Image: Christine UPTON
Pelican at Sunset
Relief Block, Framed
ed. 5/50
Gallery Shop
1—30 September 2024
Step into the world of nature as envisioned by renowned local Master Lino Block Printmaker, Christine Upton. This September, the Gallery Shop showcases a collection of intricate relief block prints that evoke cherished memories of family experiences. Discover the beauty of local and coastal landscapes, along with the native birds and flowers that inhabit them, all captured through Christine’s expert painting and printmaking techniques.
Christine’s artwork ranges from abstract to representational, focusing on the exploration of patterns through lines, colours, and printing techniques. The subjects she explores are deeply connected to her own world, reflecting her social, personal, and visual experiences and observations. Christine explains, “the inspiration for the compositions I create have come from the areas and communities I have lived in. There has always been an underlying purpose behind my work: sometimes revealed, sometimes not. Looking back on a lifetime of work it could be safely said that I have an obsession with birds, native plants, patterns and circles.”
Over the past 30 years, her artwork has evolved through the exploration of creating lino block prints using everyday materials and without a printing press. Construction sites, hospital and school renovations, and storerooms at flooring shops have all provided her with inexpensive or free materials for creating what she calls lino blocks. Many of her larger prints are made using various types of shoes to achieve different effects, while others are created through pressure applied by fingers, the sides of the hand, or palms, resulting in unique and captivating print effects.
Christine has exhibited in many solo and group shows nationally, including Three Storylines at Benalla Art Gallery in 2018, and more recently Printed Habitat at Wangaratta Art Gallery in 2023, and is currently showing Outside the Box at Hyphen Wodonga Library Gallery until 6 October 2024.
The artworks featured in Memory Triggers are all original and handcrafted by Christine. The relief prints are hand printed from her hand-carved vinyl blocks. All framed artworks are custom framed.
All works in the Gallery Shop are available for purchase from Benalla Art Gallery, or by contacting the Gallery on: T 03 5760 2619 or gallery@benalla.vic.gov.au