A Vocabulary of Making – Cath Bloomfield

A new show at Black Swan Arts’ Long Gallery by artist Cath Bloomfield features collagraph and collaged prints inspired by the human form and landscape.

Cath Bloomfield explores colour, texture and narrative using the medium of collagraph and collage. Utilising textured and contrasting materials, she layers and constructs collagraph boards and stencils for printing. She believes that ‘Deep in the making something hidden is released through the process of construction.’ Working intuitively, and responding in the moment, she overlays or collages several plates to create relief. As a result, the original collagraph plate becomes a textural object, layered with the memory of use.

Inspired by landscape and the human figure, Cath utilises sculptural moments in her work as a visual exploration of internal ideas. She says, ‘What cannot be spoken with words is addressed through the making.’ The armoured female figures that feature in ‘A Vocabulary of Making Revealed’ are a call from the abstract, and the abstract shapes are a response. When presented together, the pieces engage in a conversation, sometimes in agreement and sometimes not.

Cath says: ‘I am an experimental artist. The process of my practice allows my work to evolve. Responding to the surrounding themes in my life, I want to question the formal presentation of two-dimensional work in the gallery space. Giving free rein to ideas often results in new and surprising directions. Print is a varied feast, and I revel in the ongoing journey – wherever this might take me.’