Transform

Tara Dean

Arthur

(2014, screen print) The view from the top window at home looks straight onto a brick wall and another building… Look to the left an ever-changing view of the Clwydian Hills and the magnificent Vale of Clwyd. It is a lucky spot. Moel Arthur proudly patterned rises into sight. This piece was produced as a part of experiments into achieving a smoother paper surface when making handmade paper, during a residency at Ruthin Craft Centre in 2016. It is around the size of a postcard.

Warm Trees

(2021, screen print with watercolour drawings) Made as part of a submission for the Climate Change exhibition at the Mid Wales Arts Centre, 2021. The strong paper cut stencils in the background push the delicate scene where the trees are clinging desperately to the surrounding land that is slowly changing and getting hotter… The hills behind help to redefine the trees like two signs on the horizon and then the windmills almost marching over the brow of the hill.

Tree Bubble

(2020, screen print with watercolour drawings) Tree Bubble is how I think we might find our trees in a few years… maybe our future landscapes? To protect trees from our unpredictable weather patterns, they are exhibited perhaps behind glass bubbles. (How will they pollinate and grow? Perhaps these bubbles will be lifted at certain times of the year but as our seasons change will it become more difficult to know the timings for opening and letting the seeds flow on?) The land behind is flat and projects a yellow glow as it blends across the blue sky which is slowly disappearing upwards.

Recycled Drawing

(2021, screen print transfer) A print of a printed collage and drawing is screen printed onto handmade paper. The lines are a fragile and struggle to hold their mark but on closer investigation they convey clearly how lonely and wispy the tree is, perching on the hillside. Hoping that its roots will hold it there, for now, as it refreshes itself. ‘Feeling the Pressure’ was the theme of an open exhibition on Climate Change at Rhyl Library and Art Gallery that I took part in 2012. Recycled Drawing and these other images shared here explore the pressure that natural spaces are under. Are we listening to the land?

Pebble Lines

(2016, screen print) Holding patterns in hands, moving pebbles around hands. Reminders of trips and adventures. Creating thoughts of escapes and the good feelings that bubble up inside when playing with them in my pocket. Pebble Lines is a very small piece, half the size of a postcard perhaps. Its lines and how they are printed together could describe a hillside, the Clwydian Hills? Together creating a rhythm of natural forms.

Amaryllis

(2021 — 2022, drawing and screen print) Developed from an initial drawing in 2020 this print was produced during my residency within the ‘Make Space’ at Ty Pawb in Wrexham, earlier this year. It continues the story of my most recent practice of working with and celebrating the lines found in the natural things I collect. They combine to create new images that are collaged from different parts of my drawings. Almost reshaping how our future land might look in relation to the smaller details that have fallen, picking them up and regenerating these precious ‘finds’ in my linework.

Tara Dean on ‘Transform 2014–2022’

I find an ever-changing view of the Clwydian Hills, and mostly natural environments, inspire my images. Drawing is the most important part of my practice. The screen printing process allows for details found, initial lines and marks, to transform… illustrating patterns and redefining the value of linework, making stencils and layering colours — drawing with the screens. Handmade paper has recently become part of my work again and a way of recycling the paper stencils I use, experimenting with achieving a smoother paper surface for printing on.

Tara Dean

Tara is represented by Casgliad