Exhibition celebrates 20 years of printmaking in NT

An exhibition celebrating 20 years of prints and printmaking in collaboration with renowned Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists will open at the Charles Darwin University Art Gallery this week.

Drawn from the CDU Art Collection's permanent holdings, “In Print 20/20” marks the 20th anniversary of Northern Editions Printmaking Studio and its predecessor printmaking workshops.

Established in 1993, the printmaking workshop at CDU remains the longest established producer and publisher of limited edition prints in Northern Australia, and each year gifts to the CDU Art Collection workshop proofs of editioned prints.

Well known for its collaborations with North Australian Indigenous artists in particular, the Northern Editions printmaking team collaborates with individual artists and Aboriginal art centres to produce limited edition etchings, drypoints, woodblocks, screenprints, lithographs and linocuts.

CDU Art Collection and Art Gallery Curator, Anita Angel said In Print 20/20 would focus on works dating from about the year 2000, highlighting the most recent two phases of printmaking at the university.

“In Print 20/20 is the sequel to an earlier survey exhibition of 167 prints from the Collection that focused on the first two phases of the University printmaking studio's evolution (1993-2001), mounted in 2010,” Ms Angel said.

“Significant developments in recent years include the introduction of water-based, Japanese style woodblock printing (suisai moku hanga), the production of prints in hand-bound book form and the creation of 3D hand-sewn printed multiples or sculptures.”

In Print 20/20 features more than 100 works ranging from lithographs, drypoints, etchings, woodcuts and screenprints from the University Art Collection displayed together in one exhibition for the first time. It encompasses work by artists from remote area Indigenous communities and centres including the Tiwi Islands, Arnhem Land, Wadeye, Tennant Creek, Hermmansburg, Yuendumu, Alice Springs; Balgo, Kununurra, Broome and the Kimberley coast, as well as work by non-Indigenous artists from the Northern Territory and interstate.

The exhibition will be open to the public from Thursday 14 November 2013 to Friday 21 February 2014 in the CDU Art Gallery, Ground Floor, Building Orange 12, CDU Casuarina campus. The Gallery is open Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 4pm, or by appointment.

For more information visit W: cdu.edu.au/artgallery