by brian d hodgson
Etching
h: 34 w: 38 d: 1 (cms).
The etching plate for "Allt nan Uamh" was drawn in a beautiful and remote location in Assynt, where a stream cascades off a mountainside to fall on a nest of egg-like rocks and disappears below ground. In spate the whole area becomes a torrent flowing down the glen and is joined by another spring – it is a complex area of underground rivers and caves. The place feels timeless and the centre of it all, which I think it once was to some people: “Allt nan Uamh” translates as ‘Stream of the Caves’, referring to the nearby ‘Bone Caves’ where animal bones and human burial remains have been found. Drawn on a grounded copper plate entirely on location over many years, returning to be here has become a ritual, and it continues. The plate is ongoing, and only suspended for printing. Self-integration with environments over time, drawing, taking photographs, and the erosive processes I use, together produce artefacts and artworks that consider the meaning of an individual's actions and their finite time and space, within the vastness of existence.
£450
£270 (Unframed.)
Please Note: Not all the originals are for sale. Please contact wildspace@johnmuirtrust.org to be put in touch with the artist. Prices may vary from those listed online.
by brian d hodgson
Grounded copper plate, immersed in Atlantic sea storm, etched in acid, displayed on etched and seawater-patinated copper base plate
h: 45 w: 170 d: 100 (cms).
“Atlantic-Formed Sea Plate” was originally planned as a large-scale printing plate coated with a beeswax ‘ground’ and marked by the action of the sea off the coast of Coigach, North-West Scotland; during its 12-hour sea submersion (while chained to the shore), the above plan was subverted by the intervention of an Atlantic storm. When the plate was recovered the next morning, it had turned into an artefact manifested from nature being powerful enough to overwhelm human intention. I then took the plate that was now twisted permanently into its present form, and etched it in acid. I also made a base plate for this piece, photo-etched using an image of the rocks upon which it was dashed. Through the actual sea submersion of this plate on location, I exposed it to erosion, attrition and corrasion - like the Coigach coastline, itself in an ongoing state of change. Marks were made on the ground by attrition from the rocks, and later ‘bitten’ into the plate by acid etching. The ritual of putting etching plates in rough seas, whilst being an exhilarating act, is also one of risk, carrying a real possibility of loss or even transmutation... The acid etching process seems to compress time. The works are often ongoing: though suspended for periods of time, they are not permanently arrested in their capacity for further transformation. “Atlantic-Formed Sea Plate” and its base plate are subject to change from environmental factors such as oxidisation and moisture.
£5000
Please Note: Not all the originals are for sale. Please contact wildspace@johnmuirtrust.org to be put in touch with the artist. Prices may vary from those listed online.