Please
can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your work…What sort of
prints do you make?
I am Hannah McVicar and I produce
colourful floral and botanical screenprints that I exhibit internationally and
throughout the country.
Are
you solely a printmaker or do you work in any other creative fields?
I am an Illustrator and Printmaker, I
produce floral illustrations for books, magazines, greeting cards and
packaging. My illustrations were recently compared to William Morris in a
review in the New York Times.
I have worked for a variety of clients
including The Times Newspaper, Gardens Illustrated magazine and Ebury
Publishing.
What
is your earliest recollection of making a print and what made you to want to do
more?
My first memory of producing a screenprint
was at Girl Guides. We had to cut an image out of a waxed transfer that was
applied to the screen and then we screenprinted our image on to a t-shirt. I of
course had drawn a flower but then I was only 10 at the time.
It was whilst I was studying at Falmouth
College of Art that I really started to explore all areas of printmaking. I
spent my first year experimenting with relief printmaking, in my second year I
was really interested in aquatints, but it was in my final year that I branched
out into screenprinting, where I started to experiment with colour.
What
inspires you and are there any themes or ideas that often run through your
work?
I am often asked why do I just concentrate
on plants and flowers. Many believe that it is because of my upbringing around
plants, visiting botanical gardens and RHS Flower shows. And yes this has had a
massive influence on me. I do not think many people of my age can state that
they have been to 20 RHS Chelsea flower shows. I have had the privilege of
being able to walk around the showground at 7am in the morning before the gates
open. The floral marquee is full of exhibits and plants from all over the
world, thousands and thousands of prize winning specimens. The colour and smell
is intense. Every year I find a new plant that inspires me. People may find me
crazy but I like to imagine the plants as characters, dancing with one another
within a garden. I think nature is amazing and the more I research the more I
admire the variety of plants there are in this world.
Could
you give us an insight into where you work – your studio/workspace and where
you print?
I am very fortunate to be apart of two
studios within Bristol. I have a studio space at Jamaica Street Studios where I
produce all of my designs and illustrations and I am also a member of Spike
Print Studio. I first joined Spike Print studio in 2004 and then after a brief
period of working in America, I rejoined in 2007. This print studio is one of
the main reasons why I have stayed in Bristol. Not only is it an amazing
facility but it also contains some of the best printmakers in Britain, who
inspire and encourage me with my work.
It is more of an era than one particular
artist, I have always been influenced by the books, publications and prints
produced in the 1980’s – Aubrey Beardsley, Alphonse Mucha, Edmund Dulac and Kay
Nielsen to name a few. There is a beauty and romance to their work.
But the artist, who has had the biggest
impact on me, is my great Grandfather Thomas Lowinsky.
Printmaking
is made up of lots of different processes, which aspect do you enjoy the most?
It is the process of creating a
screenprinting that excites me. You can never quite tell how the stencils will
work and how the colours will react to one another. I love to use tints and
transparent colours that I layer to create depth and texture.
Do
you have a favourite tool or something you find invaluable when printing?
Magnets - when I am proofing or just
working out my colour combinations, I will magnet up the print on the wall and
walk away from it. When I am printing I am very close to my work but this is
not how someone else will view it, so I like to hang it up and walk to the
other side of the room, if it draws me in then I know it is right.
Can
you share a little printing trick or secret with us?
Florescent pink is the secret ingredient to
most of my colours that I mix.
How
would you like to develop your printmaking skills in the future?
I have always been very ambitious with my
prints, with more layers and colours and bigger compositions. Since my
exhibition in Japan, I have been approaching botanical gardens throughout
England about producing a series of prints influenced by the planting
combination within their gardens. I really want to push my colour combinations
with brighter and bolder prints.
Which
printed publication do you most look forward to thumbing through?
It is slightly biased of me but I do enjoy
reading Gardens Illustrated magazine, it contains the best garden photography.
Monochrome
or multi-coloured?
Multi coloured!
A
young Hannah McVicar at
Thomas Lowinsky’s retrospective exhibition,
Tate
Britain, 1990.
Wow! Thanks for that insight into your wonderful botanical works, it's really great to know how much time, effort and skill goes into making your complex and highly desirable prints. Great to know you also hold the local record for visits to the Chelsea Flower Show. Its been a pleasure having your work in the shop.
Hannah's screen prints will be on sale in the print shop until the end of the final volume, there's an excellent range of her works so pop down and take a look for yourselves.
The Print Shop
Unit 6
Quakers Friars
Cabot Circus
Bristol
BS1 3BU
Open Daily
Mon - Sat 10am - 6pm
Sun 11am - 5pm
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