Urban Art Association

Introducing: Merlyn Chesterman - Woodblock Printmaker, by elwheel on Oct 4, 2014 9:21:32 GMT 1, Hi Folks,

I spent a fantastic week with my family in North Devon this summer, rented a cottage on a farm in Hartland and trekked the surrounding towns, villages and beaches for a week, munching through tonnes of ice-cream cones dipped in clotted cream along the way. Hartland is a great part of the country and boasts some of the most stunning and bleak (in a beautiful way) coastal scenery you could find. I will definitely be going back. While we were there, we called in to a lot of the artists studios in the village - potters, furniture makers, jewellers, printmakers and painters.

One particular printmaker stood out for me. We knocked on the door of her house and she without hesitation ushered my wife and I and our four year old girl through her kitchen into the print-studio and living room beyond (our other child slept in a pram in her kitchen). While our daughter quite rudely got stuck into every nook and cranny of the studio and living room, encouraged by Merlyn, she showed us some of the most beautiful woodcuts and woodblock prints I have seen in a long time. Most were inspired by the stark and haunting scenery in that part of the world, but there was lots too referencing her childhood in Hong Kong and wordly travels. Some of the prints were huge (over 2m wide) and they were on all walls alongside other creative outpourings including carvings, sketches and paintings.

Anyway, sometimes there is some serious fawning on here over paper editions which display little creative thinking and even less skill to produce. I thought I would share some of her work and hope it resonates with some. The pictures on her website woodblock.eu are not of high resolution but you should be able to get a feel for the quality.