Glen Rock Gallery in July 2021

 Somerset Art Society Inc is welcomes back

Marta Blaszak

'THERE IS BEAUTY ALL AROUND US'

view the full exhibition at Glen Rock Gallery 

 opens Fri 2 July-Wed 4 August 2021

Marta, a Visual Artist, is based in Brisbane. She is an accomplished artist and teacher, running workshops and is exhibiting throughout South East Queensland.

 

Her earlier works of mostly still life and realism are juxtaposed against her more recent work which combines abstract fluid acrylics with traditional painting methods.

 

Although both styles focus on the natural world, they do so in strikingly different ways. While Marta's earlier work is controlled and precise, her latest pieces capture and celebrate the unexpected, unique, and wonderful side of nature, reminding us that

'There is Beauty all around us'.

Glen Rock Gallery in August 2021

 Somerset Art Society Inc is welcomes 

Albert Hill

'Exhibition of a Lifetime'

view the full exhibition at Glen Rock Gallery  Esk Visitors Information Centre

 opens Thursday 5 August- Wednesday 1 September 2021

My first foray into art was at the age of 14 using  pen and ink to render Lincoln Cathedral on cartridge paper and it took many weeks to complete. If I had some instructions on basic  drawing skills the duration would have been vastly shortened. At that time, art was not considered important and a serious subject in the school curriculum. It was only after 8 years service in the Royal Navy followed by a 3 year Diploma course at Cardiff UK College of Art that I learnt basic line illustration, perspective, composition and photography.

 

My first employment after college was with a local printer where these skills were used together with the processes of offset printing and technical drawing. I gave up the lucrative position and took to travel, first to Australia in the 1950s and then to Hong Kong where I freelanced first as a photographer and then as a fine line illustrator using scraperboard to create a series of drawings of Hong Kong in the 1800s. 

 

The images I created were  reproduced by offset printing on a small flatbed offset machine, imported from Japan, which had  17 ink and 4  damping  rollers. At that time it was the only way I could reproduce images on aluminium, copper and brass as placemats, coasters and plaques for the souvenir market. This work continued when I returned to Australia in 1975 and created a series of scraperboard drawings of steam locomotives, scenes of Brisbane, NSW and Victoria in the 1800 - 1900s. Later with the invention of computers, we added the commercial requirements for nameplates, vinyl labels and signs to the business of which my son still runs today.

 

In this  exhibition I am presenting some examples of my work in 4 mediums :

 

1)  SCRAPERBOARD

Scraperboard originated in Britain and France in the 19th century.  It became a popular medium for reproduction by letterpress  because it could replace wood, metal and linoleum engraving for one colour book and newspaper printing. Scraperboard is made with a thin layer of fine Kaolin Clay sprayed onto a good quality cardboard.  It comes in white on white (my preference) or black on white.  It is now considered an antiquated process with the invention of computers… However, there are contemporary artists who are working with and re-discovering this creative medium.

 

2)  DIGITAL DRAWING

Digital drawing is created by using vector based software instead of pencil and paper.

Often, the digital artist uses a tablet with either a mouse or stylus.

 

3)  DIGITALLY ENHANCED PHOTOGRAPHY

Digitally enhanced photography requires retouching and radically altering photos. A different set of skills is required by the Graphic Artist as the image is altered to generate and translate his/her fertile imagination into a plausible rendering of the artwork.

 

4) PHOTOGRAPHY

Favourite subjects include macro insects and spiders where I have been able to explore the world in my own backyard.