Carolyn Riddell currently has an active printmaking and mixed media studio in Guelph, Ontario.

 

Since graduating from Fine Art, Art History and English in 1986 from the University of Guelph, Carolyn has traveled extensively and maintained studios during her research time in Europe, Asia, Hawaii and the Indian subcontinent. 

 

Her visual explorations resound in printmaking, stitch work and assemblages using ready~made materials.  Prints, wallpaper, weaving, thread work and collected artifacts become Carolyn’s thoroughfares: possibilities for recollection, affirmations of the handmade and the manifestation of personal stories.

 

In the act of printmaking, one uses a wide variety of processes to affect the printing ‘plate’.  The physical acts of pressure, pulling or peeling transfers an inked ‘matrix’ (in this show, the woodblock) onto another surface, most commonly, paper. These works are on Somerset Satin and cream 100% cotton rag paper.

 

Carolyn’s suite of woodblock prints uses configured scraps of kiln dried pine, integrated with carved Indian bulbul and shisham wood. The Chine Collé process adds a nuanced layer to the circular images which are reminiscent of mandalas, parasols, kaleidoscopes and gardens. The blocks are perforated, subsequently layered with watercolour and/or oil based ink. The constructed wood ‘plates’ suggest saw blades, a kind of referential mirroring, a beginning and ending, encased. 

 

The woodblock is not just a matrix to receive ink and a vehicle from which to pull a print but a significant object in its own right. 

 

Printmaking allows for duplication, multiplication and exponential variations on themes and ideas. For her, it is an open and constantly unfolding process.