Jennifer Gloster is a printmaker using the processes and substances of printmaking to excavate, reveal and explore traces.
Capturing the dynamic forces of nature
Jennifer Gloster’s prints aim to capture the dynamic forces of nature,
‘Through the alchemy of print I attempt to enact and evoke something of processes of the natural world. I set up both constraints and orchestrate, allowing substances to generate the unpredictable. Thus, flow and obstacle, resistance and corrosion, excavation and sedimentation, occur in the creation of the plate. The interaction of ink and substrate become active forces within the work.‘
Rather than seeking metaphor or narrative, Jennifer creates pieces that resonate with the viewer on a visceral level, tracing the evolving, fragile, vitality of everything, especially that often unnoticed, obscured, under valued, fading or emerging.
Foraging, collecting, rubbings and traces
‘Since childhood I have beach combed, foraged, walked, swam and collected fossils around the coast in Kent. My prints starts there, imagining the forces and processes that manifest as flint and chalk, waves, ripples and rills. Respectfully, I collect rock, soil, plant matter and seawater to work into pigments and inks, flowing mediums, resists and rubbing crayons. On the beach I make rubbings of rocks, pebbles and seaweeds recording the traces of my touch. ‘
Back in the studio Jennifer Gloster transfers these rubbings to plates to etch or use them as chine colle elements. She brings together the present tactile connection of touch with the other print processes evoking the processes of formation of trace fossil, wave or rill. In this way she aims to enlarge the place in the imagination for the vitality of these often unconsidered and overlooked traces.
‘I would welcome the opportunity to contribute to, support and learn from the GroundWork NetWork Community, to deepen inquiry, exchange ideas and engage with similarly concerned artists.’
