Winter Abscission Print

'Winter Abscission' drypoint etching with chine collé by Fiona Hamilton.
Printed on 300gsm Hahnemühle paper.
Plate measures 20cm x 30cm.
Paper measures 32cm x 44cm.
Signed, titled and editioned in pencil by the artist in an edition of 20.

Please note that etchings all have slight variations and will not be exactly the same as the photograph due to the subtle nuance in hand inking and wiping the plate. 

Abscission is the term for the seasonal shedding of leaves.

I encountered this tree in Winter on a cold crisp day in the beautiful Ashton Court Estate. It caught my eye and held my attention. A bright winters day casting harsh shadows and with brightly illuminated highlights on the branches. I used the sheen of the chine collé to emphasise this.You can’t see the sheen on screen unfortunately, so you’ll have to take my word for it. As with all handprinted work, real life experiences are vastly more beautiful.

This body of work is based on the book by Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree. Trees communicate via mycorrhizal fungi to trade water and other nutrients. Ancient and mature trees nurture their offspring via these networks, as well as trading nutrients between other species. Botanist Simard has spent years working on this theory as part of a wider body of work, discovering what it means for forests, the climate and the wider Anthropocene.

About the artist:

Fiona Hamilton is a Bristol based printmaker. Her work explores the ecological sublime and an appreciation of the majesty of nature. She uses detailed intaglio etching, drypoint, lithography and chine collé to draw the viewer into an ethereal landscape that has an impact on our sense of place in relation to the natural world. She uses primarily black and white with natural tones of chine collé and sometimes layers of lithographic texture to introduce warmth to the stark palette and to invoke a sublime emotional connection. She works from sketches, photographs, notes and memory to create her prints.

Fiona has an MA in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking from The University of the West of England (2023). Previously she studied Graphic Fine Art at Canterbury (2002) and established Soma Gallery in 2004.