Intaglio Printmaker Prize Winner: Danielle Creenaune

Please could you tell us a bit more about the inspiration behind the work? 

This work is created from a walk in the bush not far from where I live on Dharawal land just south of Sydney in Australia. I walk in the bush and stop to do quick line drawings to which remind me of the places I sit and observe. I use these sketches later in the studio as a basis to draw on a lithographic stone. I don’t necessarily trace the drawing out on the stone, I prefer to draw directly in a loosely descriptive way and the image becomes a suggestion of that experience. Although I generally walk alone, I now walk with the memory of my father nearby since he passed away 2 years ago. My parents instilled in me a love of nature and being in these places through camping in the bush when I was young. The title ‘Haptic conversation’ comes from this – it’s both a walk and conversation between ourselves and nature, along with the memories that the land brings to our meaning and being. The haptic part is the sensory journey of being present there – the nuances of light, movement and sound that touch us. In our Australian bush, there is a real beauty and chaos in the scrub and undergrowth. I wanted to show that scratchy messy chaos of the bush mingled with the path that cuts through it.

I enjoy experimenting and pushing my printing processes in gentle ways and this work is a stone lithograph printed in my studio on a lovely old George Mann UK litho press. I love the quality of limestone and have always been drawn to its feel – not only the surface but also the textures on its sides and underneath. A few years ago I started printing the textures from under some of my stones. They are like a landscape in themselves, a record of past use, places and people. The green eucalypt colour of the background in this the work is a relief print from the back of a particular stone. The drawn image was then printed from smooth grained surface of the same stone. I wanted to create an image that suggested the materiality of the lithographic stone and process while also mimicking this scratchiness of the Australian undergrowth.

What made you get into printmaking? 

I was introduced to printmaking in high school and then when I went to university and did my first semester of lithography I was hooked. I think at that time in my youth I didn’t have a lot to say in my work and so there was something about print processes which allowed me to be driven and passionate about creating but also have some distance to grow as a an artist and find my voice. Chance and innovation are key to my work and printmaking allows me this space to discover new visual languages and processes.

 Tell us about your other works – are they similar or different? Do you tend to work within one technique?

I tend to work in series and therefore if I’m making lithographs for a while, they tend to be similar. However I work across a range of scales from large 2m mokulito (wood lithograph) prints to small intimate etchings. Lately the work swings between a more figurative landscape to some that are more minimal. Since I’ve been living back in Australia, I am spending more concentrated time in the bush and drawing en plein air. I observe the landscape closely and am more familiar with the foliage and forms, so I think this has brought a more representative characteristic to some of the drawings/prints.

I have a tendency towards lithographic techniques – stone, plate and mokulito, due to the directness and sensitivity of the marks. However at times I work across other media and techniques such as copper etching, woodcut, drawing, watercolour and now I’ve started a journey into ceramics after doing a residency here in January this year. I find that different techniques allow for varied sensibilities and some are more suited to working on larger scales. The season of the year also affects what I make, in the cooler months I tend to work on smaller work and lithographs and the warmer months for larger works and drawings.

What would be on your ultimate Intaglio Printmaker wish list?

I have some small hard rubber brayers on my wish list for laying down small areas of colour within plates.