Review: Australian Print Triennial 2018

Australian Print Triennial 2018, Mildura

31st Oct – 4th Nov 2018

“The Australian Print Triennial is a major international art event spearheaded by The Art Vault that will bring together artists, academics, arts ambassadors and practising printmakers from Australia and overseas to engage in a celebration of art printmaking and its significance in modern Australia’s Art’s culture.” To read more of Robyn Archers forward for the event click here 

This 2018 world-class event ran over five days. The first 2.5 days comprised of Community Workshops, Artist workshops, Presentations and Demonstrations. A fabulous Meet and Greet at Stefanos Café, one of the event sponsors, kicked off one of three opening launches in venues on Deakin St, the Young Emerging Artists Exhibition, Exhibition by La Trobe students from Mungo, and the Exhibition of Indigenous works. Congratulation to all the artists who had prints showing in these exhibitions including Hannah Caprice, Lauren Carter, Annalise Mayer, and Olivia Wilson who’s work I thoroughly enjoyed hanging in the Young Emerging Artists Exhibition.

Olivia Wilson, Lauren Carter, Annalise Mayer Young Emerging Artists Exhibition

Hannah Caprice at the Young Emerging Artists Exhibition. Photo sourced from Instagram hannah.capice

I attended a Mokulito workshop facilitated by Barbie Kjar along with other printmaking friends, Catherine Pilgrim, Julie Holmes, and Cat Rogers to name a few. It was a lovely introduction to the APT and a great opportunity to get to know other APT registrants. I found the Mokulito process to be very immediate, we used a drawing approach to mark making and had our plates prepped, drawn and gummed within a 3hr session. The printing went well for everyone on day two, each creating a small edition of three prints. I’m looking forward to spending more time exploring this process in my studio, I can see how the immediacy of the process will compliment my printmaking practice.

Drawing along the Murray River

Julie Holmes, Barbie Kjar & Catherine Pilgrim - Mokulito Workshop

Mokulito Prints

From midday Friday 2nd of Nov – midday Sunday 4th Nov the events were held at the Mildura Arts Centre (MAC) except for the Triennial Dinner, an exquisite dining experience held at Ampelon Gardens, featuring local foods and wines accompanied by singer Nicky Crayson and her group.

A highlight, among many, was the Opening Keynote by Robyn Archer AO, singer, writer, Artistic Director and public advocate for the arts - The Tenth Mildura Art Vault Address: Do We Care About Craft? Robyn spoke with such passion that I was left feeling inspired, and in total awe of this incredible woman, not to mention that I was covered in goose bumps. To read Robyn Archer’s Opening Keynote click here 

It was lovely to see Ron McBurnie up on the stage flying the flag for Townsville printmakers. He gave a short presentation on The Process (psychological and physical) that he goes through to making his prints, and he also took part in numerous discussion panels throughout the whole event.

Ron McBurnie, Mark Dustin, Michael Kempson, Emeritus Professor Sasha Grishin, Wendy Murray, Jazmina Cininas & Simon Cooper

The Australian Print Triennial Prize winners were announced by the judges, Emeritus Professor Sasha Grishin and Akky van Ogtrop President of the Print Council of Australia. Congratulations to all the entrants and prize winners!    Click here to read of the winners.

Center Print: Janet Parker-Smith

Wendy Murray, Joshua Season, and Rona Green gave engaging, informative and humorous short talks on How do you get seen as a printmaker? I particularly loved Wendy Murray’s subliminal marketing campaign to be seen throughout the event, she handed out stickers that fitted into the back of our lanyard name tags hanging around our necks. Either due to the weight or its size, all our lanyard tags were facing backward with her sticker shinning through. Brilliant! Rona Green generously gave out packs of goodies during her talk containing book marks, temporary tattoos, badges, fridge magnets and a catalogue, including an arsenal of easy to do marketing tips for all printmaking artists.

Press Gang Original Reproductions Handbook, Wendy Murray sticker, and Rona Green Tats and Benigo Art Gallery touring exhibition catalogue

The event closed with the Long Lunch on the banks of the Murray River with food by Steffano de Pieri and Ryan Casey, this was for all the registrants, VIP guests, volunteers and event partners. In addition, we were entertained by a band called the Press Gang and found ourselves laughing uncontrollably and singing along with the band to humorous and witty parodies written by Jazmina Cininas to well know rock songs. The Press Gang gave out hand stitched limited edition of 40 original lyrics handbooks to sing along to. The Press Gang comprised of Adrian Kellett on drums, Julie Forrester on vocals, Martin King on lead guitar and vocals, Graeme Drendel on lead guitar and vocals, and Jazmina Cininas on vocals and wrote the original lyrics to all the songs. GOLD! You can download a pdf file of the booklet and lyrics by clicking here 

I am incredibly grateful and thankful for the amazing hard work by all the staff at the Art Vault, the sponsors and everyone who attended. I can’t wait for the next Australian Print Triennial in 2021.