Scratching the surface

Oudejans is this month’s featured artist at the Rothwell Gallery on Montreal Road. Her exhibit, which will be displayed at the gallery until Saturday Nov. 28, features a series of etchings.

An artist creates an etching by adding an acid resistant wax to a metal plate. Next, they scratch a design into the wax and dip the plate into a bath of acid. The acid eats away at the exposed parts of the plate and leaves a design. The artist then fills in the new scratches with ink and takes the plate to a special printing press. The paper picks up the design from the inked lines and creates a unique imprint at the end. Etchings are often created in batches of limited editions.

Oudejans’ display at the Rothwell Gallery is her first solo exhibit. “I’m very excited about it,” she says.

She first started etching seriously four years ago when she moved to Ottawa from the Netherlands. She learned the technique when she took courses at the Ottawa School of Art. “The public needs to be educated in this process of art,” says Rehana Mufti, the owner of the Rothwell Gallery.

Mufti added that she chose to highlight Oudejans’ work because she is always looking for “new and exciting artists.”

Oudejans says she enjoys etchings because they combine both technical and artistic skills. In that way the art form is similar to photography, a medium Oudejans also practices.

The artist has incorporated nature into a lot of her art on display at the gallery. One piece, for example, features an imprint of a leaf. Another etching shows the growth rings from a tree trunk.

She says she is happy if she gets to introduce the unusual technique to people who have never heard of etchings before. -- By Jonathan Migneault