Spring Newsletter 2024

Mail Order Corals, hard ground etching, 2023–2024.

Well, you can't complain that I overwhelm you with emails! Truly, I am very sorry for the almost two-year break in this newsletter. As I logged in today, I found my half-finished autumn 2022 newsletter waiting for me... However, I am writing to you today with the good news that the print you see above these letters will be appearing at not one, but two, exhibitions which are both opening tomorrow!

The first of these exhibitions is happening here in Scotland, with the opening of the Royal Scottish Academy's annual exhibition taking place tomorrow evening. The exhibition will then run from 11 May–12 June in Edinburgh at the home of the RSA on The Mound.

The second exhibition, chronologically speaking (because of time zone differences), is my solo exhibition Vivarium which is taking place at Engramme in Québec City, as part of the SSA Engramme Exchange. The Society of Scottish Artists and the gorgeous, printmaking-focused gallery Engramme have been collaborating on this artist exchange project for twelve years now, and I am delighted to be a part of this transatlantic dialogue. The exhibition runs from 10 May–16 June.

Vivarium will include stone lithography and etchings from two series of work, both about our long and ongoing relationship with other living beings. The first series grew out of an interest in botanical collections, hybridisation, and the global transport of plants as commodities, focusing on edible foods, especially citrus. The second series focuses on coral as creatures that we read about, objects that we collect and treasure, as well as the deep sea reefs that live, unbeknown to most of us, off the shores of Scotland and Canada. In the rarefied glass world of the Vivarium we have the opportunity to see not only the plants and animals that are placed inside, but the way in which we have framed them.

While I won't be able to attend either opening, I will be visiting both exhibitions in the next little while (as soon as I can get to them) so I will be sure to send on some photos of the exhibitions in the next newsletter.

What will I be doing instead of travelling to openings? I will be at work at Peacock Visual Arts (sometimes known as Peacock & the Worm) where I have been working as a printmaker for a little over a year now. This has meant working collaboratively on editions with visiting artists, welcoming printmakers from near and far into the workshop, and lots of exciting technician stuff generally. If you are someone who likes taking workshops with me, this is the place to do it, so please get in touch!

Lastly, there is one more place where you can go to see my Mail Order Corals, which is clearly having a moment right now, and that is at Brown's Gallery, a beautiful gallery with locations in Inverness and Tain where I have been showing work for the past couple of years.

Some of my works in the inaugural exhibition of Brown's Gallery in Inverness in August 2022.

Otherwise, things are coming along nicely in my own little studio. It finally feels as though spring may have arrived after a long winter in which I've been busy drawing up a number of stones. I've been working away on an exciting new, and slightly strange, project which I hope to share with you soon!

A moment from the Stranger Domestic Press studio, taken as I worked on three editions of lithographs with the lovely and talented Glasgow artist Lindsey Carr (one edition hangs in the drying rack), from my unsent November 2022 newsletter.

Summer Newsletter 2022

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Hello and welcome to my Summer 2022 newsletter! It has been quite a while and there have been lots of exciting things happening over the past few months. But, before I catch you up on everything, I should say first of all that I am taking part in this year's Hidden Door Festival which is on now and runs until the 18th of June... So there is still a bit of time left for you to come out and see it if you are in Edinburgh!

Installing work at Hidden Door: that means lots of pasting prints on to the wall one-by-one and running up and down tall ladders! A huge thank you to my husband, who not only took this photo but also helped enormously with the installation.

If you aren't familiar with Hidden Door, it is an annual festival of visual art, dance, music, poetry, and theatre which runs each year in abandoned buildings throughout the city of Edinburgh. This year's festival is taking place in the neglected neoclassical splendor of the Old Royal Highschool on Calton Hill, which will soon be redeveloped into a music school.

For Hidden Door I printed again from some of the stones I made last year for 'Our Unfathomable Depths', (and you can now see photos of that exhibition on my website, if you follow the link) and then used the prints to form a completely new installation. In total there were nearly one thousand lithographic prints made for this exhibition, though in the end not quite all of them were needed!

This re-mix of a previous project was a great opportunity to re-think how the work could hold space, and how it could be re-interpreted for a setting that was not a gallery. It was also a chance to have a bit of fun in a space that was divided over different levels!

The stairwell where the prints were installed had beautiful natural light pouring in from a huge, central sky-light. At the top of the stairs the prints are arranged in rows, reminiscent of shelves of specimens, but as the corals continue their way downward into the shadowy areas below the landings, they follow the downward-sloping walls until they land in a heap.

