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Image 1 of 1
Limited edition letterpress print
Some experiments change the course of a place.
While researching Walter Hill, Brisbane’s first colonial botanist, I discovered the extraordinary role he played in the beginnings of Queensland’s sugar industry.
Hill believed sugar cane could thrive in Queensland. He experimented with different varieties in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens and distributed large numbers of canes to growers, with demand eventually exceeding his ability to supply them.
In 1862, cane grown in the Gardens was successfully made into granulated sugar.
What began as an experiment would become one of Queensland’s major industries.
I became interested in returning to the plant itself.
Looking at botanical imagery of sugar cane, I was drawn to its long leaves and segmented stems. I extracted those forms and began repeating and reorganising them until they swept across the page, still recognisable as a plant but no longer behaving like a botanical illustration.
I printed Sugar Cane on an original Heidelberg Windmill letterpress, bringing the contemporary drawing back into contact with paper, ink and pressure.
There is something I love about the circularity of that process.
A plant once experimented with for what it might become.
A century and a half later, I began experimenting with it again—this time to see what else it might become.
The Edition
Released in an edition of just ten, Sugar Cane is letterpress printed on Magnani Incisioni 650/5 Smooth White 100% cotton rag paper using rubber-based inks.
Each print is signed, titled and individually numbered on the front, wrapped in acid-free tissue and presented in a custom protective envelope. It is accompanied by information detailing the artwork, the Collected Patterns series and its place within the edition.
The print is sold unframed and ships worldwide in a rigid protective envelope.
Edition: 10
Paper size: 300 × 260 mm
Paper: Magnani Incisioni 650/5 Smooth White, 100% cotton rag
Printing: Letterpress with rubber-based inks
Press: Heidelberg Windmill
Signed: Signed, titled and numbered on front
Framing: Unframed
Shipping: Worldwide
Limited edition letterpress print
Some experiments change the course of a place.
While researching Walter Hill, Brisbane’s first colonial botanist, I discovered the extraordinary role he played in the beginnings of Queensland’s sugar industry.
Hill believed sugar cane could thrive in Queensland. He experimented with different varieties in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens and distributed large numbers of canes to growers, with demand eventually exceeding his ability to supply them.
In 1862, cane grown in the Gardens was successfully made into granulated sugar.
What began as an experiment would become one of Queensland’s major industries.
I became interested in returning to the plant itself.
Looking at botanical imagery of sugar cane, I was drawn to its long leaves and segmented stems. I extracted those forms and began repeating and reorganising them until they swept across the page, still recognisable as a plant but no longer behaving like a botanical illustration.
I printed Sugar Cane on an original Heidelberg Windmill letterpress, bringing the contemporary drawing back into contact with paper, ink and pressure.
There is something I love about the circularity of that process.
A plant once experimented with for what it might become.
A century and a half later, I began experimenting with it again—this time to see what else it might become.
The Edition
Released in an edition of just ten, Sugar Cane is letterpress printed on Magnani Incisioni 650/5 Smooth White 100% cotton rag paper using rubber-based inks.
Each print is signed, titled and individually numbered on the front, wrapped in acid-free tissue and presented in a custom protective envelope. It is accompanied by information detailing the artwork, the Collected Patterns series and its place within the edition.
The print is sold unframed and ships worldwide in a rigid protective envelope.
Edition: 10
Paper size: 300 × 260 mm
Paper: Magnani Incisioni 650/5 Smooth White, 100% cotton rag
Printing: Letterpress with rubber-based inks
Press: Heidelberg Windmill
Signed: Signed, titled and numbered on front
Framing: Unframed
Shipping: Worldwide