Shona Branigan
I have always loved trees.
I began wood engraving a few years ago and really enjoyed it.
I developed my skills and shared my love of this form of relief printing by volunteering in the Press room at Cherryburn the NT museum to Thomas Bewick, the world renowned Wood engraver and naturalist. I was lucky to be able to demonstrate wood engraving on Further Tales from Northumberland with Robson Green, and on Flog it with Paul Martin.
In 2017 I discovered wood prints and the work of Bryan Nash Gill. I was hooked.
In December 2018 I was featured on BBC Countryfile preparing and Printing a piece of Durham oak
In August 2019 I moved to Grizedale forest, Cumbria to live and work. I now have a full time studio in Grizedale.
With wood engraving I use small tools and cut across the grain. With woodcuts I work along the grain and create lines and texture by scratching, scraping as well as cutting. With wood printing I sand the wood smooth then use a blow torch to burn away softer wood to create a raised surface. The wood is then inked and printed by hand burnishing with a bone folder.
It is with wood printing specifically that my fascination with trees and their lives in the landscape is expressed and this is what drives my work.
I use my relief printing skills to reveal the mysterious details and shapes of pieces of Burr and also full tree rounds either still rooted in the ground and decaying, or recently fallen or cut. I reference its GPS position so that it’s possible to visit. With ancient trees this feels like a pilgrimage.
There is a sense of anatomy from the prints but also of looking down onto a landscape itself. The patterns which mimic water, smoke, chaos, and galaxies show the correspondence of all life.
I hope to be able to print some pieces from the Ash tree, and once made into a printable surface the pieces would be available to the schools so that everyone can have-a-go at hand burnishing the wood itself.
I will photograph and video the process of turning the wood into a printable surface and also the printing process itself and this will be featured in a blog about the project, and the ash tree on my web site. From the information in the blog it would be possible for others to then have-a- go and create their own printable wood and wood prints.