If you would like to see more photos of the whole exhibition, please follow the link to the 'Cabinets of Coral' section of my website.

Another place that you can see some of my work if you are in Edinburgh in the next while, is in the café at Summerhall. Over the past few months they've been exhibiting some lithographs I made on residency in Eichstätt, Germany a few years ago. The prints were part of an exhibition called 'ZitrusFrüchteSterben | The Great Citrus Extinction' which you can read more about by following the link. Best to go and see them in person though, with a coffee and a friend!

Over the past while I've also been working on this etching plate, which is very nearly finished. It's been a long process to make it -- I started at the beginning of the first lockdown! The plate is rather large, but the most time-consuming aspect has been that each tiny coral was drawn in line by line, and then the tones were added entirely through hand-stippling.

Even so, I think I would have finished a while ago, but I keep having to put it aside for other work. One day soon though, I hope to have prints of the plate to share with you!

In the meantime, I've also taken part in a couple of large salon-style exhibitions, and both of them have online components that you can enjoy:

The first of these exhibitions is the Royal Scottish Academy's Annual Exhibition, which included my sculptures 'Moveable Hunger Stone' and 'Shifting Baselines Tool', both of which were made last year. The physical exhibition has just wrapped up, but the online exhibition is still available and it's worth checking out as it is an incredible selection of work by talented artists from all across Scotland.

The other exhibition is a more local one: the Aberdeen Artists Society Annual Exhibition. This was the first in-person show the AAS has had since the pandemic, and even more exciting because it is the first time the the annual exhibition has taken place in the newly-refurbished Aberdeen Art Gallery. I have three pieces in the exhibition: 'Acid, Calcium Carbonate, and the Disappearance of the Unseen', as well as the paintings 'Cavallo Marino' and 'Hippopotamuses of Escobar' The physical exhibition continues until July 3rd for those of you who are nearby, or online for those who are not.

In the coming months I'll be working on some projects that I have underway and can't wait to share with you, and I'll hopefully also be enjoying a nice break too!

Happy midsummer, when it comes!

Winter Newsletter 2021

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Hello from inside a tangle of snowflakes on this wintry afternoon! This autumn has been quite a busy one, so it might be worth grabbing a cup of tea and getting comfortable (well, it's mostly pictures, really).

In mid-November, my exhibition 'Our Unfathomable Depths' opened in Edinburgh as part of Summerhall's COP26 offering of exhibitions. As you may already know from my previous email (or may have deduced from the photos!) the exhibition is focused on coral. More specifically, the exhibition is focused on our relationship to coral from a domestic context.

A few close-ups of the coral object prints from the "reef" of lithographs in the first photo. The images were made using stone lithography which was done on smaller, broken pieces of stone. These printing stones are also on display in the exhibition. The corals that the images were drawn from were either found in books, for sale online, or were drawn from life from actual coral objects.

This meant looking at coral or coral-related objects that we have in our homes, as well as investigating the deep-water coral reefs that live just off the coast of Scotland – though at such depths that not many people are aware of them or the threats they face.

Above: A series of prints about Lophelia pertusa, the most common deep-water reef building coral found in British waters, and around the globe. The series explores the subject of increasingly corrosive waters in the deep ocean as a result of of ocean acidification due to climate change. The skeletons of this type of coral are chemically very similar to the lithographic limestone used to make the prints, so the limestone and the coral react to acidification in a similar way, thus the disappearing image in the prints. A video in the exhibition shows the process of deleting parts of the image on the stone through higher-than-normal concentrations of the acid used in processing images. The stone was printed at various stages throughout this process and the printing stone with the obliterated image is also on display.

I will also be giving an artist talk at Summerhall on Sunday the 12th of December from 5–6pm. Starting at noon on the 12th, there will be an afternoon of talks given by all of the artists exhibiting in the different galleries of Summerhall: Maria McCavana, Studio Imposters, Scott Hunter and lastly myself. Please join us if you can!

A few more photos of the exhibition: 1. Vitrine full of coral and coral-related objects submitted by members of the public to the 'Call Out for Coral' this September. 2. Display case with the lithography stones used to print the works in the exhibition, plus a little video with footage of deep-water corals [Video courtesy of Prof J Murray Roberts (University of Edinburgh). Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 (RRS James Cook cruise 073) sponsored by UK Ocean Acidification programme (NERC, DECC, Defra). Logachev Mounds and Pisces Site – Rockall Bank]. 3. Still from a film depecting the process of printing and destroying an image of Lophelia pertusa (mentioned above). 4. Me on opening night after everyone had gone home. Thank you to all those who came!

