Upcoming Exhibition
PRINT EXHIBITION
David MacWilliam
Shinsuke Minegishi
February 2 to 23, 2022
Tuesday to Saturday
Noon to 5 pm
About Shinsuke Minegishi
Journey
Over the last 5 years, Shinsuke Minegishi has been creating a series of black and white wood engraving prints to illustrated poetry books, written by his mother, Ryoko Minegishi. These wood engraving prints were digitally modified and collaged and made into multimedia colour prints.
Minegishi experienced tragedy with the recent loss of his sister, mother and father. This was followed by a period of deep reflection that led to the creation of this body of multimedia print work.
Shinsuke Minegishi was born (1970) and raised in Tokyo, Japan. In 1993, he moved to Vancouver, Canada, to attend Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where he currently works as a studio technician.
Shinsuke Minegishi is an active multiple award-winning print and book media artist. His work is included in solo, group, and adjudicated exhibitions annually. His prints and books can be found in numerous public collections throughout the world.
About David MacWilliam
Mathematical Knot Woodcuts
Last year, I read an article about Lisa Piccirillo, a mathematician who has recently solved the “Conway Knot” problem. In knot theory, this particular knot with eleven crossings has perplexed mathematicians for a century. Piccirillo’s background in low- dimensional topology helped her quickly solve it. Mathematics, like art is inherently an abstract, conceptual subject and sometimes ideas from outside a discipline help to trigger new approaches to a problem. Seeing a drawing of the Conway Knot on first glance had an uncanny likeness to some looping drawings I had been making and led me to begin a new series of artworks.
The knots I chose to draw are specific in how they are formed – one end passing over another and in a prescribed order. Drawing their overlapping and seemingly endless loops had a repetitive, meditative quality. Printmaking, with its inherent capacity to repeat an image (and with variations) seemed like an obvious choice of medium for the finished work. I love the history and materiality of woodcut, most often referencing the book. For this series, I wanted to keep the prints modest in scale, nothing larger that 11 x 14” – in keeping with that history.
I approached Mark Johnsen and Sara-Jeanne Bourget at Patio Press editions and we worked together to produce a suite of prints based on eight different laser cut knot drawings on fir and mahogany blocks, in a varied edition of one and two colours each.
In addition to a big thanks to Patio Press, I want to extend my appreciation MakerLabs in East Vancouver for etching the wood and to Matthis Grunsky who prepared the digital files.
David MacWilliam is an artist and curator living in Vancouver. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions over the past forty years in cities such as Paris, Barcelona, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. He studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the University of the Arts London. MacWilliam is a Professor Emeritus in the Audain Faculty of Art at Emily Carr University of Art + Design where he taught from 1988 to 2017.
