes around Delamere and I made etchings from there.”
Dallas Richardson – A retrospective will run from Wednesday, January 24, until Saturday, February, 17 at Gallery Pejean.
A total of 38 pieces will be on display, with all of them available for purchase.