KATE HUDSON

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BIOGRAPHY

Kate is a Victorian artist specialising in limited edition colour linocuts. She uses native birds and flowers in her highly patterned and decorative prints.

She trained as a textile designer at the Central School of Art & Design in London and worked freelance for 6 years before migrating to Australia in 1990 with her young family.

Kate draws influence from Japanese woodblocks, Art Nouveau, the Arts & Crafts Movement and printmakers such as Margaret Preston.

She does all her drawing, designing and block carving in her Eltham studio and prints on an 1880’s Albion at the Baldessin Press.

Kate exhibits regularly and her prints are part of many private and public collections including The Austin Hospital, Aichi Prefectural Government Japan, Australian Catholic University, Australian Print Workshop, Australian unity, City of Darebin, City of Whitehorse, Crown Casino, Geelong Gallery, Mornington Peninsular Regional Gallery, National Gallery of Australia, Nillumbik Shire Council and the Print Council of Australia.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

I feel very lucky that in this chaotic and uncertain year that 2020 has turned out to be that I have been able to come and use the Albion relief press at Baldessin Studio.

Tess and Silvi have been so warm and welcoming and the relaxed atmosphere in the studio and the beautiful bush setting are perfect conditions for working. While I have been at the studio I have been able to complete two colour editions Lattice Vase & Hakeas and Two Spot Vase & Banksias and a B&W edition Square Vase & Banksias. - Kate Hudson 2020

SUSAN BARAN

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BIOGRAPHY

Susan Baran is a Sydney based visual artist specialising in printmaking and artist books. Susan studied at the National Art School and City Art Institute (now UNSWArt&Design).

She has exhibited extensively in many solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally and is a member of Sydney Printmakers currently serving as President.

Her work is held in  private and public collections like the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of NSW and Manly Art Gallery and Museum. Susan is a member of Warringah Printmakers Studio in Sydney where she teaches  regular printmaking classes.

Susan has conducted many printmaking workshops all over Australia and overseas most recently at the Australian Print Triennial in Mildura. Susan has undertaken printmaking residencies at Australian Print Workshop, the Art Vault and Baldessin Press Studio.

Susan serves as a NSW committee member for the Print Council of Australia.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

I first visited Baldessin Press in the Summer of 2012 and was so impressed with the studio I have returned on many different occasions and always feel welcomed and treated like family by Tess Lloyd and Silvi.

I have taught a couple of printmaking workshops here over the years and met some wonderful printmakers this way.

I especially feel, comfortable and inspired when I travel from Sydney to make my own work at Baldessin Press. I have stayed sometimes for extended periods and always feel so happy living and working amongst this creative community.

Tess is incredibly generous sharing this special place and allowing us  to work in the studio that George Baldessin built. Silvi is an amazing artist who shares her expertise and knowledge and as studio manager creates an environment that is  a pleasure to work in. I have benefited enormously from working with Silvi and I count  Tess, Lloyd and Silvi  as great friends - Susan Baran


ABOUT THE ARTWORK

My work explores beauty in the natural and man made worlds. Much of my inspiration comes from nature focusing on flowers, gardens and landscape, but also I look at the beauty of the man made through architecture especially interiors, patterned surfaces, fabrics, wallpaper and man made designs.

I take photographs then use Photopolymer plates (Solarplates) to create my prints. I often place plates side by side, juxtaposing imagery to create a harmonised aesthetic.

Colour features in my work building up layer upon layer of ink to create vibrant, fresh surfaces of colour on the paper.  I apply ink to the plates using small paintbrushes pushing the possibilities of a la poupee inking.

I never really have a completely preconceived idea of the finish print. I let the creative process take on a life of its own. Like my mentor Matisse once said “the living harmony of colours should compare to that of a musical composition”.

Hopefully I am coming close to getting the balance right.

ROSALIND ATKINS

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BIOGRAPHY

Rosalind Atkins, born in Terang, Victoria and currently lives and works in Melbourne.

Her work is predominantly in the printmaking mediums of wood engraving, copper engraving, etching and drawing. The subject of much of Rosalind’s practice is the tree and its place in contemporary culture and imagination.  While responding to the significance of the tree she is also compelled to comment on the exploitive nature of humans’ relationship to the tree in contemporary society.