This exhibition runs until the 23rd of December at Summerhall in Edinburgh and can be visited Wednesday – Sunday, 12–6pm. More information can be found here: Our Unfathomable Depths - Summerhall, Edinburgh. All prints are for sale and 30% of any sales will be donated to the Marine Conservation Society – a UK-based charity dedicated to protecting our seas, shores and wildlife, and also a member of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition.

'Art of the Possible' inside Glasgow Art Club's beautiful main gallery.

Another COP26 exhibition that I took part in was a group show at Glasgow Art Club. The exhibition shows art made in response to the climate crisis by Glasgow School of Art staff and students and also by Glasgow Art Club members. My work is in the blue display case on the left in the above photo, and there are also more detailed images of it below.

You can find more information about my object in the statement on the website of the Glasgow Art Club: Moveable Hunger Stone and Shifting Baselines Tool - Glasgow Art Club.

A few detail shots of the works in the display case. These objects are small printable sculptures made from lithographic limestone. They are based on 'hunger stones' that can be found in some Central European waterways during periods of extreme drought. The cylindrical stone of 'Shifting Baselines Tool' was intended as an instrument that could be inked up and then rolled along, printing its message wherever necessary. The flat stone is intended as a 'Moveable Hunger Stone' which is small enough to be transported to new locations as our climate continues to change.

This exhibition runs until December 7th at Glasgow Art Club and is open Monday-Sunday 11am–6pm – so there are still a few days left to catch it if you are in Glasgow!

One more image from 'Our Unfathomable Depths' at Summerhall showing an installation of prints made on a fine, transparent paper that moves in relation to the movements of visitors.

Since the exhibitions opened, I've been enjoying a little break after all the excitement and work of the past few months. These short, opalescent, northern winter days are so perfect for reading and drawing and resting. Wishing you a wonderful holiday period and a very happy new year!

Our Unfathomable Depths

Hello!

This is just a very quick update to let you know that my exhibition 'Our Unfathomable Depths' will be opening at Summerhall in Edinburgh on the evening of Thursday the 11th of November from 6pm-9pm. If you would like to attend the opening event please let me know quickly so that I can add you to the guest list.

If you can't make it for the opening, don't worry -- the exhibition runs until the 23rd of December and the galleries are open Wednesdays - Saturdays 12pm-6pm. All the info is here: Our Unfathomable Depths - Summerhall, Edinburgh. I hope to see you there!

Autumn Newsletter

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Hello and welcome to my first-ever newsletter. It's been a busy few months here and I have some exciting news to share -- including something you can take part in, if you like!

After working over the winter to restore and rebuild a lovely old Greig lithography press, I've been settling in to work, drawing up stones and making prints. I've also taken advantage of the summer to work outside when possible. Above you can see an image of me graining some lithography stones outside in the garden. A tip, should you ever need it, is that limestone comes off lettuce with no trouble at all, but does not easily wash off of lemon balm leaves...

I was keen to name the press ('Stranger Domestic Press') and start thinking about how to connect to others through it, but had to step back from that side of things a little, just for the moment, to focus on making work for an upcoming solo exhibition at Summerhall in Edinburgh.

The exhibition is called 'Our Unfathomable Depths' and is focused on how we relate to coral. For me, thinking of coral worked well from a lithographic perspective -- after all it was coral reefs that enclosed shallow seas once located in present-day Bavaria, trapping the sediments that became the Jurassic limestone that we use for lithography today. Since corals often seem far removed from our lives, I looked at some of the ways that they enter a more human space -- as objects, items from prints, creatures living in aquariums, and I spoke with a scientist who is a specialist in the cold water corals that form reefs in the deep seas off the coast of Scotland.

Some works in progress: 1. Images drawn on fragments of broken lithography stones, waiting on the press bed to be printed. 2. A recently printed edition of lithographs for a boxed portfolio of prints made collectively by this year's graduating Master's students in printmaking at Glasgow School of Art and the technicians working there, including me. 3. An old lithography stone with a repeated pattern of Royal Albert Bone China logos on it, which was likely used for decalcomania transfers of images onto ceramics. 4. A work-in-progress shot of a sculpture made from lithographic limestone, before it was smoothed and printable letters added on to it.

