Art and roller make big impression

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04 Oct, 2021


JULIA WADE

Artists are renowned for their creative working ways and one recent spring morning a local printmaker decided heavy machinery currently being used for the Village road project would be the perfect tool to experiment with to produce a large piece of art, set to be showcased at an upcoming exhibition.

A ten-ton roller is not the usual piece of equipment artists source to create their work, however for artist Nicola Everett the machine was not just worth its considerable weight as a ‘print press’ for her two metre ‘harakeke flax flower’ collagraphic print, it is also fitting for the focus of the exhibit, Print Matters, where she explores the effect humans have on their surroundings.

“It seemed appropriate to me to use the roller as the flower had been completely flattened by vehicles by the time I found it in The Hub’s car park, so it’s connected to the theme of how we influence our environment,” Everett says.

“Part of my exhibit looks at strength, and to me the harakeke is symbolic of strength; its an amazing flower, it was beautiful even though it had been run over so many times the stalk had gone from a few centimetres across to maybe 18… but that’s the human impact on things, we change them but the integrity of the plant still remains… mother nature wins through, no matter what we do.”

Everett prepped the print outside the Mangawhai Artists Gallery on September 29 – amid the bustle and noise of the ongoing Village road works and watched by friends and members of Mangawhai Art Society – before laying the canvas in the path of the United Civil roller, whose driver ‘Phil’ obligingly drove right over the artwork.

“I knew that the image would be ok but wasn’t sure how technically it would work once the roller went on, if the top sheet would go askew… the rubber foam sandwiched in between the paper and hardboard was vital… the experiment was a bit of unknown, which is part of the fun,” she says.

“I have a big printing press at home but it’s not quite big enough for this piece of work… I’m really happy with the result.”

Planned for a date two months ago, the roller event was postponed due to lockdown and Everett says United Civil’s project manager Jacob Dunn and his team have been very supportive of the idea.

“They’ve all been fantastic, couldn’t speak more highly of them… though they probably thought it was a bit mad.”

Historically, printmaking is used to convey a message, of protest, political or for propaganda means Everett says, and the exhibit, which also features the work of local printmakers Wendy Clifford and Rosina Kamphuis, is about how printing can communicate.

“It’s an interesting process and its fun to play with, printing can either give you lovely surprises or sometimes disappointing ones, so results are unpredictable, but you’re always learning.”

n Nicola Everett joins fellow printmakers Wendy Clifford and Rosina Kamphuis for an upcoming exhibition at the Mangawhai Artists Gallery. 

“I knew that the image would be okay but wasn’t sure how technically it would work once the roller went on…”

Not something you see every day for the sake of art; local printmaker Nicola Everett with the ten ton United Civil roller serving as ‘press’ for her two metre art print. That’s Phil in the drivers seat. PHOTO/JULIA WADE

Prepping the harakeke collagraphic print with the helping hand of friend Rosemary Cranswick; painting, applying protective layering including foam rubber and hardboard before being laid in the path of the roller, over it goes… and success! PHOTOS/JULIA WADE