Rosalind has practiced and exhibited for over thirty years in Australia and overseas. An aspect of her practice is collaboration on projects with artists, poets and writers.

Her work is held in national, state and regional galleries and libraries as well as private collections in Australia and public and private collections internationally.

Bachelor of Fine Art & Graduate Diploma of Fine Art, RMIT and a Masters of Fine Art, La Trobe University.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

In 2016/17 I was fortunate to be awarded State Library of Victoria Amor Residency at Baldessin Press & Studio. This enabled me to make some large-scale works and an artist book that documented the Amcor paper mill site in Alphington, based on my photographic documentation.

Prior to this project I had very limited experience and knowledge of the photogravure process. The expertise of Silvi Glattauer and the facilities at Baldessin Press were invaluable in the realisation of this project.

 I will continue to utilise the studio for future projects, as it is unique in its supportive environment. - Ros Atkins


KASIA FABIJANSKA

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BIOGRAPHY

Kasia Fabijańska works predominantly in intaglio printmaking and drawing, focusing on the various things that relate humanity to nature whether they be political, personal or cultural. Fabijańska was born in Poland and lived for a short time in Germany before arriving in Australia in 1986 with her family. Being close to nature, whether hiking or snowboarding, has been in integral part of her creative work. She holds a B.A. in Fashion Design (RMIT, 2000) and a Master in Visual Art in Printmedia (Monash, 2012).

She has shown regularly in solo and group exhibitions, most recently: Untitled 2020 (Sydney, 2020), Dark Ink (solo - Melbourne, 2019), Editions 18 and 19 (2018, 2019, Melbourne), 2018 Swan Hill Print and Drawing Awards, the Burnie Print Prize (2017, Tasmania), Gippsland Print Award (2017, Sale, Victoria), Bajka (solo - 2017, Kyneton, Victoria), Between Here and There (2016, Melbourne).

In 2020, Fabijańska was awarded the joint Baldessin Studio and Australian Galleries Fellowship. In 2015 she was the recipient of the Australian Print Workshop Dowd Foundation Scholarship.

Her work is held in private and public collections including the Gippsland Art Gallery and the Australian Print Workshop.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

I first came to Baldessin Studio with my mum to take a workshop in zinc etching with Rob Hails around 2010. At the end Rob gave me an old etching needle to keep, I suppose as a nudge to keep going, (thanks Rob). The following year I began my master’s in visual art in Printmedia at Monash, and it wasn’t until I was a more fully-fledged printmaker that I started returning to use the studio to work on projects or join more social happenings. I have also done a workshop with Silvi Glattauer in photogravure to extend some skills. - Kasia Fabijańska

GLEN SKIEN

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BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Glen Skien is a North Queensland artist/printmaker who relocated to Brisbane in 2007 to complete both a masters and doctorate of visual arts. After 10 years of tutoring in printmaking and associate lecturer with Griffith University Queensland College of Art, his works are often a hybrid response of print, collage and artists’ book forms. Skien has recently developed a series of community-based workshops Material Thinking: The Poetics of Process that reinforce the intuitive and poetic associations that underpin the artist’s personal studio practice.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

My connection with Baldessin Studio was initiated as recipient of the 2018 State Library of Victoria Amor Residency at Baldessin Press & Studio. My time at Baldessin Studio culminated in several immersive days in the affirming environment and fabulous studio facilities under the experienced guidance of artist and studio technician Silvi Glattauer.  I remain lastingly thankful for the opportunity presented by Tess at the iconic Baldessin Press & Studio. - Dr. Glen Skien

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Foto Metafisica III

Foto Metafisica IV

Foto Metafisica V

Foto Metafisica VI

Within the gathering of the poetic image, as Bachelard advocates, the past rises to the level of the present. What is achieved through the process of poetic imaginings is the instigation of a primal condition of non-knowing, not as a form of ignorance but as a complexity of associations arising above rational thought and structures of knowledge. In adopting a poetic gaze towards the archive, the outcomes of my response as recipient of the 2018 State Library of Victoria Creative Fellowship embraced Bachelard’s dictum to be moved by the vast archive of insignificant things. Resourcing photographs devoid of any fixed historical narrative, the outcomes are mixes of hybrid artist book forms that incorporate photographic etching, collage and thin thread bindings.

