Biography plays an important role in my work. The memories of place and time and connections both personal and collective to them underlie much of my work. The temporal nature of video and film and the capturing of time, or at least a point in time, is also part of making any image. A painting or drawing is the evidence of an act as much as a depiction of a thing. The processes of printmaking, video and sound recording allow these points in time, these acts, to be reproduced, re-visited and re-presented.
Artist Biography
Mark Graver RE is an award-winning artist printmaker, tutor and curator based in Kerikeri New Zealand. Originally from the UK he studied at Leeds Polytechnic (B.A. Hons Fine Art 1985-88) and Camberwell College of Arts, London (MA Printmaking 1994-95).
Moving to NZ in 2003 he established the Wharepuke Print Studio in 2005 (NZ’s only dedicated Non- Toxic Acrylic Resist Etching workshop) and with partner Tania Booth Art at Wharepuke gallery in 2009, and the Wharepuke Sculpture Park in 2015.
He is author of the printmaking handbook Non-Toxic Printmaking (2011, London, A&C Black), has sat on printmaking selection panels in China, Bulgaria and NZ and curated international print projects, exhibitions and symposiums in the UK, NZ and Australia.
In 2019 he was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, based in London and in 2021 elected as a Full Fellow (RE) – one of only 100 in the world at any one time.
His work is held in many public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK, The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia and in China, Thailand, NZ, USA, Mexico, South Africa and Europe.
Brief Biography:
1964 -Born, St.Albans, Herts, UK
1969 – Assisted passage to Sydney, Australia (returned to UK 1970)
1984 – Foundation Course Art and Design, Watford College of Art, UK
1985 – 1988 – BA (Hons) Fine Art, Leeds Polytechnic (now known as Leeds Beckett University)
1989 – 1992 – Edinburgh -Guitarist in post-punk band The Vasily Rats (tape sent to John Peel…he must have been busy that day.) Songs available here
1992 – Moved to Camden Town, London
1993 – Moved to Hackney, London
1994 – 1995 – MA Printmaking, Camberwell College of Arts
1996 – Artist in Residence Intaglio Printmaker, London
1998 – First visit to NZ
2001 – Second visit to NZ
2003 – Moved to NZ
2005 – 2015 -Tutor on North Tec Kerikeri BAA Visual Arts degree programme specialising in Acrylic Resist Etching, Drawing and Art Theory & History. Course closed down in 2015.
2005 – Established Wharepuke Print Studio, Kerikeri, NZ
2009 – Established Art at Wharepuke, with Tania Booth, a gallery specialising in international printmaking and exchange projects.
2009 – present – Delivery of NZ & international workshops on acrylic resist etching
2009 – Commissioned to write ‘Non-Toxic Printmaking’ for A&C Black, London
2011 – ‘Non-Toxic Printmaking’ printmaking handbook published
2011 – Honorary Artist in Residence Printmaking – Ballarat (Federation) University, Victoria, Australia.
2011 – Artist in Residence/print workshop – PRINT! Exchange Gallery, Penzance, UK
2012 – Published The Search for a Worldwide Acrylic Hard Resist (with Gerald Ferstman USA) – Imprint, Australian Print Council Quarterly Vol. 47, No.4
2013 – Began the Parallel Prints Project – international print portfolio exhibited in NZ & UK – presented at Impact 8 printmaking conference in Dundee, Scotland
2013 – Delivered Non-Toxic printmaking workshop at Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, UK
2014 – Curated Combinations exhibition at Centre for Contemporary Printmaking, Bangor, Northern Ireland
2015- Co-curated with Veronique Chance, RE:Print international printmaking project.
2015 – Curated Parallel Prints NZ/Australia, Art at Wharepuke and Art Gallery of Ballarat, Australia
2015 – With Tania Booth established Wharepuke Sculpture Park Trail
2016 – Joined Editorial Board – Drawing, Research, Theory, Practice – journal published by Ulster University, Northern Ireland
2016 – International Artist in Residence – Tasmanian College of the Arts, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
2018 – Invited to join Prism Print International group – currently a committee member.
2019 – Elected ARE – Associate of The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, (RE) London
2021 – Elected RE – Full fellow of The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, (RE) London
Honorary Life Member of PCANZ – Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand