Living near active ports on Vancouver Island influenced this edition of prints.
My studio is near the Graving Dock in historic Esquimalt Harbour. Esquimalt is home to the Pacific Fleet of the Canadian Navy.
Point Hope Maritime shipyard is also nearby in the Victoria harbour. We have a commercial fishing fleet at Fishermans Wharf and dozens of whale watching vessels. And a mega yacht marina is now being build in the Songhees.
Marine vessels of every size and description, with busy working ports, are always within site. When I fly over the islands or take a boat to the mainland this is what I see. It’s a vital part of island life.
People are out on the water in all kinds of crafts. I canoe often on the Gorge Waterway. We’re surrounded by the Salish Sea.
Here’s a few examples of the series of prints I’ve developed for this limited edition called ‘Passages’.
Print techniques for each mono print are etch, emboss, and chine colle.
Passages: Graving Dock 1/1/25
Passages: Admiral 1/1/25
Passages: Departure 1/1/25
Passages: Red Net 1/1/25
Each plate for the ‘Passages’ edition is intuitively composed. I assemble the various elements and make decisions about composition as the edition unfolds.
‘Passages’ talks about our natural environment, the built world, and their intersection: The scale of tanker traffic, habitat of salmon and whale, and economics.
I like to combine hard elements of the built work juxtaposed with organic materials and shapes when composing plates for printing. The photo etch plates give a graphic grounding to the image. I used fish net to emboss some of the prints. Use of materials like that connects me on a visceral way to the prints. It’s a poetic way to print make.