Mountain, from series Four Journeys to China, woodcut, 1989. Poem for the Future

I have measured the days of this place and I have recorded the nights of this time so as to place it in the future where, in metallic galaxies its ecstasy will shiver through the stars. In this forest silence quiets my heart­ birds near and far, leaves marking shadows the sun a mandala the whirling moments stilled, the whole world listens.

Light pervades the universe, black holes disperse. A small lizard runs into the leaves, a spider spins another thread, a currawong sings hopeful litanies for the days' hours.

Quietly, warmth opens the spring with wings in the trees, trees in the winds, a floating world in a small forest, an ark in the spring of a metal world.

Ruth Burgess

dcut printmakers and contemporary inese printmaking. Jhe most remarkable result of these visi and of spending so m · e in China, absorbing and discussing Eastern ar, has been the development of my own I entity as an Australian artist and the realisation of the importance of colour to our work, as opposed to the restraint of Chinese colours . Forest Mantra, woodcut, In China the traditions of woodcut printmaking have a thousand year history, originally as black and white images of Buddha 50 x 32.5 cm, 1991. and then as books, and eventually as coloured prints using watercolours and black ink. Although much colour is used in the New Year prints which have a long tradition in China, there are many different influences in Chinese printmaking . The New Year prints are made by local artists to celebrate with many wishes for good luck, long life, many children and for wealth, and are reproduced today, notably in Tianjin in a woodcut factory which I visited. There, ancient blocks have been re­ carved and are printed in many colours and then re-painted. Themes are fish, plump children and door gods. I once did a series of door gods of currawongs and flying foxes for an exhibition!

In 1930-40, the German Expressionist movement created black and white political prints to promote the fledgling -Communists. The most notable was the work of Kathe Kollwitz, famous for her violent images of common people and scenes of social protest. This tradition of black and white printmaking was taken in the 1950s into the art schools. Otherwise, woodblock influences where colour is painted onto the block have come from Japan, again after having been introduced there from China in early times. ' o/--/7 Margaret Preston, Australia 1875-1963: Grey day in the ranges, 1942, I see my relationship with China as an exciting and unique one in , oil on hardboard, 51 x 50.7 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, following such precedents as those set by Ian Fairweather and Margaret Preston Purchased 1942. who found in the East a new vision in their approach to landscape .

Preston's gouache on hardboard painted in 1942 illustrated here is a serene but powerful landscape strongly influenced by Chinese landscape paintings.

Fairweather' s landscape, Mangrove, evolved from his extensive knowledge of calligraphy and deep understanding of Buddhist art and the Eastern non-focused image . In the non-focused image, no central object becomes significant-no figure or tree or, for instance, bowl of flowers as in a still life-rather the whole surface of images is abstracted.

Travelling to the East has had an enormous influence on my work . It has led me to see my landscape subject matter in Daoist and Buddhist ways and I now follow a sp_iritual rather than visual understanding of my art as a woodcut printmaker.

I see landscape as a source of harmony between nature and the human spirit-a dialogue which leads us to find our 'enlightenment' and sense of belonging. Similarly, in Daoism, nature has a balance and pattern. By listening to this within ourselves, we find harmony, peace and balance.

In order to use the strength of carving in my woodcuts, I cut a vigorous image into the wood which comes from spontaneous drawing. I then cut other blocks the same size and roll on the ink and artists' oil colour. I print, say, a yellow ochre block as a base colour, then a block which has an image cut in indian red, then the top dominant image in white ink. The colours blend and create an effect which is glowing with colour, but which preserves the woodcut's special character . To me, carving is a totally fulfilling experience.

In 1990 and 1991, I was invited to exhibit my work at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou. This is the most Ian Fairweather, Australia, 1891-197 4, Mangrove, synthetic polymer famous art academy in China and has links with leading art institutions in France, paint on paper on particle board, 82 x 122 ems. Art Gallery of South Hamburg and Japan. Its disciplines are painting, calligraphy, sculpture and Australia, South Australian Government Grant 1972. printmaking. Etching, lithography, woodcut and woodblock (separate traditions) are also taught. Students learn by copying from the masters for at least 3 years and are only encouraged to express individuality on a limited scale. The Fragile Forest, woodcut, 1991.

,.. Moon, woodcut, 1990. The Patterns of Light, woodcut, 1991.

Of all the artists I have met and worked with in China, Xu Bing, a young woodcut artist w orking and teach ing at the Central Ar t Academ y in , has most inspi red me in my passion for the woodcu t. His work is done on small engraving blocks and his great work, The Book of Heaven, was directly influenced by early Buddhist prints . Many metres long and looped from the ceiling, it was recently displayed at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Early this year I returned to China to show some of the images which are illustrated here in an exhibition at the Central Art Academy in Beijing and to visit printmakers in Szechuan , Yunnan and Guizhou . I call this collection Light in the Forest to describe the images which are all carved to evoke the birds, trees, days, nights, seasons, even the insects of the forest. There are very few forests left in China­ only in historical memories.

My Chinese name Bai ru-shi means 'pure as a poem', and amongst Chinese artists I am acknowledged as a woodcut artist who works from nature, freely-something Chinese artists cannot do in modern times, where the individual has been suppressed to the state and where all work ostensibly has to meet the criteria of 'being understood by ordinary people'. My philosophy and hopes for the future­ that all of us may live in harmony with each other and the environment-reaches young Chinese artists and gives them hope.

Travelling to China has made me vitally aware of my unique work carried on in isolation-work that is pure and universal. The fact that it is so well understood in China has made me more disciplined and committed to recording my philosophy.

I have lived in this forest for twenty years and every day is a celebration of its wonders. Often in winter I feel isolated in the Beyond the Mountain, woodcut, 107 x 62 cm, 1991. dark and rain, but this is all part of its symbolic quality. Hence Light in the Forest is a kind of testament of working and discovering a pathway ....

Ruth Burgess Light in the Forest, an exhibition of 30 of Ruth Burgess's images, together with three handprinted folding books of her poems, Ruth Burgess teaching at the Zhejiang may be seeri at The Blaxland Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, Gallery, , in Ma y. December 1991 .