Catherine Aldred is an illustrator whose interest lies in
capturing the world around her through pen, ink and watercolour drawings and
printmaking methods. She has a particular interest in the architectural
detailing of buildings in both urban and landscape settings, and has exhibited
widely in both group and solo shows. Catherine also works to commission, and her
illustrations have featured in a wide variety of publications including Homes
and Gardens, Artists and Illustrators, Cheshire Life and Yorkshire Life
magazines…
Exhibition curator
Si Smith caught up with Catherine to chat about living in Leeds, Henry Moore’s
Elbow, and Japanese Gocco…
Catherine: Thank you. That's right, I have an exhibition at Seven Artspace in Chapel Allerton which runs until the end of March. It's a display of some of my pen and ink architectural illustrations that were commissioned by the New Arcadian Press for their limited edition New Arcadian Journal (I have been illustrating for the Journal for about the past 15 years), also some private commissions of watercolour and ink architectural drawings, and some limited edition Gocco prints - 13 pieces of work in all.
Si: It’s a nice little show in a good venue – I’d
recommend that folks catch it while it’s there :) Meanwhile, you've
been in Leeds for a while now - can you tell us a bit about what brought you to
the city? And maybe also what's kept you here... :-)
Catherine: Yes, well I am a
Yorkshire lass. I was born in Mirfield and moved to Headingley when I was two,
and then left Leeds for my art degree in London. I did my Foundation Art
& Design course at Jacob Kramer (Leeds College of Art) as it was then
called, and then I studied Illustration at Camberwell School of Art for my
degree. I stayed in London for a few years and
managed to survive, just about, on freelance commissioned illustration
work and part-time jobs. I returned to Yorkshire in the early 1990's
during one of the many recessions we've had, because I was unable to find work
in London following redundancy. It was very tough, and I remember competing for
very basic jobs with people who were much more qualified than I was at that
time. I couldn't afford to pay my rent unfortunately. I returned to Yorkshire
because I was offered a job in a commercial gallery in Bradford, and that's how
I entered the gallery world. I have stayed in Leeds ever since, because of
work; I work at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, and because I met my
partner (Danny) in Leeds, and we have settled here, in Chapel Allerton,
and we now have three children!
Si: I'm glad that
you mentioned your day job, because I’m curious to find out a bit more about
the work that you do at the HMI, and whether that informs or influences the
work that you make...
Catherine: My work at the
Henry Moore Institute doesn't really inform or influence the work I make, well
I'm not aware that it does.
I am the Operations Manager at the Institute, which is quite a
full-on and wide-ranging role. I look after the building, the front of house
staff, set and manage budgets, H&S, HR, manage projects big and major, some
external projects, security, some of the training etc - all the things that
keep us going basically. I also deputise for the Head from time to
time. It's creative in that I have a lot of autonomy, I pretty much
manage my own working day, and I work with creative people in a
creative environment. I think I approach problem solving in quite a creative
way; a lot of my job involves trouble-shooting.
Last November, I organised the build of the new plinth and
the return of Moore's Reclining Woman: Elbow, outside the entrance to
the art gallery. That was quite a creative and rewarding project,
if quite complex at times. Also, recently I helped a couple of
colleagues source some rather unusual supplies for a series of events
we've been holding, which was a bit different from the norm. I
would also add that I have absorbed a lot of knowledge about sculptors,
sculpture and sculptural methods over the years, but I am by no means
an expert.
Catherine: Thank you, well, a
bit of both really. I must say I prefer to draw from life, because once you get
into the zone of concentration you begin to notice things and develop a
relationship with a place that you wouldn't get from looking at a photograph;
you really get to "know" the building or scene and you will remember
tiny details. You can also include particular objects that otherwise
wouldn't be there, for instance including a particular type of car that
happens to draw up or include a person wearing a specific type of coat. The
drawing also tends to be more spontaneous and fresh. If I am listening to the
radio or music when I am drawing, I find that when I come to look at the
drawing some time later, I can recall what I was listening to when looking
at a particular section of the drawing. When I was a student at
Camberwell I did a lot of reportage sketching and was taught by some really
amazing tutors. I remember visiting the London Docklands when Canary Wharf was
beginning to be built and seeing all the cranes and the sky scrapers going up,
and visiting historic landmarks like Apsley House in Marble Arch and drawing
all the ornate detail in the rooms and studying the perspective. When you draw
from a photograph you only have the one viewpoint and so can't find your own
unique composition. I am always aware of composition when I start a drawing;
how the drawing is going to sit on the page and the balance of it and what to
bring to the forefront to create a sense of depth and what to push back into
the background. I like to be true to what I have seen, but I also use artistic
license from time to time especially if I am drawing to a particular format which
means I have to somehow fit all the elements into quite a small space. Even if
I am using photographs which I would revert to because there wasn't time to
sketch from life or I am asked to draw a building oversees which I can't visit,
I never copy it slavishly, otherwise the drawing becomes a bit heavy.
More importantly though, I think that sense of
you understanding a place really comes through in your drawings. They seem to
not be just about what the place looks like, but what it is like, if that makes
sense? I’m not sure you can get that same connection with a place just using
photographic reference…
Meanwhile, and for anyone who doesn't know (me
included) what's a Gocco print?!
Catherine: Ok, a Gocco print
is a small A5 print made by a Japanese Print Gocco machine. The machine is
battery powered. You have to purchase specially designed bulbs, screens and
inks. You make a "master" or a template, which could be a drawing or
a photocopy; it's vital that your master contains carbon as the image is transferred
onto the screen by the interaction of the light from the bulb and the carbon in
the master. Once your image has been transferred to the screen you then apply
printing ink and away you go. The ink will adhere to your image, be that a line
drawing or an area of block shading. You do this several times if you want to
build up a print comprising of several different colours overlaid on each
other. You can print over 100 prints from one master.
The advantage is that as the machine is so small you can do this at
your kitchen table. The disadvantage is that because of its size you can't
really go any larger than A5, and if you try, it becomes quite difficult to
register your paper to the screen, as the paper sits on an A5 sized bed. The
supplies are also expensive as Print Gocco machines are no longer made and so
the supplies are in demand. I like using it because, the effect I achieve is
similar to a screen print and also to a lithographic print, which is a print
technique I particularly love but one which is not that readily available in
most print studios. I think the intention with Gocco is that your end result
should be a very graphic block colour or line image, but I have experimented
with trying to produce more of a "wash" background, more akin to the
effect you would achieve with stone lithography. I plan to experiment more with
Gocco printing and would like to try my hand at prints with several colours,
with a strong line laid over the top holding the image all together.
Si: So Catherine, one last question. What
next, have you anything in the pipeline..?
You can see
Catherine’s Gocco prints and drawings in Seven Arts until March 31st.
Alternatively you could visit her website - or her blog
And you can buy
Catherine’s prints in Chirpy’s in Chapel Allerton.
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