Sophie Westerman - APW/JNHAT Lithography Scholarship recipient 2015
“The APW James Northfield Trust Lithography Scholarship has been an enormous opportunity for me to develop as an artist, both in terms of my technical abilities as a printmaker and in regards to developing a new body of work…Although my research into lithography through books has been extremely helpful, nothing comes close to learning through doing. I have learnt so much in working in the APW Open Access Studio and have come out at the end a more confident and skilled printmaker. The series of lithographs that I produced are the beginnings of new body of work I hope to continue to develop and expand in the future… I cannot express how important this opportunity has been to me, but I am sure it’s significant effects will only become more apparent in time…”
Three Letters to N
A series of three lithographs that each represent a letter sent to the same person over the space of 5 years.
Sophie Westermann, L to R, oooooooooooo, 2015, lithograph, 38 x 52cm, List, 2015, lithograph, 38 x 53cm, Yakkity, 2015, lithograph, 38 x 52cm.
Sophie Westerman makes work that has a narrative, whose content is often inspired by playwriting and short fiction, as well drawn from personal experiences. She thinks about time, space and memory, and in particular how we decide to memorialise our lives and things we have lost. Her images have a quiet presence and their minimal compositions are charged with emotion. Her work wears its heart on its sleeve, while keeping you at a safe distance.
Westerman completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Arts (Creative Writing) at the University of Melbourne. She was awarded the Print Council of Australia Print Commission in 2016 and James Northfield Lithography Scholarship from the Australian Print Workshop in 2015. Her most recent body of work, 'I think we were friends once, maybe', was exhibited at Port Jackson Press in 2019. She is also a founding member of 5 Press, a collective of five Melbourne based artists formed with the intention of investigating the artist book form, through traditional printmaking and book binding techniques. They have participated in a number of art book fairs around Australia including the Melbourne Art Book Fair, Singapore Art Book Fair and Sydney Contemporary Art Fair in 2019.
