Sue Potter

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Stillness 2024

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With a background in both graphic design and architecture Sue’s work has been informed by both disciplines. A move from London to Devon 15 years ago prompted a return to printmaking - primarily focussing on linocuts and collagraphs.

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Sue's fascination with the effects of blind embossing, as a result of the collagraph process, has led to a body of work exploring the use of repetition and component elements to construct dynamic radiating compositions. The simplicity and complexity of the geometry; the tension between surface texture and the spaces between compositions that paradoxically are both minimal and complex. The resulting designs rely on accuracy and precision to create the surface detail as the eye quickly detects the slightest discrepancy. A design can consist of both a positive and negative plate … one version ‘carves out’ the surface, creating a series of indentations, whilst the other produces a raised texture as the paper is pushed through the spaces to create a surface relief.

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More recently this has led to experimentation with laser cut shapes, using ‘greyboard’ sealed with shellac, to produce the embossing plates. The process embodies both high and low technologies: the design evolves organically with a series of sketches and paper maquettes and then is developed using CAD and laser cutting software. Once the shapes have been cut they are assembled by hand and sealed. Heavy printmaking paper is then soaked, blotted and laid over the ‘plate’ which in turn is run through a press, under pressure, to create the blind embossing. The paper is then weighted down between blotting sheets to dry flat.

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