CHRISTINE JOHNSON

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BIOGRAPHY

Christine Johnson is a visual artist, specialising in painting and printmaking. She has presented over twenty-five solo exhibitions in Australia since 1989.

In 2012 Johnson was a Creative Fellow at the State Library of Victoria and undertook research on early Australian botanical art. The result of this extensive research was the touring exhibition Voyages Botanical.

She continues to develop work around botanical themes and is currently inspired by Mallee botanist Eileen Ramsay (née Couve). Eileen Ramsay’s brother, Alan Couve was one of the soldiers whose story is featured in Five Soldiers.

Christine Johnson is represented by Fox Galleries, Melbourne.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

The story of Baldessin Studio is about fostering creativity and, that rarest of things, finding solitude and companionship in the one place.

When I first came up to the Baldessin Studio I was in search of a method, a process that would allow me to draw the imagery of botany and history together. From my room at the State Library of Victoria where I held a Creative Fellowship in 2012, I would head out towards St Andrews, often with the car jammed with paper and all the materials of a printmaker. As the crush of the city gave way to open spaces and sunny vistas of the Yarra Valley, I would know I was on my way to a very special place. A place where for some years now, I have always found the joy of creativity and warmth of friendship in unique balance. - Christine Johnson

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Five Soldiers
The perishable nature of flowers is a metaphor for the fleeting quality of life.

In these artworks I have introduced wildflowers to serve as emblems of remembrance just as one would offer a flower as a tribute at a graveside or light a candle in church.

As living forms, as art, and as symbols, the wildflowers that soldiers encountered in WWI Europe help us negotiate the unimaginable enormity of war and deepen the solemnity of remembrance.  

[https://theconversation.com/flowers-remembrance-and-the-art-of-war-86768]

These images are created from my own pencil, charcoal and pastel drawings, reproduced as archival pigment prints and over-printed with solar-plate engravings.

Voyages Botanical is artist Christine Johnson’s tribute to the untamed treasures of Australia’s vast native flower garden. It is indeed a voyage: through rare and wonderful landscapes, but also through our botanical heritage and history.

Voyages Botanical was inspired by Johnson’s time as a Creative Fellow at the State Library of Victoria. Her research, which drew on the library’s collection of rare books of botanical illustration, took her back to the pioneering work of early botanical artists including Sydney Parkinson, Pierre-Joseph Redouté and Ferdinand Bauer. This was the beginning of Johnson’s own journey that led to the creation of the suite of prints at Baldessin Studio.

The book

http://issuu.com/www.christinejohnsonartist.com/docs/christinejohnson_voyagebotanical_fi?e=14267311/10028647

CHRISTINE JOHNSON Voyages Botanical, Short documentary on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfOxm7E9tXw

ROS MUSTON

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BIOGRAPHY

Ros is a natural resource management scientist. She shares her time with printmaking and ceramics.  She has always moved comfortably between academic and visual representation of the natural world.  She was taught to conceptualise scientific images at the open art courses at the National Art School in Sydney and from various generous artists both nationally and internationally.  Her prints and ceramics take their inspiration from Ros’ lifelong fascination with the natural world.

The images in Ros’ artworks are often derived from her career in environmental science.  She is intrigued with the alchemy of metal plate printmaking and experimenting with layering multiple printmaking techniques.  

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

I discovered Baldessin Press & Studio during the Nillumbik Open Studios program.  I was immediately fascinated by the old stone studio at St Andrews and loved how it seemed to buzz with creative energy and a weighty history.  I enrolled in Baldessin Studio’s 4-day Traditional Etching Workshop taught by Robert Hails and then another and another. My love of printmaking began and grew from Rob’s generous and encouraging support, and tuition. As a volunteer I assist Tess and Silvi with the running of the studio and I provide technical support for printmaking workshops and during access days.  For me the Baldessin Studio represents warm friendships, creative inspiration and a generous and supportive space for my printmaking. - Ros Muston

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I’m fascinated by the minute detail and repeated patterns in natural landscapes.  It is mostly these that inspire the images in my prints. Not at all surprising because I’ve spent most of my adult life professionally peering into nature at a very fine level of detail and analysis. In the latter part of my scientific career I spent more time in the company of abstract concepts and social conflict associated with environmental reforms. So sometimes I’m very tempted to also capture the silliness of human behaviour.

