Patricia Wilson-Adams and Theatre of the World
Imagine my surprise on receiving an email from the staff at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart telling me that a work of mine was to be included in the Jean-Hubert Martin curated exhibition Theatre of the World and asking that I consent to having the work reproduced in the catalogue. I just did not believe it until I had a copy of the wonderfully produced catalogue in my hands. I have yet to visit Hobart
The work chosen is an etching and aquatint made in 1977 as a commission for the Print Council of Australia and is one in an edition of 70 (these days PCA commissions editions are 30 prints). Unit and Step Grid (54.5 x 44.6 cms) was purchased by TMAG in 1982. I clearly remember printing this long edition on my Hunter Penrose press which at the time was located in my garage before my studio was built – long hours, blue black ink all over utensils in my kitchen and the heat. On looking at the work almost four decades later and after a lifetime of making prints, I am pleased to recount that Unit and Step Grid remains fresh and that it is visually a strong statement.
Much has been written about the way in which Martin has chosen to juxtapose items more usually relegated to the ethnographic museums with “higher end” art works from both the collections at MONA and works from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Solomon Island
P.W-A
