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WHAT HAPPENS AT CORVINE ART

This page is an archive of sorts, documenting some happenings at the studio and our general art practices.

To the right is footage of Alick Tipoti's 3.5m lino block being printed at Corvine Art Studio by David and Immogyn. Note that it's quite a long video, though it does give an idea of the time it takes. 

We've printed a few editions for Alick Tipoti over the years, receiving our first commission from him in 2006 if I remember correctly. Back then we called ourselves Under the House of Art, with my first business partner, Jacek Rybinski , who is no longer with us. Alick's work hangs in galleries around the world and the print below is just the largest and latest lino block from this prolific artist.

Teho Ropeyarn

By February 2022, Teho's Athumu Paypa Adthinhuunamu (my birth certificate) had been printed.

Then the flood came and we had to walk the finished artwork out. Very lucky for all of us, the water rose the day after it had been packed in PVC tubes and taken upstairs. When the water receded we were able to walk them to high ground for John and Alicia from Onespace Gallery in time for the 2022 Biennale of Sydney.  Though most the studio supplies and art collections were lost to the floodwater, the presses cleaned up ok after submersion. 

The artwork is made of 6 prints, each roughly 3.5m by 1.2m in size. They are multi-block prints essentially. Each print/panel took four days to complete.  After the blocks provided by Teho were flattened and affixed to the press bed,  I'd then cut the red elements out. The white areas were then masked off. So by the fourth day the block was ready to ink and print. This process was repeated as each block arrived for printing.

From a printmaker's perspective, Teho's works have always had their challenging elements. This project tested the limits of Corvine Art's capabilities though. I should mention I had the help of my daughter Immogyn and occasionally my partner Anastasia. The project may have been a little daunting for us at first, but Teho's idea took shape over the weeks and we were rewarded with having been part of such an important and arresting artwork.

Photographed supplied by the artist.

Decennium

This exhibition brought together the first 11 recipients of this award over the last ten years, Dr Nicola Hooper (2020), Ana Paula Estrada (2019), Mathew Newkirk (2018), Dr David Jones (2017), Grace Collinson (2016), Dr Jude Roberts (2015), Dr Tim Mosely (2014), Paul Eves (2013), Elyse Taylor (2012) and Liana Evans & Jessica Row (2011). Showing from the 28th of November till the 9th of October, Decennium was curated by Dr Tim Mosely at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University in 2021. By 2005 Iain was given 1st class honours for his love of, and dedication to printmaking. Diagnosed with cancer Iain passed away in 2009 just shy of his 44th birthday. This award memorialises his fascination with printmaking and art culture and the rigour with which he approached image making.

Photographed by David.

Delvene Cockatoo-Collins

September 2021 Delvene Cockatoo-Collins' latest lino print was editioned at Corvine Art. Over the years David has had the pleasure of printing a number of lino blocks created by the artist. Delvene, is a First Nations Quandamooka artist and designer who lives on country and shares her stories, culture and heritage through her art practice. Delvene's art practice continues ancient techniques handed down by her mother and grandmother, contributing to the living and vibrant culture of the Quandamooka people. For more information visit...

https://cockatoocollins.com/ 

Photographed by David.

Dylan Sarra

The precision of the small press was tested with Dylan Sarra's latest wood block print consisting of four large boomerang shapes cut from 1.6cm thick wood. Dylan persevered with the block making, experimenting with carving, dimpling and scraping techniques, and proofing their potential for ink retention. We then had to adjust the press in order to take a combination relief and intaglio impression without producing creases through printing. Once colour and ink application was decided we were ready to print. Though a challenging print, the result was astounding. The print was included in Burral Burral Part 1: A graduation show with Dylan Sarra, 2021. Dylan is a Gooreng Gooreng artist and is a Contemporary Aboriginal and Islander Art Student at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. More of Dylan's art can be found at...

https://sarraart.com.au/

Photographed by David.

Teho Ropeyarn

For the last few years David has been printing for Teho Ropeyarn, of the Angkamuthi/Yadhaykana peoples. The latest print, Ayarra (rainy season) 2021 is 1.5 meters x 2.27 meters. One of three similar sized works displayed in Tarnanthi 2021 at the Art Gallery of South Australia. All three prints were pulled from multiple lino blocks meticulously carved by Teho over many weeks. Each impression then takes most of a day to print. Teho is represented by Onespace Gallery in Brisbane and more information on his art can be found by visiting their website...

https://onespacegallery.com.au/ 

Photo supplied by the artist.