Etching techniques provide me with a lace-like delicacy of line and tone that best express what I see and try to understand in nature.  For me the quietness, the slowness and the alchemy of the metal plate etching process reflects my meditative process of environmental observation.  In the end, it is really the capacity of the printing press to take my careful marks, remove them from my controlling hand and turn them into something unexpected that really delights me. 

LLOYD GODMAN

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BIOGRAPHY

Environmental artist Lloyd Godman has been described as “the lateral thinker of Australian and New Zealand Photography”. Crossing many mediums, Godman's diverse practice centres on environmental concerns and a fascination with light. His role at the Baldessin Press has moved towards “extreme gardening” as he collects, grows and models air plants into experimental living plant sculptures based on the principle of super sustainability. His bromeliad nursery and hanging tillandsia creations inspire studio residents and visitors.

Before moving to Melbourne from New Zealand in 2005, Lloyd was the head of the photography department of the Dunedin Art School, which he founded in the early 1980s. His mainly environmental photo-based work has evolved from traditional camera techniques, through photosensitivity and photosynthesis to the current sustainable living plant sculptures using tillandsias (air-plants). Lloyd works in various forms, including large scale photo-installations, relief photo-constructions, complex photograph-photogram combinations, and interactive installations. The physical and spiritual dimensions of light offered a catalyst for continual exploration and discovery in his work. 

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

Since 2005, I have lived as Tess’ partner in the house adjacent to the Baldessin Press and have contributed to the ongoing development to the studio. While I am embedded in the functional demands and creative energy of the studio, it is often impossible for visitors and artists to escape the intriguing living tillandsia sculptures which I have created that adorn the studio grounds. - Lloyd Godman

SIMON NORMAND

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BIOGRAPHY

Simon Normand is a sculptor, printmaker, painter, author and environmentalist. For over 25 years he has been creating art for the public domain, exhibiting as well as working with elders in Sth-East Arnhem Land, recording oral histories. Travelling extensively throughout the Gulf country, he created numerous maps detailing an indigenous perspective of the land as a permanent record for the people that have always lived there.  

In 2010 his major exhibition Wata (wind) opened at the Adelaide Festival Centre and then toured for the next 18 months.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

In 2016 I began editioning 13 etchings at Baldessin Studio where I found the space and environment perfect for the creation of this latest body of work. This has been made into 10 artists books. The work is ongoing and in collaboration with artists and elders from Arnhem Land, and a national touring exhibition is being developed. - Simon Normand

ABOUT THE WORK

Ludwig Leichhardt - Before the Clearing

His latest project Before the Clearing, is a series of collection boxes of artefacts, stories and etchings documenting Ludwig Leichhardt’s epic 5000km journey from Port Essington in 1845. Before the Clearing opened at Parliament House as part of the 2017 Darwin Festival.

SILVI GLATTAUER

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BIOGRAPHY

Fine art photographer Silvi Glattauer practicing in Melbourne, Australia, exhibits nationwide. The central themes in her work relate to nature and narratives. There is a connecting thread about materiality, about object, and about preciousness. As a founding member of Baldessin Press, she is considered a pioneering authority on the ‘direct to Plate’ photopolymer photogravure process. Silvi runs regular workshops, one-on-one tutoring, and on-demand plate making and editioning.

Silvi has exhibited throughout Australia and abroad, most recently at the Museum of Victoria. She has won the Nillumbik Prize and was commissioned by the Victorian government to create a documentary series for bushfire recovery. Her work is in many private and public collections, including the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) and Geelong Regional Galleries, Melbourne Museum, the State Library of Victoria, and Monash Gallery of Art. 

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

I have been associated with Tess Edwards Baldessin since 2001, when Baldessin Press began as a not-for-profit organisation. In addition to my role as studio manager, I teach workshops, tutorials, and collaborate on specific projects with individual artists. Baldessin Studio is my primary creative space.  Baldessin Studio has long been a key factor in my research and printmaking techniques. - Silvi Glattauer

ROBERT HAILS

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BIOGRAPHY

Robert Hails works mostly on zinc plates to produce elegant and sometimes whimsical etchings. He loves to experiment with aquatint, rolled colour, wax pencil and is always looking for the ‘happy accident’. He pays attention to great detail, seeks patience and encourages his workshop students to take risks and to see where the journey of creating an etching may take them.

