Danielle Creenaune

Australian born artist, Danielle Creenaune, lived and worked in London and Barcelona for 18 years before returning to live in Wollongong Australia in 2019. This experience informs her work which deals with “the intrinsic dialogue between landscape and people, how landscape is perceived through our library of pre-lived experiences and the ways in which this is reflected through the visual language of gesture.”

Creenaune exhibits nationally and internationally and her work has received numerous awards including the René Carcan International Printmaking Award 2016 Belgium, the Corsair Prize for Innovation at Inkmasters Cairns in 2018 and the Manly Artists Book Award 2013. Her lithographs were selected for exhibition in the International Print Triennial Krakow 2015, Biennale Internationale D ́Estampe Contemporaine de Trois- Rivières, Canada 2009 the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition London 2018 and 2019.

She has undertaken artist residencies in remote regions in Spain and Ireland and has been invited Artist/Lecturer at KHiO National Academy of Arts, Oslo Norway and the Facultat de Belles Arts Universidad de Barcelona, Spain.

Creenaune’s work is represented by Australian Galleries Melbourne and Sydney and held in public collections including the National Gallery of Australia and State Library of Victoria. She was awarded Associate Member ARE of the Royal Society of Painter- Printmakers UK in 2021 and completed a Bachelor and a Master of Art at the University of New South Wales Art & Design, Sydney in 1997 majoring in Printmaking.

Tell us about your creative process, what drives your practice?

I feel my process and practice is full of contrasts on many levels. I create observational drawings when in nature and I use this as a way to commit my experience of the place to memory. When back in the studio, these observational drawings are used as a starting point for a new image on the matrix. During the technical stages when the image is being processed on the stone or plate, there’s a feeling of detachment from the image itself and I find this process meditative. I enjoy the tension of trying to create immediate and gestural marks within the confines of traditional printing processes. My practice works across different media, including drawing, artist books, stone lithography, experimental lithography such as mokulito (lithography on wood), woodcut, etching. I often integrate these different print techniques within the one image to create a new visual dynamic.

What is the significance of creating gestural abstractions of landscapes, as opposed to more literal and detailed representations?

For me it’s about experience. I create observational drawings and sketches en plein air as a way of committing that experience and place to memory. In doing this I can choose elements to leave out and in, simplifying my perception. Within an image, I try to achieve a rich and visceral contrast of marks through different drawing tools and approaches to using them, e.g subtle tusche washes combined with dramatic thick paint marker lines. For me there’s little magic in detailed representations, I may as well take a photo. Through my process, the printed image becomes a place to contemplate on its own. 

Printmaking processes, particularly lithography, are riddled with chance and unforeseen errors. How do you combat, or embrace, this in your printmaking practices?

The nature of my imagery means I embrace chance as a part of the process. I think it’s one reason I continue to enjoy printmaking. I like the way the media challenges me and encourages me to explore new ways of working through trial and error. There were many years in my life when living in Barcelona, where I had little experienced guidance around me, so I had to learn and solve problems myself. In that time I learnt a lot of patience and to be curious. The lithographic process requires me to be very intune with the environment and space I’m working in, and has become quite meditative for me. 

Do you have any advice to offer to emerging artists and printmakers?

For me, art making became my companion. If you follow whatever fascinates you, it will prompt you to research, invent, experiment and develop your own perspective. I feel it’s important not to define yourself by one medium, and embrace both new and traditional print techniques. Personally, I have benefited a lot from learning traditional techniques in order to push through and develop a new language. Building a community is important, support your peers and participate in group shows and join artists groups

Are there any female printmakers | artists that influence you?

So many…I find myself drawn to artists that create in media other than printmaking. For me, making prints is more like painting or drawing when I’m at the stage of drawing on the matrix, so a diverse range of artists influence my practice. I am curious about artists’ practice and process just as much as the finished works produced, some include Julie Mehretu, Frankenthaler (especially the woodcuts), Latoya Hobbs, Katherine Jones, Emma Stibbon, Victoria Browne.

I am also inspired by the stories of female master printers such a Tatyana Grossman who founded Universal Limited Art Editions, June Wayne who established Tamarind Institute and Kathan Brown from Crown Point Press, and think about what a legacy they have created, the amazing prints and how many master printers have grown from their endeavours.

Finally, what exciting projects are you working on at the moment?

I am working on a new body of work to exhibit in 2024 but for now I’m working as usual and continuing a series on local waterfalls and the creek in the green belt running through my backyard. It’s been interesting to consider how important natural ecosystems are within our urban environment and the symbiotic relationship between the two. I’m developing some three dimensional works and finishing off an artist book too. I have some group shows in the UK at different galleries coming up in their summer.