Works from a recent wood firing

6 December 2016

Unglazed wood fired clay, fired within the kiln firebox. 100cm long.

Unglazed wood fired clay, bowl clay mixed with pumice.

Unglazed wood fired clay, bowl Coromandel red clay mixed with white raku clay.

Solo exhibition

12 October 2016

My first solo exhibition opening in Napier this Friday.

Pangeaseed Sea Walls, Napier

27 March 2016

I was delighted to be one of the invited artists to take part in the first New Zealand Pangeaseed Sea Walls project www.pangeaseed.org This international project aims to raise awareness of ocean conservation and sustainability by producing street art and murals in selected locations around the world. Here are some images of my wall in progress and the finished mural. Check out some of the amazing murals around Napier at @seawalls_ @pangeaseed

Refugee Raccoon

6 January 2016

My last print of 2015. Myth has it that Hermann Goering ordered the release of raccoons into the German countryside in 1934. What is true is that Germany has a growing problem of an increasing wild raccoon population which is spreading into other areas of Europe. There’s a obvious parallel here with the large number of human refugees seeking asylum in Germany in 2015.

Moving into sculpture

5 November 2015

My first attempts at creating a sculpture in clay. I wanted to see the Japanese catfish and monkey in a three dimensional form. Not yet fired… slowly drying ready for the kiln.

Thanks to John Gisborne for advice on ceramic technique. We have begun some collaborative work –

My drawing onto a piece thrown by John.

Namazu

October 2015

Continuing the Japanese theme, these woodblocks were made for a recent exhibition in Napier. Printed on paper and calico.

Mischief continues…

1 September 2015

Some prints finished in the last week.

Mischief making

16 August 2015

Back from my travels and working on a new series of woodblocks on the theme of Japanese shapeshifting animals.

Handprinting woodblocks on calico

29 May 2015

Large scale prints on paper cause some challenges when it comes to exhibiting and storage. I decided to try a new approach by hand printing a couple of my recent works onto pieces of calico fabric. I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the results and will definitely be exploring this method further.

This woodblock had been tricky to print on paper due to the amount of grain on the sheet of plywood. Printing onto calico produced a more satisfactory result with higher contrast.

Sample Exhibition opening

17 April 2015

I am currently showing my Moby Dick series as part of a group exhibition with some of my fellow graduates. We are at the relatively new Community Arts Napier Gallery on Byron Street, Napier, Hawke’s Bay. On until 8 May – go and have a look if you are in the area.

Proof print and inked woodblock

13 April 2015

Almost finished

12 April  2015

Completing the woodblock

09 April 2015

Shape cut out, drawing completed ..now ready to Start  the process of carving the plywood block

Large woodblock in progress

 3 April 2015

 

Today has been spent drawing the image onto a sheet of plywood, cutting it out with a jigsaw, then  sanding the edges. This work will be part of my contribution to the collective exhibition Sample, to be shown at Community Arts Napier from 17th April.

Fergus

2 April 2015

Fergus, 2015. Mezzotint on paper, Plate size 120mm x 80mm © Morag Shaw

In April, I was fortunate enough to attend a mezzotint workshop given by Julia Ellery at Kathy Boyle’s studio. After hand rocking our own copper plates, I made this image of a fruit bat and produced several prints using a variety of inks.

Thanks to Julia and Kathy for giving their time and expertise.