EtchingMemberPrintmaking

Jenny McCabe

posted by POP Members October 7, 2020

Printmaker Jenny McCabe works from her own studio and at Iron Press Printmaking in Lancaster; a community print studio where she is also a technician and teacher. She mainly practices metal plate etching, and enjoys the process with all its breakable restrictions and rules. Jenny has been an artist for over 20 years, and studied fine art and printmaking at university while bringing up her young family. The printmaker regularly undertakes public arts projects which allow her to work with the general public to create and display artworks in unusual settings.

Jenny’s work is inspired by birds and wildlife; “the technical challenge of turning a piece of metal into a piece of art is driving my work” describes the artist. Drawing from memory and photographs, Jenny aims to breath life into the metal feathers of the birds she illustrates using decisive, quick, and energised mark-making. She always print small editions of each piece; “mainly because my restless brain is on to the next piece so fast“. Jenny is currently building up a body of work based around garden birds, celebrating the joyful bounty of British-bird life.

Jenny layers up multiple elements to create one larger print; she uses aluminium plates that she etches with copper sulphate, creates her aquatints using enamel spray, and cuts out her plates by hand using a jewellery saw. “My process is very fast and I’m excited by the reveal moments that both the etching and printing process allow” states Jenny.

The printmaker aims to teach more printmaking courses to share her love of creativity with other people. She will be exhibiting at Printfest 2021 in Ulverston (delayed due to Covid), and is working on a new body of work ready to share for then. Jenny concludes; “The learning never ends and I need to keep making work and pushing processes to see what happens“.

www.jennymccabe.co.uk
@jenny.mccabe

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