Painters as Printmakers,19 October 2007 – 6 February 2008

One of New Zealand’s most prolific painter printmakers, Gretchen Albrecht has produced prints throughout her career. While she has worked with a range of print mediums, it is lithography that has captivated the artist. The painterly techniques afforded by this process, especially tusche washes, have proved ideal for Albrecht. As can be seen in Atoll, imagery in many of her prints often bleeds beyond her signature oval-shaped compositions. While Albrecht has produced many prints herself, she has also formed close working relationships with two major New Zealand print workshops – Muka Studio in Auckland and PaperGraphica in Christchurch.

Albrecht graduated in painting from the Elam School of Fine Arts at Auckland University in 1964 and is one New Zealand’s leading modernist painters. Her canvases often combine freely applied swirling colours overlaid with precisely painted geometric forms, which convey a balanced sense of order, form and colour. (Painters as Printmakers exhibition, 2007)