Interview with Artist & Printmaker Liz Caffin 

Prendimi se puoi! 1 (Catch me if you can!) Aquatint, 44.5cmx29.5cm




AHC: Can you tell us a bit about your process, themes and inspirations?

Liz: I’m a printmaker and I mainly use aquatint. The technique of aquatint is complex but basically a fine dust of rosin is melted on to the copper plate and when the plate is etched tiny holes  (the space between the dust particles) result. This process can produce very rich blacks as well as subtle greys in the final print, and it is an excellent process for the creation of chiaroscuro, that is the contrast of light and dark, which can create a sense drama and mystery.

I am not sure what my themes are, though I would like to think that I am helping people question their place in the environment ... in relation to both constructed cityscapes and natural landscapes. My work suggests that there are other ways of being in the world, that there are things happening beneath the surface.






AHC: What first drew you to art? Was there a specific moment in your life or turning point where it became clear to you that you were being called to create?

Liz: I don’t remember deciding that I wanted to be an artist, I must have been quite young as one of my school reports, when I was about 6 years old, mentions my love of drawing. My father was also a printmaker and he taught me techniques of both relief and intaglio printmaking so making art was always a part of my life. 





AHC: There is an almost a kafkaesque  quality to your work, which I love, and a deep sense of mystery and shadow play, the scenes are unexpected, like transitions in a dream, what is going on creatively for you as you explore these worlds?  Where does the inspiration lie?

Liz: Images, often fragments, come to me in various ways. It could be something I see- an odd architectural element, shadows in the landscape, a glimpse of something or someone out of a train window.

​I sometimes use a figure which is a cross between a human and an echidna. I live outside a small town in Victoria, Australia on a block of about 20 hectares. We have regenerated the land with gum trees and other native plants so that now kangaroos, wallabies and echidnas often visit us. Echidnas are very quite animals who live harmoniously in the bush. I have felt that we could learn alot from the echidna and so my echidna person evolved.
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Carnevale Aquatint, 30cmx30cm





AHC: Who are some of your influences?

Liz: I admire the work of the Italian Renaissance painters, in particular the Venetians: Titian, Giorgione and Tintoretto. I admire the way in which they were able to use the landscape and the environment along with the figure to express emotion and ideas. Even the air and atmosphere becomes tangibile and expressive in their work.

I also admire Caravaggio for his use of chiaroscuro and for his sense of the dramatic.

​Goya is another influence for me. His etchings ‘Los Desastres de la Guerra’ combine a  condemnation of the cruelty of war with technical expertise, strong composition and drawing. The figures interact silently and with a heavy weight of inevitability.
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Canopy Aquatint, 15cmx 20cm




AHC: Do you have any upcoming  exhibits  or new projects you’d like to tell people about?

Liz: I have just returned from Italy where I had an exhibition in Ortigia in Sicily. This was an exciting event for me, and I hope to show there again.

​I have an exhibition in my home town of Castlemaine from 1 September to 23 October this year at the Falkner Gallery. 



To find more work by Liz Caffin and for further information visit her website at www.lizcaffinprintmaker.com/