Introduction to screen printing

                 

                                     Emma Mclellan

The concepts of the grotesque and hybridisation have always piqued human interest. From the mythical gryphon - with its leonine torso mated to the wings and head of an eagle - to science fiction fantasies of android life, the fascination with otherworldly creations runs a darker thread through the annals of human life. As expected, these musings lend themselves to representation in cultural media and we can track a certain history of art - from Hieronymus Bosch through medieval bestiary to Patricia Piccinini - that comments on our fascination with the weird and ungodly. Viewed from this perspective, Emma McLellan's work is a contemporary interpretation of an age-old fascination.

McLellan attended Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in Printmaking in 1993, before continuing on to compete a Masters of Fine Arts in Painting in 2001. The result of her affinity for these dual disciplines is a natural combination of the two that allows her to build multiple layers of colour, pattern and image, all the while seeking to conceal and reveal different elements of the composition. McLellan combines her fascination with the grotesque, the weird and the hybrid (drawn from an interest in the engraving techniques that produced works of medieval bestiary) and her love of the pattern, repetition and texture of antique fabrics and wallpapers to create a gallery of animalia laid out as if it were as innocuous a thing as a repeating wallpaper motif.

The effect of McLellan's approach to the repetition of curiosities is to generate a "second-glance" interest, whereby the sumptuousness of pattern draws the viewer into a closer examination of subject matter. It is here that McLellan's work begins to draw allusions on one level to print metaphors (replica, edition, copy) and at a deeper level to the concept of mutation and its introduction of newness, difference and diversity into a genetic pool - a concept that is often viewed in a negative light and which has lead to the pejorative connotations of the term 'mutant'. It is this idea of difference that is both societally unacceptable yet culturally fascinating and McLellan holds up her grotesque and hybridised animals for inspection in the same manner as one would inspect a museum oddity.

McLellan lives and works in Auckland. She lectures in printmaking and is currently the Programme Leader for the Bachelor of Visual Arts degree at Auckland University's Manukau School of Visual Arts. McLellan's work has been exhibited as far afield as France, Canada, Spain and Bulgaria and she continues to produce work from her Auckland studio.

Ex famillia muris II 

                                          Acrylic & screenprint on board , 500mm x 500mm 

Counting your chickens before 

                                         Screenprint & acrylic on board , 900mm x 900mm 

Emma Mclellan artwork is so exquisite it's captivating I was so surprise once I saw her artwork on the slideshow that she showed to our class made me focus more about screen print. I love the background it's enthralling i really like the vintage patterns . It's really creative using the animals and adding a different looking wings onto the chickens. I find her artwork really interesting you can see it in books and animation movie's. The counting your chickens before screen print is enticing the way she fade's the chicken on the screen print. Her screen print makes me want to learn more about screen print also learn more technique with screen printing. It's really clever of her repeating the patterns and the chickens onto the screen print it makes it so interesting to look at it also showing us it's telling a story behind this artwork. It's interesting how screen prints works my first time doing screen prints was in intermediate screen printings on bags also clothes but we didn't learn that much techniques about screen prints here in M.I.T that's why i love M.I.T you learn so much things about art and enjoy designing and seeing other students works give's you more idea's.