Artist Mariel Rutherford is trained and experienced as an independent graphic illustrator. Her characteristically linear style offers imaginative images of surreal characters and forms. Through creation of this coloured etching, Mariel translated her digitally output illustrative practice into a collaborative printmaking experience in Smokestack’s Analog studio.
As she comments:

This project has given me an opportunity to flesh out a simple drawing that resonates with me, and create something physical and in my opinion, much more special. Through working with Laine at Smokestack, I had an opportunity to collaborate with someone who has a different creative lens than I do. Laine was willing and able to help me fully realize the potential of this etching. Through this project I have been given a platform to create something new.

Shellie Zhang’s photographic works present particularly selected objects that act as a kind of portrait of a particular place or experience. Creation of this new print, A Trip to the Store, offered Shellie another opportunity to more deeply consider how “still life, which is often so removed from place, could be more representative or responsive to it.” (Shellie Zhang)

A Trip to the Store was conceived as a still life ‘snapshot’ of the Parkdale neighbourhood in the summer where Shellie lives and works. All items included in the composition were sourced from shops and related to experiences had in the local area. As she describes:

The aloe was for some extra sun I got that week. The peppers were for a chili sauce I made. Grapes and pears were a fresh treat. The shell was something in my home that I thought made for a nice cornucopia presentation of my trip to the store.

Micah Adams has developed a multi-media practice that encapsulates drawing, metalsmithing, and most recently, printmaking. Drawing attention to the aesthetically undervalued designs and history of our loose change, Micah crafts new coin interventions through a unique approach to metalsmithing. Presented with the opportunity to further his investigations in print for the creation of Caribou/Hare, Micah comments,

The Caribou/Hare coin collage started out as an idea/challenge; I wanted to see if the coins could be cut in such a way that the animal designs would match up, thus creating a fictional creature. I also wanted the outside edges to match up akin to overlapping circles. When the chance arose to make an etching – to scale up these coins on a copper plate and then cut them out like the originals – the proposal made for an exciting opportunity and satisfying silhouette.

Anna Church has committed her artistic practice to an integration of sculpture and photography. In thinking about the approach and creation of Less Noise Please, Anna was compelled to launch herself into a new direction within this expanded process. In her own words,

Creating this piece has taken me on a much needed development journey. I wanted to use this opportunity as a stepping stone for the direction and creation of my next series…and I must say, I’m pretty thrilled with the result!…[Less Noise Please] is about the collaboration between structure and organic matter, and how they can work in harmony if given the space to do so. I’d like to think that this piece [offers] a portal into tranquility; to see two worlds co-existing in a small space without friction or dominance.