SilvesterArt is the printmaking pseudonym of Sydney-based Sara Buchner who creates small, uncomplicated illustrations that predominantly depict scenes of heartwarming delight. Influenced by the work of Wiener Werkstätte as published in Ver Sacrum, Sara’s pieces merge clean lines with narrative, imbuing the work with an expressive and animated quality.
7 years ago, Sara was on a construction site for a renovation project she was managing. She was working as an interior architect at the time, and on this particular site visit she was talking to the flooring guys about the gym floor. It was to have Linoleum flooring. Having done Linocut in high school, Sara was curious and took some of the Linoleum flooring offcuts home with her to do some experiments.
Her first print, The Flower Lady, was a postcard sized piece – simple but with enough complicated cutouts to be more complicated than it needed to be. “Let’s just say that it was a success and I loved the process,” says the printmaker.
After picking and fixing up a second-hand printing press, a new roller, and a few more paper experiments later, Sara made the Chillies, Chillies, Chillies print. This was her first 2-colour piece, inspired by a friend who she was living with at the time who loved spicy food. She comments; “This print is guaranteed to make me smile every time I see it”.
Sara continued printing in her free time, learning and getting bolder, and even did a 3 month artist residency in Ireland with a focus on printmaking. It’s there that she started incorporating mixed materials and collage aspects into her printmaking, using dried leaves and pressed flowers to print or as backgrounds in prints.
Sara tells us that the print she is “most in love with” is her Klimt Sketch. This was the first print she made after moving back to Australia. She states; “I was ecstatic to be back in the country, I had friends and family around me, the weather was fantastic and even Covid couldn’t keep me down. I did something ambitious and decided to make a print based on a pencil sketch Gustav Klimt did while experimenting for his famous ‘the kiss’ painting. It was a lot of painstaking carving of swirls, but need I say more? I love it! Loved carving, loved printing and loved the finished print.”
Recently, Sara worked on her first reduction print. She picked a stone sculpture as her subject and worked her way from pale outline to dark shadow details with 5 colours in total. “It definitely required way more brain power than the previous 2 colour prints I’d done, was it worth it? Yes… however, won’t be doing any more reduction prints unless I’ve got loads of brain power to spare,” says Sara.
www.silvesterart.com
@silvesterart
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