Apart from traditional etching Robert also ventures into monotypes. This is where his work becomes more colourful and sometimes quite abstract in form. Here Robert gets his inspiration from short road trips in Victoria or other travels interstate.

As well as participating in the Visual Arts world Robert has been involved in Performing Arts education at a tertiary level for more than forty years and as a consequence most of his works on paper respond to the characters, design, text and mystery of the theatre stage.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

My association with Baldessin spans more than forty-five years. 
As a student at Eltham High School in the early 1970s, Myself and my two younger brothers Doug and Don helped Tess and George Baldessin build the bluestone studio in St Andrews. 

In the early 2000s I was one of the founding members of the Baldessin Press and Studio incorporation. My hands-on contribution to the Baldessin Press includes teaching traditional etching and facilitating workshops. - Robert Hails

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Near Leach Street

This was my very first work produced from a zinc plate. The image was inspired by an early childhood memory of a horse-drawn Gypsy caravan parked at the end of our street in Briar Hill. 

Waiting to Dance

This was my first ambitious attempt to roll colour over the plate after it had been inked up before printing. This was taken from a series of life-drawing exercises that remained hidden in a drawer for over twenty years. 

From a Deck Chair

This is what I consider to be a true example of how my education and teaching in the theatre has influenced a lot of my artwork. 

KATIE BRECKON

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BIOGRAPHY

Katie Breckon  makes photographic, print and installation-based work that continuously seeks the intersection between place, time, image and memory. 
Breckon completed a Bachelor of Fine Art, majoring in drawing in New Zealand where she was born. After relocating to Australia, she earned a post graduate diploma from Victorian College of the Arts in 2005. Currently, living in the West Kimberley outback, Breckon works simultaneously as an artist, educator and remote community arts worker. She manages the community collection at the Mowanjum Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre. The experience of living in the isolated and unfamiliar landscape of the Kimberley is infused into Breckon’s works. 

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

Baldessin Studio is somewhere I feel completely at home; this is primarily because of the people associated with the studio and the welcoming atmosphere they create for artists. 
Safe Keeping was the first printmaking series I ever produced. After a short training session with Basil Hall in Braidwood, I traveled from the West Kimberley to St Andrews with large crates filled with hundreds of aluminium printing plates. The printing plates were run through the large motorised etching press at Baldessin Studio, rebuilding each stone tool image piece by piece. Working long hours in the studio with regular shared meals and good company kept me going and helped me to produce one of my most important bodies of work to date. - Katie Breckon

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

These works present the Worrorra stone tools collected by Kimberley bushman Vic Cox and asks the question if a stone tool is found what should you do? 
In 2015 I moved onto Vic Cox’s ten-acre bush block in the Kimberley where we found buckets containing stone tools, some marked with a location and date. These tools were linked to the Worrorra language group. The collection contains a selection of handmade tools designed for living off the land.
It was through conversations with respected Worrorra cultural advisors, artists, remote community archive networks across the top end of Australia, geologists and anthropologists working in the Kimberley that I became aware of the cultural and environmental concerns relating to the removal of significant objects from custodial lands.

TESS EDWARDS

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BIOGRAPHY

Tess Edwards was born in Alexandra, Victoria, and studied fine art at RMIT. After the death of her husband, George Baldessin, in 1978, Tess spent many years living in France. She returned to St Andrews in 2001 to establish the Baldessin Press & Studio in George’s memory. Tess’ small-scale works on printed documents have sustained and obsessed her for decades. She continues to produce work at Baldessin Studio, but no longer exhibits regularly.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

She is always collaborative in making plans and seeks the opinion and expertise of those around her in her way of developing the studio. She carries an ethos of warmth, respect and generosity of spirit towards other artists.

She leads by example, always providing home-made food, often picked from the garden.

She fosters a sense of community and balance with the gentle structures of a shared lunch at 1pm, when many of us wouldn’t even think to stop work to talk and share food.

Tess has made her place available, with the help of the core group, the buildings have been extended and adapted to growing needs for workshops and studio time.

As an artist herself, she understands very deeply what it takes to make art.

