Jennifer Tarry-Smith is a Melbourne based artist working in the medium of printmaking and drawing. She produces works that are abstract distillations of her experience of place and memory.
Last year Jennifer travelled to Europe and completed an artist residency in Venice. The experience has heavy influenced her current work. In the arc of an arabesque line, the arches of Moorish architecture are recalled; the soft yellows and turquoise colours are reminiscent of the painted houses of Venice; the velvety texture of pastels and lithography recalling the patina of age. The dissolving reflections of the land into the sea at the Beach of La Concha in San Sebastian, Spain. The repetitious, jagged lines represent the roof tops of Istanbul. Like a view glimpsed through half closed eyes, there is a sense of recognition of feeling or emotion, the shadowy imprint of the spirit of a place in her work.
Tell us a bit about what a day may look like for you as an artist. Where are you based and what are some of the things that you do in your daily routine? Tell us about your morning rituals, your cup of tea/coffee, plants, etc!
In a more ‘normal’ time, you would usually find me in a print workshop either working as a technician or printing my own work, just about every day.
In these unusual times I have a small press set up in my home and start my day with a very strong coffee (not a morning person) and I listen to Groove Armada. I then spend the rest of the day drawing, planning new prints, cutting and proofing woodblocks and experimenting with monotypes. After a few hours I have always managed to create a catastrophic mess that is completely unbearable and I have to clean everything up before carrying on creating.
How did you start your creative practice and why? Are you self-taught, an art student, a full-time artist, etc?
I completed my Bachelor of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts from 2016-2018 in the Drawing and Printmaking department. I instantly fell in love with printmaking and have been creating prints ever since. I had incredible master printers and tutors teaching me andwhose dedication and masterful work in printmaking had a large impact on my interest to learn the medium. I am still learning new techniques and skills and I can’t imagine ever not working in the world of print.
Have you got a studio/creative workplace? Tell us a bit about where you create and some of the significant things that support and inspire your practice.
My current studio is located between the ironing board and vacuum cleaner in our spareroom. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, I have very limited space however have managed to ‘tetris’ in a small press and easel into my make-shift studio.
As I mostly use a larger access studio to create my work, the other print-based projects and technical experiments happening in this space support and inspire my work. In conjunction with this, my connection to place and my encounters whilst travelling inform and inspire a lot of my work.
What are some of the ideas that you explore in your work and the mediums that you have chosen to work with?
Like a view glimpsed through half closed eyes, there is a sense of recognition of feeling or emotion, the shadowy imprint of the spirit of a place in my work. I like the idea that the works do not visually depict any particular location in time, but rather form impressions of the senses. I attempt to capture the quality of light, the depth of shadow, the shapes and lines, textures, patina, the smells and fragments of sound that constitute my memories of a space.
The imagery is redrawn many times in a process of refining until the final image is only a fragment reminiscent of the initial drawing. I use different print techniques, including monotype and drypoint, but the majority of my work is done in the medium of lithography. I find the process really intriguing and there is always more to learn. The challenge of it being impossible to make the ‘perfect print’ is what keeps me returning to the press.
In an increasingly digitized world, how important is your online presence? And what are some of the things that you consider when marketing your work?
Particularly at the moment an online presence is just about the only way to communicate and allow people to see my work, so it is vitally important to me - as it is to all artists trying to exhibit their work during this pandemic. The online access to art is such an amazing thing. For me, being able to simply search an artist’s name and have access to their work and inspiration in seconds is great. As long as we don’t become complacent with the fact that artwork (for the most part) looks better and has more impact when you’re standing in front of the real thing.
Let us know about any current/future projects – Have you got anything planned in the near future?
I’m hoping to do a summer course in Lithographic techniques at Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico when we are able to travel again. I am also hoping to exhibit work with a few friends once we’re allowed to stand around with a glass of wine and look at art again!
View our collection of works by Jennifer Tarry-Smith in our Stockroom.