I am Here is an exhibition of new work developed by Phoebe Dick focuses on print. Dick has used the medium not only as a tool for production and expression but also as a means through which she can present and explore “non-print” elements of her practice. Her awareness of and exploration into the historical context of print; it’s role in propoganda and it’s function as a tool for communication prompted the artist to seek: What is it that I have to say? What is my message? And why should anyone listen anyway?
I am here is an illustrated catalogue of Dicks explorations of her practice, her physical reality, and of print as a medium through which the results of such explorations might be broadcast. In Salvaged Woodblock Prints Dick uses one side of a sheet of MDF taken from a skip in Manorhamilton to create an edition of sequential woodblock prints. These show a skip in front of an archway, it’s contents changing throughout the series. The other side of the MDF plate was then used to create a separate reductive woodblock print of a view of rolling green hills seen through the archway behind the skip. In this piece the artists percieved and projected realities are conveyed through the materials and processes used as well as the narrative presented through the visual content. This type of layering recurs in more subtle forms throughout the exhibition. These works retain a simple superficial beauty as standalone works. Seen alongside related works, created over the course of Dick's residency, a web of connections unifies the works and rewards the observant viewer.
One wall in the exhibition is dedicated to explaining traditional print processes. Neat sample prints of speechless speech bubbles hover above their associated plates, tools and materials. Questioning the validity of print as a tool for communication, for I am Here Dick has created etched QR codes (with the encrypted message Everything’s fine), slogan bearing t-shirts, and red-button badges which are given away throughout the exhibition, symbols of the importance of the reciever of the artists communication, and of the power of each of us as individuals and role models. At the opening Dick references M.C. Escher’s comments on the parallels between printmakers and troubadours as communicators and then performs a few of her songs.
Rounding off this trip through print and communication in it’s various guises was a closing party where selected works from I am Here were auctioned off, a nod to the inherent commerciality of print and a neat extension of Dicks eagerness to share her message. Communicating with her audience directly, prior to the auction, the message Dick chose to repeat to those present was their importance, the You are Integral which appeared on the promotional material.
Where exactly Dick is becomes familiar and accesible to everyone through the fictionalisation of reality. Smuggling her thoughts into the public realm in the form of beautiful prints and poetic phrases means receiving her message is to receive also some of the artists joy invested in her work.
Phoebe Dick is from and currently based in North-West Ireland. After spending two years in Europe she returned to Ireland in 2010 and since then has exhibited in a number of group exhibitions and completed residencies at The Custom House, Westport, The Good Hatchery, Offaly, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Monaghan. Her first collection of poetry was shortlisted for The Patrick Kavanagh poetry prize and she was also shortlisted for the Y-Tunes songwriting competition in 2011. In January 2012 she performed her piece “Like a Marble Rolled”, a contemporary epic poem illustrated with hand drawn acetate slides, in Westport, Mayo. She has a B.A. in Fine Art Media from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin which incorporated a six month Printmaking Erasmus in Poznan, Poland, and also has a FAS certificate in basic electronics. A self taught musician and songwriter, this facet of her creativity is becoming an increasing presence within her visual practice. Dick’s residency and upcoming exhibition represents her first public interface in an ongoing involvement with the Leitrim Sculpture Centre focusing primarily on developing the potential of the Print and Digital Media Facilities at the centre.
More Exhibitions
See all