An Interview With Angela Walker

Here at "Hand Pulled Prints" we want the potential clients, as well as any one interested, to get to know the artists' featured here. These prints are created by hard working folks and we try to provide a little background on the printmakers and why they do what they do.

AW: I am from New Zealand. I live on a large agro forestry property just North of Wellington. (Bottom of the North Island)

AW: I started printmaking at school, in the 1970's.

AW: I learnt how to make prints at school and then at the University of Canterbury in the 1970's. I did no printmaking in the 1980's but got back into it and started developing my own style in the early 90's.

AW: My favourite style of printmaking is etching. I feel I have really mastered the technique and continue to enjoy the process.

AW: I use Zinc plate... sourced from flashing off cuts from a local roofing supplier. I cover the plate with a waxy acid resistant ground then draw my design into it with a thin needle like tool. The areas scraped away then get eaten in a dilute solution of nitric acid. When the initial design has been created I then build up the plate with shading using 'aquatint' and then I might add some texture to the plate with a few pieces of fabric or foliage pressed into soft ground. Or perhaps I might 'marble' the plate. When I have finally finished making the plate I then ink it up. I like to use lots of colours and often mix my inks to make my own colours. I dab the ink on to the plate with tiny brushes then wipe the surface gently clean with a mesh cloth, so as not to rub the ink out of the etched lines. First I apply one colour, wipe it clean, and then add another, blending all the time. Sometimes it can take up to an hour to ink just one plate. When the inking is complete I clean the edges and white areas with a rag and place the plate on the press. Good quality, handmade paper, that has been well soaked and bloated is then placed on top of the plate and then rolled through the press. Finally a print is made. Then the whole process is repeated to make another print. I try to keep the inking consistent but because each print is hand inked separately there will always be some subtle differences in each print, meaning they are truly original 'handmade prints'.

AW: I have my own studio. It is located on the upper floor of my husband's farm implement shed. I have a lovely rural view of paddocks, hills, trees, rocks and a stream.

AW: I admire the etchings of 2 New Zealander's: Roger Hart and Gary Tricker. I love their original. techniques. I also like Alan Gale's woodcuts.

AW: My subject matter comes from my environment. I am always alert when I go somewhere. Looking at the my surroundings for details, creating compositions in my head, always wondering how things could be interpreted as etchings.

AW: I think the most boring part of printmaking is making the 'edition'. I do get rather tired of just inking and re inking and printing, printing printing. Creating the plate is the best part.

AW: I am not a super neat and tidy person, but I do have a method of working. I like everything laid out in its place and I leave it like that, even if things build up into a mess as I work. Then I have a big clean up when I have finally completed a print. Then the mess builds up again when I begin something new. I like to work alone for this reason. Another person would get in my way as I use my whole studio space when I'm working.

AW: When I was in my senior year at school one of the art teachers went off to Hawaii for a term and came back all enthused about etching. I was one of the lucky few to be chosen to experiment and benefit from her knowledge. Consequently I went off to Art School wanting to learn more about printmaking.

AW: I am very proud of my latest etching. 'Ruapehu'. It's the biggest print I can make on my press and I 'jig sawed' 4 pieces of zinc together to make it.

AW: I think of myself as a 'Professional printmaker'.

AW: I work at my printmaking nearly every week. Sometimes I have a break to do some sketches and work on new ideas, but most of the time, I'm either making a new plate or printing or completing an edition. It is my passion and I love messing around in my studio.

AW: I have been working at my printmaking full time for 15 years now and it has definitely changed. I think I have become better techniqually. I have less failures and I therefore try more ambitious things. I expect my work will continue to change and continue to improve slowly.

AW: I do not teach, because there are few opportunities here in New Zealand. Etching is expensive and people who inquire about learning are not keen to pay the high equipment costs.

AW: There are no printmaking organizations in New Zealand for me to join, that I know of. I belong to the NZ Academy of Fine Arts which is a very supportive Artist's society... covering all the arts. They have a lovely gallery for exhibitions.

AW: Just keep experimenting. Practice definitely makes perfect. The more you do the better you'll get. I think it's a bit like learning a musical instrument, you really do have to practice your technique to get good results.

AW: I love pulling that first proof print off the plate. It's hugely satisfying when you really see the finished print for the first time. It will be a mirror image, so you can never really visualize in your head, exactly what it is you have created on the plate until you pull that first print. It's really exciting when the print looks 'perfect' or 'better than imagined', as sometimes happens.

AW: I think I am a fairly successful printmaker here in New Zealand, but I am aware that New Zealand is a very small place and there are not a lot of people making original prints here. It would be nice if more people, appreciated and understood the process and that there were more opportunities for Printmakers in this country.

AW: I enjoy playing around with paints.. oils, water colour and acrylics, but printmaking takes up most of my time.