PRINTMAKER Jo Ernsten

I completed my BA Fine Arts Honors from Western Sydney University in the late 90s and have taught there in tertiary education for twenty years, predominantly in drawing and printmaking.

I have recently moved back to New Zealand, where I was born, to chase a less hectic lifestyle.

My general work practice is project based and employs a range of media from single pieces to large installations. My overarching body of work often plays with ideas about ‘knowing’ and not knowing.

The works here however are a selection of linocuts. I find the carving of lino plates very meditative.  One of my favourite artists – director David Lynch said something along the lines of preferring black and white because colour just gets in the way.  For me the visual excitement lies in the subtilty and repetition of the line work, and through paring the image right down to basic elements – shapes, line and black ink.  I like to play with the way variations of line creates a sense of tones, there’s a kind of magic in that.

The main work for the Open House residency employed multiples in  different configurations of a single lino cut (fist) – exploring how meaning changes through placement (use).