Pilgrimage is an ongoing project which documents my journey from Devon up to the Isle of Skye to collect the ceramics that my late mother had left at a pottery workshop there.
2019. Linocut. 10x10cm. Edition: 25
2021. Screenprint. 20x20cm. Edition: 25
2023. Screenprint. 20x20cm. Edition: 25
Ink, pencil, watercolour and linocut.
This project explores the skills and attributes that are passed down from parent to child.
2022. Drypoint. 20x15cm. Edition: 10
2022. Screenprint with pencil drawing. 30x30cm. Edition: 30
2022. Etching with Photo Intaglio. 42x29cm. Edition: 10
‘Everything My Mother Touched’ is an ongoing body of work produced in response to the death of my mother in 2012.
My mother was a painter, an illustrator and a ceramicist, and although she chose not to pursue a career in the arts, her encouragement has had a considerable influence on the development of my art practice. Since her death, and during the long process of dismantling the remnants of her life, I discovered her diaries, diaries which I never knew she kept, and photographs of her throughout her life, which I had never seen. I also found drawings and lino cuts that she produced, some that were never printed, and digital paintings that she made on her iPad, which to my amazement had embedded in the files a record of each mark and decision that she made in order.
Since their discovery I have been in the process of engaging with these materials in my own art practice in order to gain a greater understanding of the importance we place in the objects that people own and interact with, how these objects come to represent them, their presence in our lives for a time, and the absence that remains once they are gone.
2016. Screen print with gold ink on Canaletto paper. 70x50cm. Edition: 10
2016. Screen print with gold ink on Canaletto paper. 70x50cm. Edition: 10
2015. Woodcut with ink wash on Kozo paper. 29x21cm. Edition: 10
2016. Woodcut on Kozo paper. 450x300cm. Edition: 10
2013. Screen print. 59x42cm. Edition: 10
2013. Screen print. 59x42cm. Edition: 10
2015. Screen print. 100x70cm. Edition: 10
2015. Pastel and pencil drawing. 185x150cm
2015. Pastel and pencil drawing. 185x150cm
2015. Etching and aquatint. 38x30cm. Edition: 10
2015. Lino cut. 42x29cm. Edition: 10
2015. Lino cut. 42x29cm. Edition: 10
2015. Lino cut. 42x29cm. Edition: 10
2015. Lino cut. 42x29cm. Edition: 10
2016. Screen print with acrylic
2015. Screen print. 10x10cm. Edition: 25
'Souniemi (The Finnish House)' is a body of work produced in response to a 1900's summer house in Tampere Finland. The house is still owned by the family which built it in 1908, the interior still bearing many of its original features. The running of the house is still reliant on local natural resources. Water for washing is still fetched from the well or the lake, the toilet is the original compost version, built in a shed away from the house, and the stove is wood burning. However, over the past hundred years, guests and extended family have been encouraged to help maintain the house, modern elements introduced alongside period ones.
This project uses these themes of tradition and self-reliance, juxtaposing everyday life in the Tampere house with everyday life in a UK home. The work produced will take the form of an exhibition of built works and a series of prints, a set of which will be installed permanently in the house in 2016.
‘Wash’ reflects on cultural and contextual perceptions of clean domestic practices, focusing on the practice of using lake water for washing at the house in Tampere. Within that context, this particular practice was understood as being normal, and necessary in regards to water conservation. The water itself, home to various plant and animal life, was seen to not only harbor no risk of contamination, but was even said to have healing properties.
I couldn't help but compare this practice to my own domestic routine in the UK, and how using water from my local water-source would effect the perception of this practice as 'clean'.
This piece features locally sourced lake water and a lily pad during the late spring and summer months, referencing the reliance on seasonal change at the house in Finland.
‘Relieve’ is a replica of the communal toilet at the Souniemi house. The original toilet in Finland is built into a raised platform in an outbuilding in the grounds of the house. The Souniemi toilet, like many in Finland, functions through a water free compost system, using sand and hay to eliminate odour. Whilst common practice at the Souniemi house is to use the toilet communally and simultaneously, if the need should arise, whilst I was staying there the family that own the house expressed an understanding that privacy boundaries differed between Northern Europe and the UK, and I was told that they were willing to modify their normal domestic practices to accommodate the “English way of doing things”.
This piece reflects on differing cultural privacy boundaries and notions of ‘hygienic’ domestic practices. Through viewer interaction, this piece aims to engage the public in the alternative practice of simultaneous toilet use, and seeks to encourage the questioning of our own cultural notions of privacy.
2012. Screen print. 49x35cm. Edition: 10
2012. Screen print. 47x37cm. Edition: 10
2013. Installation – replica wooden toilet. 178x45x45
2012. Screen print. 68x34cm. Edition: 10
2012. Screen print. 49x36cm. Edition: 10
2012. Screen print. 47x37cm. Edition: 10
2011. Installation - wash stand / enamel wash bowl and jug / lake water / lily pad. 71x40x36cm
2011. Installation - wash stand / enamel wash bowl and jug / lake water / lily pad. 71x40x36cm
2012. Screen print. 47x37cm. Edition: 10
2012. Screen print. 47x37cm. Edition: 10
2012. Screen print. 47x37cm. Edition: 10
2012. Screen print. 49x35cm. Edition: 10
2012. Screen print. 55x42cm. Edition: 10
2012. Screen print. 55x42cm. Edition: 10
2009
Installation - Armchair / coffee table / porcelain cup
'Behaviour Patterns' is a body of work examining the adjustment of the body to its environment through habitation, and how the placement of objects within the home can effect the formation of habits within the inhabitant.
