New exhibit brings printmaking to life

Acid Girls – the Visual Arts Centre Orléans’ (VACO) current exhibit – features the printmaking work of local artists Monika Ucan, Virginia Sheehan and Rozemarijn Oudejans, explains VACO programming director Luis Trejo.

The motivation, he continues, "was to show (female artists) using a technique that is unusual here in Ottawa. It was a good opportunity to show something different."

The east-end show – which runs until Dec. 19, and again during the first few weeks of January; its name a play on the chemical compound often used in printmaking – is hosting approximately 20 different pieces, Trejo says, of varying sizes and subject matters. And even though all three artists use the same medium, it's the unique ways they employ different techniques – and the individual artistic backgrounds that inform them – that's interesting, he adds.

One of the featured artists uses linocuts without ink, Trejo explains as an example, instead relying on depressions and lines to create their piece. "The effect is very nice, because it looks totally white until you look closer," he continues.

As for the decision to showcase strictly female artists, Trejo says he was inspired after seeing a show in Mexico – his native country – years ago and noticing the higher ratio of male-to-female artists being featured, as well as the fact that sometimes galleries are more accommodating to men. "I wanted to have an open space for women," Trejo explains, also pointing to VACO's last two exhibits boasting only male artists.

Though printmaking "is a very physical type of art" – leading some to believe it is male-dominated – and one historically used only by men as a “subcategory; a practice run” medium, Sheehan says the playing field is more even than ever, with printmaking classes often boasting a higher number of women. "It's interesting to see what themes are used" in an all-female exhibit, she continues, with Acid Girls featuring everything from nature to life and death in Mexican culture, as well as techniques ranging from etchings to linocuts.

Sheenan, who began printmaking as a hobby four years ago after taking a class at the Ottawa School of Art, joined the VACO exhibit after being recruited by Trejo in the wake of a downtown show. "I just liked the process; I liked all the different steps," she recounts of discovering the medium, currently spending at least four hours a week on printmaking while also dabbling into painting.

An archaeologist by profession, Sheenan says her day job in some ways informs her creative pastime. "I like things, I like objects,” she explains. “I like what they say about us.”

And though Sheenan admits she goes through phases of using different printmaking techniques – including those featured in Acid Girls – the challenge of finding the most appropriate one for the image she wants to create is part of the fun. "I like to challenge myself to new things," she says. "Whenever I get comfortable I like to try another challenge."

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