“You’ll often get the best viewpoint when you’re in the water,” Merlyn Chesterman says, as she wades into the swirling surf at Hartland Quay. A few waves in front, Ian Phillips is photographing seafoam splashing up and over the fingers of shale that reach out into the Atlantic, while back on the shoreline, Judith Westcott waits, pencil poised, for the sun to break through the clouds.

Pine Feroda, a collective of three printmakers, have been meeting here on the rugged north Devon coast for eight years. Each a successful artist in their own right, the trio have joined forces to produce large-scale woodcut prints inspired by the sea.

Once they’ve scattered to investigate different points of interest – a jutting rock formation or pellucid patch of ocean – the group reconvene on the slipway that leads down to the beach. Gathered around a big sheet of paper, they sketch their observations with marker pens and chalk. “Chaotic is a good word to describe the Pine experience,” Ian says, smiling. “Printmakers like being in control of what they do and one of the hardest things is having to surrender some of that.”

artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest

Pine Feroda, a collective of three printmakers, have been meeting here on the rugged north Devon coast for eight years.

artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest
artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest

MAKING WAVES

After meeting at an Art in Action Event in 2013, Merlyn invited Ian and several other artists to her home in Hartland to collaborate. They were soon joined by Judith, who’s based nearby in South Molton. Although they’re used to solo projects, they found that their different approaches needn’t cause conflict; the key is to keep an open mind.

“We learn a tremendous amount from each other. Even if we disagree about colour or composition, we sort it out because we’re a gang,” Merlyn says. “It’s a bit like a ouija board where everyone’s pushing in different directions and suddenly something happens. We weren’t expecting to create a collective, but we feel Pine is separate from us and our work as individuals.”

Pine Feroda meet between four and six times a year, with Ian, who travels down from mid-Wales, and Judith staying at Merlyn’s bed and breakfast, Two Harton Manor, for their week-long workshops. Here on the Hartland Peninsula, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, there’s plenty to stir the creative mind. “We all respond to the wild beauty of the dramatic coastline,” Judith says.

Whatever the weather, the group troop out early in search of something that excites them. “We don’t know what we’re going to draw until we see it,” Ian admits. “We can go to a beautiful beach and not be inspired and then stumble across something interesting in the car park on the way home.” Conditions can change swiftly, too, Merlyn adds: “A squall can come in suddenly, the light can shift or a seal might swim into a cove.”

artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest
artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest
artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest
artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest

Capturing a subject matter that is in a constant state of flux takes patience and perseverance. “We’ve all sat and stared at the sea for years,” Ian says. “It’s never static. The waves move and break and disappear and you’ve got to represent that fluidity.”

Working on such a large scale – Pine Feroda prints measure over one metre horizontally and 83cm vertically – helps the artists offer a sense of the ocean’s power. “One of our early pieces, Sea Rocks, featured water churning around narrow clefts in the granite,” Merlyn recalls. “I remember a friend telling me it made them feel a little peculiar, frightened even. She had a feeling of vertigo when she looked at it.”

“The sea is never static. The waves move and break and you’ve got to represent that flux”

Once they’ve finished their seascape sketches, Ian, Judith and Merlyn return to the studio in Hartland’s St John’s Chapel. Next, they draw their designs onto thick pieces of plywood, using chisels and gouges to remove all but the outlines. “Cutting is like handwriting. Merlyn’s is very bold and confident; Ian’s is beautifully sinuous,” Judith says. “We’re very aware of our own signatures and styles and we swap around, so it isn’t obvious who’s done what.”

“We’re very aware of our own signatures and we swap around, so it isn’t obvious who’s done what”

Pine Feroda practise the multi-block printing method, carving out parts of a drawing (the clouds or crest of a wave, for example) onto separate boards. This means a final print can feature multiple colours, from steely grey to Ian’s favourite, “Campbell’s tomato soup-orange”. The ‘proofing’ part follows, where the group experiment with different compositions, changing the order in which they use each block. “It’s a bit like a maze. You think you’ve taken the right route but then you come to a dead end and have to turn back on yourself,” Ian says, turning the handle of the Dutch press used to transfer print to paper. “There’s a lot of guesswork involved but, as soon as we peel back a corner of the sheet, we’ll know if it’s worked or not.” Once they’ve settled on the right layer combination, Pine Feroda print their ‘edition’, a run of 30 to 50 woodcuts. “It’s difficult to make sure they’re all the same, but Merlyn’s a whizz at mixing colour,” Judith says.

artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest

Pine Feroda’s studio is in Hartland’s St John’s Chapel.

artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest
artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest
artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest

CURRENT AFFAIRS

It can take months and repeated visits to Hartland to finish one edition. Since forming, Pine Feroda have made 14, three of which (Lake, Looking South and Northern Light) were selected to appear in the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition in 2015, 2017 and 2018. “It was so exciting; Ian even bought a tie!” Judith says. They were also invited to speak at an event hosted by painter and printmaker Eileen Cooper at The Keeper’s House, tucked away in the corner of the courtyard at the RA. “We were on right after Grayson Perry!” Merlyn says. “He was dressed in an eccentric pink outfit and really took an interest in how we work together.”

They have been further afield, too. In 2017, they visited the Purple Bamboo Studio in Hangzhou, China, on a trip funded by Arts Council England. “Woodblock printmaking originated in the country, so it was amazing to see students using techniques that haven’t changed for centuries,” Merlyn says. “The artform is revered there. Prints can measure three and a half square metres, take months to complete and are finished to an unbelievably high standard. Witnessing that really makes you up your game.”

Back on home soil, the collective’s work has appeared at many galleries, including Canfas in Cardigan, Circle Contemporary in Wadebridge and the Drawing Schools at Eton College near Windsor. In the future, the trio hope to explore other dramatic landscapes in the Scottish Highlands, Cornwall or further afield in Scandinavia. They’re also keen to collaborate with other artists (Philip Leach, the grandson of potter Bernard Leach, is pencilled in). “What we do with Pine Feroda is stimulating and sometimes infuriating,” says Judith, joining Ian and Merlyn to admire the latest print just off the press. “But it is always great fun.”

Prints cost around £1,950. Available from canfas.co.uk.

artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest
artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest
artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest
artisan printmakers pine ferodapinterest



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