Working at Baldessin Studio has been a highlight of my life, as a trajectory of healing, friendship, learning, and dealing with all that a busy studio demands.  It is a constant joy to be part of this creative community, as each day looks different and exciting, depending on who is doing what!  Silvi Glattauer is my ever-present complementary partner in all the above, and I owe her a great deal. - Tess Edwards

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

The Metaphysical Fishing series on old printed documents (including pages from French prayer books and Mrs Beeton’s Cookbook) is an experiment, an exercise in stream-of-consciousness.  The aim is to bypass the artist’s conscious mind and surrender to the unknown creative domain of the unconscious. The text on the page ‘speaks’ in some way, setting up a dialogue with the artist. 

This can be a response to words and meaning, images or abstract shapes upon the page, which cause a reaction of any kind at all in the artist.  It is important to honour the unconscious: it can provide a key to open a glimpse into the inner self.  

BARBIE KJAR

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BIOGRAPHY

Barbie Kjar is a Tasmanian artist, now living in Melbourne who has completed a Masters of Fine Art at RMIT, Melbourne and Bachelor of Fine Arts and Education, University of Tasmania, Hobart. She has undertaken residencies in Barcelona, Havana, San Francisco, Mexico City and Tokyo. Since 1986 she has held 34 solo exhibitions in Australia and more recently in Barcelona and Tokyo. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions in Australia, China, Korea, Siberia, France, Canada, USA and Japan. Barbie Kjar’s work has been purchased by the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Parliament House, Canberra; Wagga Wagga Gallery; National Gallery of Victoria; Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; Fremantle Arts Centre; Grafton Regional Gallery; Queensland University of Technology; Gold Coast City Art Gallery; University of Southern Queensland and is held in private collections in USA, France, Sweden, England and Australia.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

I have been teaching printmaking workshops in wood lithography, drypoint and carborundum at Baldessin press since 2015.

Since moving to Melbourne from Hobart in 2017 I have also been doing a lot of printing at Baldessin Studio. I can work there until late in the night and it is wonderful to stretch out in the studio, with paper, rolled out slabs of ink and experiment with the print process. The generosity of the people, the sharing of food, amazing conversations, Silvi’s famous energetic soundtracks, flying plant sculptures, George Baldessin’s work. What a paradise! - Barbie Kjar

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

My work is concerned with portrait and identity/ belonging/narratives.

The portrait of Vimal is from a series titled Mother Tongue in which I investigated the link between people and the influence of mother tongue on identity.

Vimal and his father are master tilers from Puglia, Italy. I have depicted him wearing a red Indian turban to reflect his strong spiritual side.  He seems like an Indian prince.  I have superimposed patterns from Italian tiles in the turban and included text from a pop singer from Puglia in the creases of his shirt. 

Circe is part of a series on Stories of the Sea. The character Circe from Homer’s classic The Odyssey, seduced Ulysses on his journey back to Troy.  The portrait is of Tasmanian filmmaker Ninna Milligan who has Greek heritage and is feisty and creative. She seemed like a Circe with her lively hair and sensuous gaze.

KYOKO IMAZU

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BIOGRAPHY

Kyoko Imazu is a Japanese artist based in Melbourne whose practice encompasses a range of mediums such as printmaking, papercut, puppetry and installation, bookbinding and ceramics.

Her works are held in collections at various public institutions such as National Library of Australia, State Library of Queensland, State Library of Victoria and National Gallery of Australia as well as numerous private collections worldwide.

She regularly exhibits her work nationally and internationally especially in Hong Kong, New Zealand and New York.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

I first worked at Baldessin Studio as a recipient of the State Library of Victoria Amor Residency at Baldessin Press & Studio in 2017.

I am delighted to be part of the community that provides top-quality printmaking facilities in the beautiful and serene bush. Tess Edwards and Silvi Glattauer always make me feel welcome like a family member of the studio which helps me focus on my work in healthy isolation. - Kyoko Imazu

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I’m interested in paying attention to our tiny neighbours: the weeds, bugs and pebbles that fill our everyday lives. Upon closer inspection, it's incredible to realise how everything is so different – every petal, leaf and wing is miraculously unique. These beings and objects all have their own stories and universes within themselves, containing many states of life, death and regeneration.