CALL FOR CORAL

I'm also hoping to encourage others to think about the coral, living or not, that they come in contact with in their daily lives, and as part of the exhibition I'm asking people to send in any coral or coral-related objects that they have in their homes. The objects will be displayed alongside my work and I will also be organising an event where we can all discuss these objects together. If you would like to participate, you can find all of the information here. (Please send by 30 September.)

The exhibition will be opening on 11 November, having been scheduled around the time of the COP26 conference, and will run until Summerhall closes for the holidays at the end of December. I hope to see some of you there -- and perhaps some of your corals too! -- and I will definitely have photos to share for those of you who can't make it.

Until then, I'll be keeping my nose to the grindstone, as there's still lots to do in the coming weeks!

Coral Call Out

For an upcoming exhibition at Summerhall in Edinburgh, I will be looking at coral from the vantage point of my home in Scotland, and I would like to invite you to do so as well. Though they may seem far removed from our daily lives, corals exist in intimate relationships with us. As part of the exhibition, I am hoping to display corals that we have in our homes so that we can explore why we have them, what we feel about them, and what it says about our relationships with our environment.

If you are interested in taking part, I am asking you to submit any coral – or coral-related – item you have in your home, along with a short description of the item(s). Your item(s) will be displayed as part of the exhibition and then returned to you. I will also be organising a group discussion during the exhibition, either in person or online, where we can discuss these items, their histories, and the way that our stories relate to the broader history of coral.

More information can be found here: Call for Coral!

Introducing Stranger Domestic Press

During this past year when everything changed, I have been, like you perhaps, dreaming and reflecting on what direction to move in and what is possible, given all this uncertainty. I gave my dream a name, despite its fluid and unformed state, and set to work. And so, somewhere, in some way, Stranger Domestic Press was born, even if it is still growing into something tangible.

The heart of Stranger Domestic Press is an actual old lithographic printing press which I am currently restoring and constructing in my home, since homes are where all things happen these days. The press had been neglected for some time before I collected its pieces from the storeroom of a workshop in Glasgow, so getting it back into good order is taking some time. It is big and heavy and was made of cast iron by the D & J Greig Company of Edinburgh during the 1800s.

As well as the press, I have been gathering together inks and basic litho printing materials in the slow and stuttering way that lockdown necessitates. Hunting down old lithography stones has been interesting work. I have so far managed to gather together a few that were buried in the wall of an outbuilding in someone’s garden in England. They are smallish stones, and have weathered decalcomania designs on them that would have been used for transferring onto porcelain at one time.

But these material considerations are only part of the construction of a press, because there is a ‘press’ meaning a machine and then there is the ‘press’ which is the publishing of things and which is, hopefully, a means of communication and building community. How to work in this way from home is a challenge and something which I will be exploring. I am interested in not only making my own work, but in collaborating with others, as well as taking on commissions and publishing projects. If you are reading this and have an idea or a project that we could work together on, please do get in contact so we can discuss it.

In the meantime, I will be posting updates here about the progress of the press as it develops. I will also be starting a mailing list which will mainly be a quarterly newsletter about my work and the press as a way to keep in touch with interested people. Please do sign up using the form in the sidebar (or email me here) if you’d like to keep up to date and learn more.

Culture Declares Emergency

I, Jodi Le Bigre, declare a Climate and Ecological Emergency

I pledge to work with and support our community and local government in tackling this Emergency, and we call on others to do the same.

These are my intentions:

1. I will tell the Truth.

I will communicate with citizens and support them to discover the truth about the Emergency and the changes that are needed.

2. I will take Action.

I pledge to work towards reducing our emissions to net zero* by 2025.

I will challenge policies and actions of local and national governments and their agencies, where we interact with them, that do not help to reduce emissions or consumption levels.

I will actively work to imagine and model ways that my practice can regenerate the planet’s resources.

3. I am committed to Justice

I will do what is possible to enable dialogue and expression amidst our communities about how the Emergency will affect them and the changes that are needed.

I will support demands for more democracy within our civic institutions and government.

I believe that all truth-telling, action and democratic work must be underpinned by a commitment to justice based on intersectional principles*, led by and for marginalised people.

*Net zero means that on balance one's activities are zero emissions, taking into account all possible Greenhouse Gas emissions and actions taken to mitigate or offset those emissions.

*Awareness of how systems of power combine to multiply the impacts on those who are most marginalised in society.

More information about Culture Declares Emergency.