As a paper artist Tracey Bush’s pieces portray a fragility and yet her latest work, which is investigating the opportunity for digital technology and production processes to create hybrid art, has a robustness of approach.
As an artist in residence at the Centre for Print Research (CFPR) at the University of the West of England, Bush is using state of the art facilities to explore biodiversity loss and the medium of paper as substance rather than surface. The CFPR is a centre of research excellence with a publishing studio specialising in limited edition prints.
Swapping laborious hand cutting for detailed digital laser cutting and printing technologies, ‘The Lost Wings of Summer’ is an edition of fold out collections of British butterflies. The delicate artworks will be presented in entomology cases, encapsulating Bush’s fascination with natural history collecting conventions.
'The interrelated images create a requiem for 13 of the species of British butterfly that are either extinct or on the critically endangered Red List' explains Bush, who was assisted by the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery’s natural science department during the project.
‘Dusking’ is an exploration of the Victorian practice of trapping night flying moths in which Bush has captured nine species in a limited series of prints. 'Using directional ink with incredible iridescent colours that change depending on the viewing angle, in my prints the moths appear and disappear' reveals Bush, who raises the possibility of an ‘insect apocalypse’.
Tracey Bush has been visiting Somerset for over four decades and has exhibited across the South West as well as nationally.
www.traceybush.uk @traceybush.uk
