T A M A R I N D   I N S T I T U T E 

finally some photos ...!

Here we are at the studio at the amazing Tamarind Institute where the wonderful and weird world of Lithography rules ...

The Tamarind Institute takes eight students from around the world per year for a one year intensive Lithography course and out of the 8 students, one student is picked to stay for another year working with Bill as his printmaker assistant.  The students stayed longer this year in order to help print the work of the Landmark Artists. Because of space restrictions and editioning deadlines the artists who came to Yirrkala were divided into two separate 2 week blocks - the first being us - Djirrirra, Marie-Josette, Dhanyi and Jewel and then Marie, Chris and Alma arrived as we were leaving to start their two week residency ...

Lithography is crazy, but great - I don't really understand it still !  Basically you get a big block of stone and paint onto the surface with special greasy mediums (its all about reticulation apparently) - the grease acts as a resist - you etch it -  ink it up and print it using water and oil (totally illogical!) and then once you are finished you grind the stone - like a millimetre - and its ready to go again. The stones weigh about a ton each so a forklift is needed to move them around ... but you do get a beautiful result - you can get beautiful textures and with the ink beautiful solid bright colours ... 

this is Maureen grinding the stone - 

this is Adrian and Kate moving a stone using a forklift and muscle power !

here is Djirrirra painting onto the stone

some details of the stone

massive roller !

Marie Josette and Djirrirra painting the stone

Adrian and Kate - our assigned students talking about it 

inking up

colour palette

Kelly - Bill's assistant 

This is Dixie - Steve's daughter - from Tiwi Islands - who kept me amused 

Dhanyi - 71/2 months pregnant !

Bill, master lithographer at Tamarind - inking up a small stone by Djirrirra

The lovely Jewel 

her work

her working !

Steve - doing something of his own ...

Vera - Bill's wife - checkin gout the proofs with a student

At the end - last day - there was a signing party !

The students worked so so hard in order to get the artists working, and then the printed all three editions in time for us to take them back to Australia with us - a huge amount of work !  We went to the studio every day for the first week as the artists made the stones and in the second while the editioning happened, we got to go do a little sightseeing or play table tennis in the courtyard and basically relax - eat a lot of food !  or go shopping at the hideous Walmart which was across the road from our hotel ...