Viewing Room
Welcome to the Castle Gallery Viewing Rooms where you will find highlights from our exhibitions - past and present - focussing on key works, inspirational ideas and telling the stories behind the show. Best viewed on a desktop browser.
HILKE MACINTYRE
3rd - 25th March 2023
'PAINTINGS - PRINTS - CERAMICS'
Rare and new paintings, prints and ceramics together with other works especially chosen for this solo exhibition.
We are delighted to be hosting a solo exhibition of the work of Hilke MacIntyre at this time because her work exudes positivity and good humour. Her work is idiosyncratic – she is ‘one of a kind’.
'PAINTINGS - PRINTS - CERAMICS'
Rare and new paintings, prints and ceramics together with other works especially chosen for this solo exhibition.
We are delighted to be hosting a solo exhibition of the work of Hilke MacIntyre at this time because her work exudes positivity and good humour. Her work is idiosyncratic – she is ‘one of a kind’.
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Along the River Ness, linocut, 30 x 40cm
Hilke MacIntyre is a contemporary artist working in three media - painting, print and ceramic - and often transfers her techniques from one medium to another. Her simplified figurative style, which sits somewhere between figurative and abstract, shows her enjoyment of colour, pattern, bold shapes, nature and daily life on the Scottish East Coast. Her main influences are indigenous/folk art and the art and design movements of the 20th century.
Hilke will be launching her newest linocut ‘Along the River Ness’ at this solo exhibition. |
Painting
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Stag in Yellow Woods, acrylic on wood, 50 x 40cm (right)
White Bird on a Tree, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30cm (below) The surroundings of Hilke’s studio in rural Fife have a strong influence on her subject matter and work for this exhibition features trees and animals in the landscape, flowers, birds and cats.
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Printmaking
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Castle & Garden, linocut, 15.5 x 24.5cm
Hilke was born in Germany and grew up near Kiel. She studied architecture at the Muthesius Schule (School of Art and Design) in Kiel and after her diploma in 1990 worked in offices in Hamburg, Edinburgh and London. In 1996 she moved to Edinburgh and started printmaking at the Printmakers Workshop. She enjoys cutting into lino and plywood in a spontaneous manner to create her relief prints which are individually handprinted on an old cast iron Harrild Press in editions of 35 to 50. Because the inking and pressing of the plates is done by hand every single print differs slightly from the others of that edition.
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Hilke glazing in her studio
"Linocutting and woodcutting is my preferred printmaking technique as it is direct and hands on. I use linoleum for designs with more detail and a wood block (Japanese plywood) if I would like a rougher feel and want to add a grainy pattern to the image. Whereas relief printing offers possibilities for very refined and multicoloured designs I keep it simple and enjoy the task of designing with reduced elements and only a few colours. I like a slight unevenness of the cut line and work rather spontaneous than carefully when carving the block. The resulting one or two ‘mistakes’ can either add to the design or need to be carefully touched up on each print during the printing process. Working through the stages from first sketch to printing the edition is an interesting journey."
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Stag, linocut, 29.5 x 29.5cm
Multiple colour prints can made in various ways. The quickest one is to ink one block in different colours at the same time but this method has its limitations. More possibilities are offered with single-block or multiple-block printing. For single-block printing one block is printed in one colour, then areas of this block are cut away (leaving these areas as the colour printed previously on the paper) before printing the next colour with the same block. For multiple-block printing a separate block is cut for each different colour layer.
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Walking in the Sun, woodcut, 24 x 16cm - Tulips in a Vase, woodcut, 24.5 x 15.5cm - Blue Flowers, linocut, 24.5 x 18cm
Ceramics
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Over the Hills, ceramic relief, 20 x 12.5cm
Hilke’s ceramic wall reliefs are ‘pictures in clay’. These are created by carving the design into hardened clay and then, from this original relief, a plaster mould is produced enabling Hilke to make 50 copies of each relief by pressing soft clay into the mould. Each relief is then dried, fired, carefully glazed and fired again.
"The glazing is a very important part of the process. For every design I need a few (or more...) glazing trials before I get the result I am happy with. I use a variety of ready-made glazes available from pottery supplies which I then mix to obtain a certain shade or quality of colour." |
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Inverness, ceramic relief, 10 x 25cm
A recent day trip to Inverness and a pleasant walk along the River Ness and across the Infirmary Bridge with Denise (Gallery Director) has inspired a new linocut and a new ceramic wall relief. Hilke has used her imagination to bring well-known local landmarks together to create these lovely, positive, life-affirming images.
Dancing, ceramic relief, 19.5 x 12.5cm - 7 Tulips, ceramic relief, 14.5 x 10cm - Man with Coffee II, ceramic relief, 12.5 x 7.5cm
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Over the Hills, ceramic relief, 20 x 12.5cm
“Reliefs are an ancient sculpture technique in which the figures and objects project from a solid background. In my reliefs the volume is not cut to its full depth and small variations in depth register as 3-dimensional - an interesting illusion to work with. Creating the carved-out space in between figures or objects interests me just as much as designing the figure itself. Adding pattern produces a tactile surface, which I enjoy, and which is a great base for beautiful glazing effects. Each glazing has its own qualities which opens a wide field for experimenting, like having glossy beside matt areas, thick layering besides a transparent use of the glaze or rubbing some glazing off to let the clay come through. Glazing is never fully predictable, which – on the positive side – means that opening the kiln after a high firing is always exciting and makes each relief slightly different from the other.”
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Coffee at the Castle, ceramic relief (two panels), 25 x 25cm (right) Flying Angel, ceramic relief, 7.5 x 7.5cm (below) 
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Hilke’s work has been selected many times for the annual show at the Royal Scottish Academy. Her designs feature on packaging for Eden Mill single malt whisky and Dove Farm flour. Her linocuts and woodcuts have been used for various illustrations including the front covers of the Candlestick Press poetry books ‘Ten Poems about Wives and Husbands’, ‘Ten Poems about Sisters’ and ‘Ten Poems about Brothers’. Her work features in the books ‘The Printmaker’s Cat’, ‘The Artful Hare’ and ‘The Illustrated Garden’ by Alan Marshall, Mascot Media.