MARGARET ASHMAN

Margaret's imagery is carefully constructed from her own photography and borrowed elements from sources such as fabrics, garments, wallpaper, or books with an oriental influence. Her favourite muse is the Japanese dancer, Chisato Minamimura, who performed improvised dance and a number of sequences of sign language for the Deaf (Chisato is deaf) for Margaret's camera.

Margaret strives for a spiritual elegance and simplicity in her finished works, in contrast to the lengthy, complicated process of making. A poem or phrase or idea is given to the dancer as a starting point, from which the work evolves. Further layers add new constructs until the etching process translates the final image into a coherent whole, with rich textures and delicate colour combinations. The addition of birds, flowers and other elements allows the viewer a window into the subconscious inner world, a different reality to the visible.

Margaret's interest in the orient stems from a family collection of Chinese and Japanese ceramics and embroideries which she was familiar with as a child. She was recently invited to the Guanlan Print Base in southern China as an International Artist in Residence. Margaret's work is in a number of collections in China including the Guandong Museum of Art and Shenzhen University.

Education

MA Printmaking University of Brighton 2005
BA Fine Art University of Hertfordshire 2003
MA Physics Oxford University 1980
City and Guilds Certificate in Further Education, Kensington and Chelsea College 2006

Professional

2010 Made Fellow of Royal Society of Painter Printmakers
2009 Artist in residence at the Guanlan Print Base near Shenzhen, China
2008 Artist in residence at Harlow College
2005 Elected to Greenwich Printmakers

Solo Shows

2009 Recent Prints, Hepsibah Gallery, London
2008 A Time to Dance, Hepsibah Gallery, London
2006 New Prints, Hepsibah Gallery, London
2004 Deo Tangente, St Albans, Cathedral
2003 Echoes, Fovea Gallery, Harrow

Selected Group Exhibitions

2011 Press Freedom, The Station, Richmond
2011 Inspired by the Orient, Obsidian Gallery, Aylesbury
2011 Greenwich Printmakers – Second Edition, National Theatre, London
2010 Christmas Contemporaries, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
2010 ING Discerning Eye Mall, Galleries, London
2010 Pushing Print, Marine Studios, Margate
2010 Art of Giving Competition Finals, Saatchi Gallery, London
2010 2nd Penang International Print Exhibition, Penang State Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
2010 Bienial Internacional de Gravura, Douro Museum, Portugal
2010 Exchange 7, Printzero Studios, Seattle, USA
2010 International Print Network, Stadtmuseum, Oldenburg, Germany
2010 Multiple Matters - Graphic Concepts, Vienna Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria
2010 Print Now, London Art Fair, The Design Centre, Islington
2010 Originals 10, Mall Galleries, London
2010 Printmakers Council Exhibition, Solander Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2010 Flight, Caxton Contemporary, Whitstable
2009 International Print Triennial, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow,Poland
2009 International PrintArt Triennial, Katowice, Rondo Sztuki, Poland
2009 Print or Photography? Contemporary Art Gallery, Opole, Poland,
2009 International Graphic Art Biennial, Split Musuem, Split, Croatia,
2009 International Prints Exhibition and Festival, Qijiang, China,
2009 Art at Wharepuke, Kerikeri, New Zealand
2009 7th International Engraving Biennial,Museum of Modern Art, Liege, Belgium
2009 Originals O9, Mall Galleries, London

Competitions and Awards

2010 Finalist, Art of Giving National Art Competition, Saatchi Gallery, London
2006 Finalist Stations of the Cross Commission, St Mary's Church, Stoke Newington
2005 First Prize Mini Print Competition, University of Brighton
2004 Julian Trevelyan Memorial Award, Originals 04, Mall Galleries
2003 Degree Prize Winner University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Publications

Printmakers' Secrets, A Dyson, 2009
ISBN 978-0-7136-8911-2 Margaret Ashman."Chinese print community",Printmaking Today, Vol 18 No 2 Summer 2009, p 29

Residencies

2009 Artist in Residence, Guanlan Printmaking Base, China
2008 Artist in Residence, Harlow College

Collections

Ashmolean Museum
Guangdong Museum of Art, China
Penang State Museum, Malaysia
Museum of Graphic Art, Split, Croatia
University of Hertfordshire
Shenzhen University, China
Guanlan Print Base, China
The Americas Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Prints, Iowa, USA
International Print Triennial Society, Krakow, Poland
River Island
Hogan Lovells
Citigroup
Pembury Hospital
Willsden ArtsTherapies Centre