Art review: Exchange: Celebrating 21 years of the Southern Highlands Printmakers

Printmaking, perhaps more than any other major art form, is a collaborative activity, and printmakers, perhaps more than any other type of artist, have a tendency to group together and exhibit together.

Central to the DNA of printmaking is the idea of democratic multiples, in other words, original art of a very high order, but produced in multiples as "original prints" that are accessible in price to the general cross-section of people. This exhibition, consisting of the work of 26 artists, all of whom are represented in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, are exhibiting wonderful original work priced about $300, some a bit higher, many considerably lower.

The Southern Highlands Printmakers formed about 22 years ago in the Mittagong–Bowral area and the group is loosely associated with the Sturt Gallery in Mittagong. It is a professional body of artists, at present boasting 28 exhibiting members, which has been exceptionally active exhibiting throughout our region as well as exchange exhibitions in Queensland, Hawaii and Wales.

This exhibition consists of their recent print portfolio, exhibited on the top tier of the show, with usually a couple more prints by the same artist shown below. The portfolio itself has now entered the collection of the National Gallery in Canberra, the National Museum of Wales and the Rockhampton Regional Gallery. The exhibiting artists are Tony Ameneiro, Kathie Atkinson, Gillian Baldock, Linda Bottari, Betty Bray, Marianne Courtenay, Tony Deigan, Lynne Flemons, Dorothy Freeman, Gill Graham, Janette Hanrahan, John Hart, Fran Ifould, Liz Jeneid, Freya Jobbins, Patricia Jones, Robyn Kinsela, Julie Krone, Kathryn Orton, Lucia Parrella, Alan Purdom, Sandra Shrubb, Britta Stenmanns, Pam Tippett, Peter Ward and Slavica Zivkovic.

A number of these artists, especially Zivkovic, Ameneiro, Kinsela, Ward, Tippett, Hanrahan, Ifould, Jeneid, Atkinson, Orton and Krone have strong national reputations and would be known to many in Canberra's art community.

I love Orton's wacky humour and bold in-your-face imagery, Zivkovic's profound meditations with the touch of mysticism, Ameneiro's brilliant draughtsmanship and organic and slightly surreal creations and Jeneid's intricate lyricism and socially engaged creations. Kinsela is certainly a formidable talent and an artist who engages with new technologies, while Hanrahan comes out of the tradition of Joyce Allen, a wonderful artist who lived for many years in the Bowral area, and presents bold engaging work with a distinct feminist edge.

I have been in trouble for referring to the Southern Highland Printmakers as "the women printmakers from the bush", but with 21 women out of the 26 exhibitors, the facts speak for themselves. The show is bold, beautiful and with a female tinge. Like many art forms, printmaking has had periods of fashion and quiet times of neglect. Presently in Australia, and internationally, there is an upsurge of interest in printmaking with some of the most interesting work in all of art being done in this area. This exhibition is part of the revival of interest and excitement in the wonderful art of the contemporary original print.