Cornelia Weinmann: Portfolio: 6/10/12

June 11, 2012

Printmaking: Collograph

I made this collograph on hardboard, using wood glue, acrylic texture medium, carborundum and linocutting tools. For the first layer, different colours were applied to the printing plate, then I overprinted with white ink.

Tree Shelter

Speedball waterbased relief ink on cartridge paper. 2007.

43 x 48 cm

Painting: Oil

In April wild garlic was spreading its strong scent along the lanes around my village. The white flowers are striking: I wanted to paint them in a crystal glass to learn a bit about the reflection of light and colour in glass.

Wild Garlic

Oil on canvasboard. 2012

Printmaking: Lino print

Going for walks around the village of Machen, Caerphilly, where I live now, I often pass an allotment nearby. After the harvest season the gardening paraphernalia are put away for the winter. Straight beanpoles and round water butts create a combination of interesting lines in an otherwise quite empty landscape - an attractive motif for images in black and white.

Machen series: Deserted Allotment. 2010.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

Another place that stands out in Machen is our village church with some intricate wrought iron work in the graveyard and stately trees on the hill behind.

Machen Series: St John's Churchyard. 2010.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

Typical of Welsh villages in my area are rows of terraced houses with stone walls and brickwork around windows and doors. I cut them into linoleum, together with long wrought iron railings, the ubiquitous butterfly bush and garage sheds. Plus some rubbish, typically to be found in the lanes behind houses.

Machen series: Street. 2011.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

This is the view from my kitchen window: cottages across the valley on the other side of the river Rhymney. Its banks are lined with poplars, lime and ash trees.

Machen series: Tudor Gardens. 2011.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

The last image in this series shows another of the typical features in the former mining area around Machen: a tram viaduct. It crosses the Rhymney west of the village. Actually, the viaduct doesn't really cross the river, it connects the bridgehead on the riverbank with an embankment further on. But I wanted to combine river and arches...

All the prints in my Machen series are cut on conventional printmaking linoleum. I'm going to try some new material soon: relief printing vinyl!

Machen series: Viaduct across the Rhymney. 2011.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

June 10, 2012

Drawing: charcoal and chalk

This drawing was done at a class tutored by Jantien Powell of Chapel Cottage Studio in Llanddewi Rhydderch near Abergavenny in south east Wales. The motif is a Window in Bath, after a photograph of the Pump Room in Bath, Somerset. The Pump Room is a an elegant restaurant within the building complex of the Roman Baths. The impressive chandelier seen through a dark window had caught my eye.

Charcoal and chalk on Fabriano Tiziano paper, 160gsm, sahara. 2012.

About my work

I have always been a maker of things, for as long as I can think back. My innate sense for colour, shape and balance first found expression in painting on glass, making linocuts and collages, assembling three-dimensional scenes in cigar boxes, sculpting with papier mâché and weaving. All these creative skills were put aside when I embarked on a career in the ivory towers of university. However, the call to be a maker rather than a university teacher did not remain unheard. I integrated academic experience with creativity and started working as an exhibit designer in my birthplace Munich, Germany. Making things became my profession after moving to British Columbia in Western Canada, where I opened a home based studio for functional art in the Upper Fraser Valley near Vancouver. I started painting furniture and fabrics. My work was part of the rapidly growing trend to refinish and reuse creatively: I mainly used vintage furniture and transformed it into bright focal points for unique interiors, complemented by my hand dyed, hand printed fabrics. These pieces, with bright colours and abstract designs, were shown in exhibitions and window displays.

I have since moved back to Europe and lived for a long while in the West of Ireland before taking up residence in Wales, and since 2014 in Perthshire, Scotland. During that time my focus shifted from functional art to more decorative work, to printmaking and painting applying a variety of techniques.

Then came the moment when I was asked to help promote the idea of reusing and repurposing materials by running classes in vintage furniture painting. This task reconnected me with expertise acquired in the past and led to many contacts with organisations and projects advocating waste reduction, recycling, the need to introduce new economic models of sustainability and circularity.

Learning how the fashion industry that we are familiar with harms the environment and fashion workers rights, and how much waste we produce because we treat clothing as throw-away items gave me a veritable shock. My response was to start altering some of my clothes rather than buying new ones - and I rediscovered my love of sewing. I attended sewing and embroidery classes and eventually decided to make textile art the new direction in my creative practice.

Now I hand-tailor unique garments made mainly from repurposed fabric and contribute to the production of sustainable fashion of high quality, and thus to a section of the circular economy. I feel proud that I was able to transition my small business in this direction, and I definitely like being noticed when I wear my own creations showing flamboyant colours and contemporary designs in my unique signature style.

My studio is located near Coupar Angus in Perthshire (check the business hours on my Facebook page). I sell from my studio, from my own web shop and and from my Perthshire Artisans shop.

For an easy overview of my work visit my website:
www.corneliaweinmanndesign.com
www.perthshire-artisans.scot

Or my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/CorneliaWeinmannArtist