Yvonne Appleby is a printmaker based in Shropshire and Cornwall. Formerly a university lecturer in Russian, Yvonne, a keen amateur photographer, began printmaking in 2017.
Artist's statement My practice concerns particularly remembered people and places, and all the associations they hold for me. I enjoy all printmaking media but mostly work in screen prints and intaglio. I like bold, flat, graphic images, either composed of very simple, spare shapes in a deal of open space, or in a busy montage of photographic material, ephemera and text; this is where screen printing comes into play. Natural textures, however, especially of trees and leaves, are equally important to me, and I like to render these in quite three-dimensional intaglio collagraphs that capture the indentations, wrinkles and rough, friable nature of the subject.
Before I even knew they were a recognised phenomenon I wanted to make artist's books so I'm now making up for lost time, having become a member of the Marches Book Arts Group (MBAG). Artist's books are for me an ideal way of collating a number of prints, often accompanied by original or quoted text, to make a single piece of art.
There are three main themes that permeate my work: memories and autobiographical reflection; bold, graphic abstracts; and trees and leaves, especially in detail.