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Artist Statement
I'm originally from Brno in Czech Republic. I studied Fine Art and Visual Art at Masaryk University in Brno, qualifying as an art teacher in 2005. I came to Connemara for the first time ten years ago and in 2006, inspired by its community and surrounding landscape decided to settle in the village of Letterfrack. My first solo exhibition of acrylic paintings and charcoal drawings here in Connemara called 'PB's Portrait' took place in Pangur Ban Restaurant in Letterfrack in 2008.
Painting was always my number one medium and in the last two years I have been drawing a lot which has naturally developed into a curiosity about new ways of expression. In 2009 I decided to try a printmaking course to refresh my skills from college which led me into joining Lorg Printmakers workshop in Galway early this year, allowing me to use their facilities and interact with other more experienced printmakers.
I choose lino printing as my printmaking medium which suited me the best for what I had in mind. It was almost inevitable to concentrate in my work on animals as I have a very close bond to them and they are part of my everyday life. The concept of keeping these lino prints black and white was inspired by John Shinnors' black and white paintings and was based on the idea that lots of animals are black and white. This quite broad idea about black and white animals developed and later I started to focus on the closest ones - cats and dogs, that I encountered during the last few years. There is an individual story behind each lino print. All the lino prints are a small edition of three or five prints to keep the intimacy of these encounters rather than big edition. It is still a continuing process of exploration of printmaking.
Martina Navratilova
Tel: 353 (0)85 1058653
Email: dafy.whale@seznam.cz
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