Judy Watson

Judy Watson contacted David regarding insert prints for her important publication, Women of Brisbane: Judy Watson, published by the Museum of Brisbane. Judy Watson's book includes the stories of 180 Indigenous and non-Indigenous women who have contributed to, and influenced the growth of Brisbane. There were two colour versions for the insert prints, blue and ochre yellow, pictured above, and black and orange. 75 of each version were hand printed using multiple blocks, two actually. Each print requires two plates to be printed one on, and after the other, i.e. 150 passes through the press for each of the two versions. Corvine Art is very proud to have been considered for this important historical project and publication. For more information visit...

https://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/women-of-brisbane/ 

Image detail scanned by David.

Where's Your Permit?

Doing Australian Time 2021 by David was included in Where's Your Permit?, an exhibition curated by Janina Harding, and Francoise Lane for the Cairns Indigenous Art Show 2021 at the Tanks Art Centre. An artist's statement follows... Doing Australian Time 2021, represents 252 years of oppression Indigenous peoples of Australia have had to endure. For my Grandmother, the black butterfly signified the coming of luck, a windfall, good news. These 252 black butterflies are pinned against the wall just as our freedom and fortune as Indigenous peoples has been pinned down, constrained, and diminished by an Australian government and by extension, Australian society, and culture. No doubt life as an Indigenous person in Australian society has improved since my grandmother’s and father’s time, but nowhere near enough. So, to relate this ongoing struggle and governmental control I decided to cut by hand one butterfly for each year out of copper. Each copper butterfly was then etched three times. From these plates then, the 252 prints were pulled on postage card sized pieces of off-cut Hahnemuhle 350gsm Weiss rag paper. The entire work is approximately 4m x 1.5m on the wall. 

Photographed by Johnathan Tse 2019.

Undercurrents - Cook 2020 

Janina Harding has curated an important exhibition at Tanks Art Centre in conjunction with the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair 2020. David was very grateful to have been asked to contribute towards this exhibition that deals with Captain Cook and what he has come to symbolise from an Indigenous perspective. Two works were shown... 'This' is Australia!, a 1.8m high by 4.5m long mixed media drawing and... The Australian Cook Book: Six easy to follow steps for inventing a nation, a 21cm by 30cm and 1cm thick bound book. The image to the left is a detail from 'This' is Australia!, now in the collection of the Australian National Maritime Museum. 

Photographed by Alex Shaw.

Legacy: Reflections on Mabo

This exhibition began in 2019 at Umbrella Gallery in Townsville and will be touring till November 2021. Legacy: Reflections on Mabo celebrates the man behind the Native Title Act, Eddie Koiki Mabo. This is a group show involving 25 Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists curated by Gail Mabo, Dr Jonathan McBurnie and Kellie Williams. My own artist's staement for the exhibition and publication follows... Cultural assertion is at least one aspect of Eddi Koiki Mabo’s legacy for all TSI and Indigenous peoples here in Australia. E. K. Mabo challenged the ‘vacancy’ attached to this land by ‘settlers’ successfully, giving all the first peoples of the present Australian nation legal leverage for further cultural assertion regarding land rights. His is an example of persistence and successful assertion of his people’s human, land and cultural rights in the face of a Hobbs-ian Australian Leviathan, yet un-dismantled, though decrepit and growing more and more prone to romantic delusions of itself, preening its humanitarian cloak of stars and jack, by the reflection of a narcissistic historical mirror. The eye of Leviathan must begin to see us, though it still judges us, judges the authenticity of us, judges our resolution in its constructed ‘Australian’ landscape and history.

Photographed by David.

Banderlain Titchelengai Marim: Exploring personal symbols of freedom 

This was a solo exhibition at Woolloongabba Art Gallery 2019 by David. He describes the premise for the show as follows... My grandmother called butterflies banderlain titchelen-gai marim or roughly translated, dancing coloured lights. These are some of the words I can recall from our conversations, some of the words passed down through everyday use. So the title of this show relates to both the importance of language in our understanding of who and where we are, and the freedom we seek as Indigenous peoples in the face of ongoing oppression and governmental control. Since beginning printmaking, the idea of Butterfly Woman has been a developing idea and visual narrative recorded in a very few prints and drawings. The first etching was entitled Pull the Pin and completed in 2003. The butterfly symbolized the myriad Indigenous people’s artefacts impounded over time in government collections and displayed in museums. ‘Pulling the pin’ alluded to releasing these artefacts, stopping the practice, and returning those items, and Butterfly Woman was the protagonist. To the left is an image of The Collector 2019. For more images relating to the exhibition you can visit Woolloongabba Art Gallery's website. 

Photographed by Alex Shaw.