Inspiration to Exhibition

Red apple linoprint 2009

Where do you find inspiration? Even the humble apple can inspire a series of artworks that can then be formatted and exhibited.

In 2009 I was member of a local printmaking cooperative. I loved relief prints, carving into the blocks of lino and inking them up to go through the press. There was a group exhibition that focused on the domestic, so I decided that the apple was going to be my subject.

I inked up the block in three different colours, basic red, yellow and a yellowy green. I made a pear lino bloc to mix it up a bit. I loved those prints - needless to say I didn’t sell any. But that was OK because I folded them into tiny little artist books.

I wanted to create a series of “precious fruit” books so each of these prints had a story attached to them. It was so much fun making them that I included this little suite of books in my first ever international artist book exhibition. And they sold! So somewhere in the USA a person has read my story about the Jonathon, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples and the Pear.

When you can create a series from a simple kitchen table inspiration, the stories are revealed to you as you create. Suddenly you are time travelling back to your childhood and biting into a crisp Jonathon apple ( I don’t think they even exist anymore).

I wrapped these precious fruit books in tissue paper like the paper that the green grocer used to wrap around the apples. One by one, these stories lead you deeper into your creative process and suggest possible exhibition opportunities.

These small poems were attached to the inside of each of the boxes which held the folded precious fruit books.