Curated by Franko B.
at the MA Printmaking graduate exhibition, Camberwell College of Art, London. 2009.
In conversation with curator Franko B.
I started my love affair with printmaking in the early 2000’s, specialising in screen print for textiles. After a brief stint in commercial textile design and production, I went on to paper.
I set up a new printmaking facility at Arts University Plymouth, formerly Plymouth College of Art, and ran the workshop for nearly a decade. Due to running it on my own for a large chunk of my time there, I had to master the full spectrum of processes that was offered, including screen print, relief, and intaglio techniques. This lead to me becoming a ‘jack of all trades’.
Featured here are some of the prints that I have made for fun, and that aren’t linked to one of my larger research projects.
2022. Etching with Aquatint. Edition: A/P
Repeat pattern screen print
2022. Linocut. Edition: A/P
Made for Printober 2022
2022
2022. Linocut. Edition: A/P
Made for Printober 2022
2022. Linocut. Edition: A/P
Made for Printober 2022
2012. Screen print. 42x29cm. Edition: 10
Exhibition in Angel Underground station 2013, London UK
2012. Screen Print. 42x29cm. Edition: 10
2009. Screen print. 75x55cm (each). Edition: 2
2010. Screen print. 25x20cm. Edition: 10
2009. Screen print. 46x38cm. Edition: 5
2012. Screen print. 29x42cm. Edition: 10
2012. Screen print. 70x56cm. Edition: 15
The drawings shown here form a part of 'Everything My Mother Touched', a body of work which responds to the life, and recent death, of my mother.
The animal subjects represent significant moments in my experience of the death of my parents, and reflect on the presence of death in the popular superstitions and children's literature which permeated my childhood.
The fox was found on my mother's street during my second trip to London to organise my mother's estate after her death. It looked peaceful, as if it was simply sleeping or playing dead on the pavement, and it reminded me of a book from my childhood about a character called Mr Fox who tested his wife's commitment to him by pretending to be dead.
The pair of Magpies was produced after the subsequent death of my father, and reflects on the popular English superstition, derived from a children's nursery rhyme, of it being bad luck to see a single Magpie. Some theories suggest that this is due to the Magpie mating for life, and therefore seeing a lone Magpie can signify the death of the mating partner.
2015. Pastel and pencil drawing. 185x150cm
2015. Pastel and pencil drawing. 185x150cm
2015. Pastel and pencil drawing. 185x150cm
2015. Pastel and pencil drawing. 185x150cm
2010. Acrylic on board. 250x115cm
2010. Pencil and ink drawing. 45x45cm
2011. Pencil and ink drawing. 45x45cm
2013. Etching and Aquatint. 15x15cm. Edition: 10
Nothing is Wasted
2019. Aquatint. 42x29cm. Edition: 5
Information coming soon...
“Brooklyn Art Library is home to The Sketchbook Project collection in its physical form. Our walls are lined with shelves that hold the tens of thousands of sketchbooks currently in the collection, created by artists from around the world. The library serves as a reading room where you can get cozy and spend an afternoon enjoying artwork in a hands-on experience with the help of our librarians.
With so many books in the library, we’ve developed our own system that makes it easy for anyone to explore. Each book is individually barcoded and cataloged with searchable details, like where the book is from, the materials used, the artist’s name, tag words, and much more. Whether you are interested in seeing a book about robots, a book created in Berlin, or even books selected for you at random, you can search and explore using your own mobile device when in our space.
Located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, this space is where The Sketchbook Project's diverse contributors come together and serves as our link to New York’s creative community. Our storefront encourages interaction between artists and their audience, and introduces our members' work to new viewers. Brooklyn Art Library also hosts readings, artist presentations, and welcomes group visits.”
My sketchbook can be viewed in the Brooklyn Art Library digital library or in the library itself at 28 Frost Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA.
SKETCHBOOK INFORMATION
Searching For My Mother
By: India Ritchie
Pages: 36
Theme: Connections
Project: The Sketchbook Project 2018
Library Call Number: 345.11-9
2009. 27 artists produced a limited edition of 30 prints for 30 boxes, presented in hand made boxes from Stanley Kubrick's box maker.
Artists;
Daniel Alexander / Paul Atkins / Dawn Badland / Divya Batra / Lynne Blackburn / Ian Brown / Simon Burbidge / Myles Calvert / Alex Czinczel / Emma Somerset Davis / James Edgar / Marianne Ferm / Paul Gale / Valentina Gomez / Brian Hodgson / Anthony Lee / Mariana Manolescu / Mark Metcalfe / Stefano Minzi / Elizabeth Ockford / India Ritchie / Handan Sadikoglu / Ryuta Suzuki / Finlay Taylor / Rachel Thew / Susan Turner.