I like to tell the stories of our overlooked neighbours, to try to make sense of the world we live in – and to imagine the worlds we cannot see with our own eyes. - Kyoko Imazu

LANA DE JAGER

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BIOGRAPHY

Lana de Jager emigrated from South Africa to Australia in 1998. She holds a BA Honours Degree in Advertising and Visual Communication 1994, which included fine arts and printmaking. She followed her degree with 2 years as lecturer 1995-1996 at Potchefstroom University and the East London Technical College, South Africa teaching Graphic Design History & Techniques, History of Art and Still Life & Figure Drawing. For 20 years she practised Graphic Design.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

On 8 May 2017 I did a workshop with Silvi at Baldessin Studio that changed my art practice in two extraordinary ways. Firstly, she took the guesswork out of photopolymer plate development with her accomplished, scientific approach. It saved hours, materials and money, which I had been wasting a lot in my home studio. Secondly, more fundamentally, working at Baldessin Studio has given me confidence in the quality and consistency of my plate making, but also in my work as an artist. Tess and Silvi nurture an intelligent, joyous and nourishing creative environment – a rarity! - Lana De Jager

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Modern civilisation feels like an oxymoron. Within the broader culture of our civilisation, sub-cultures can serve as havens from cruelty, but are sometimes places of even more pressure. These pressures are applied in subtle/not-so-subtle ways within family, work or social groups.
We face a daily negotiation of the rules and structures within our sub-culture to ensure we fit somewhere in this civilisation. Combine that with our individual experience of our upbringing as well as a personalised relationship with social and corporate media and it becomes clear just how complex our environments are.
Privately, we have an ‘internal civilisation’, the ways we believe the world works, fits together and what refinement looks like. It has become increasingly difficult to identify non-essential behaviour proposed as essential by our sub-culture. We take part in rituals that might ultimately exploit us.

ANGELA COOMBS MATTHEWS

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BIOGRAPHY

Angela Coombs Matthews lives and works in the Riverina NSW. She has been developing her art practice across the mediums of photography, painting, drawing and printmaking for over twenty years since completing a Bachelor Arts Visual, in Photomedia.
Angela has worked as a professional photographer, an art tutor through casual and self-employment and a picture framer.
Angela began printmaking in 2007 after discovering the drypoint and collagraph methods. She was seeking more tonal and mark making possibilities and undertook some workshops and training in etching and workshops in monoprint.

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

In 2014 I was making digital images from multiple manipulated photographic images, and printing them digitally, however I felt that the imagery needed to be hand printed. This is how I discovered The Baldessin Press & Studio. I undertook workshops in direct to plate photogravure. I have returned there to use the photopolymer plate making facilities, printing equipment and to have an enriching creative experience with other artists. - Angela Coombs Matthews

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Elements in nature and the physical world that are absorbed at a particular time and place. This led to embarking on a voyage of the imagination involving a fusion of images, tonal planes, mark making, linear and textural qualities.

Bound together by themes of landscape, memory, responding and reimagining, these works are a selection of a dreamy universe of imaginary places and moments.

I am concerned with evoking mood, feelings and new visual experiences from familiar subject matter in the physical and natural world. My work communicates my internal musings and I invite viewers into their own process of interpretation, contemplation and emotional engagement.

WILLIAM KELLY

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BIOGRAPHY

William Kelly is a humanist artist, social activist and pacifist. His work has been exhibited in over 20 countries and is in many public, corporate and university collections internationally including the National Gallery of Australia, the United Nations and elsewhere. His time as a Fellow at the State Library of Victoria and the Baldessin Press led to his creating a monumental print Peace or War/The Big Picture. The studies for that work now form an exhibition of his Can Art Stop a Bullet? currently at the Guernica Peace Museum, Guernica, Spain and a feature documentary film of the same title was released in 2020 to great acclaim..  

CONNECTION TO BALDESSIN STUDIO

I first met George Baldessin in 1970 and later became aware of him building a studio in St. Andrews. For various reasons it wasn’t until 2015, when I received a Fellowship to the State Library of Victoria and was lucky enough to also be granted a Baldessin Press Residency, that I got to visit what is now the wonderful artist haven of Baldessin Studio. The work created there Not in My Name reflects my stance as a pacifist and social activist.   - William Kelly

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

The works in this folio, Not in My Name, reflect my concerns as a pacifist about - on the one hand - the tragedy of deaths in war (especially children and civilians) and – on the other hand – the courage of those who stood, and stand today, against war. In all areas, whether relationships with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, treatment of asylum seekers and refugees, acceptance of the tragedy of homelessness, violence in our homes, violence on our streets, violence across borders…we can be better than we are and we must learn to treat each other better than we do.