Artist Spotlight

Manja Scott

Every few weeks we spotlight an individual artist within our portfolio. For the next few weeks the spotlight will be on Manja Scott, printmaker.

Manja was born in Croatia and has been strongly influenced by the vibrant designs and colours of traditional Slavic folk culture. As a young adult the culture and natural environment of Ethiopia, Zambia and Kenya had a tremendous impact. Africa became her home for almost twenty years, a country to which she regularly returns. Having begun dancing in her childhood she later trained as both dancer and choreographer. As a result, the relationship between forms, their rhythm, colour and texture – particularly evident in Manja’s abstract work – is physically felt rather than solely a cerebral process.

The extraordinary range of techniques and media possible in printmaking hold a fascination for Manja who has focused on printmaking and painting for the past ten years. By varying the qualities and weights of paper the absorption of different colours and types of ink are altered making quantifiable differences to the appearance of the final work. Her techniques of linocut, drypoint and chine collé are masterly combined with her refined sense of colour. However, it is her characteristic use of carborundum which makes her prints both abstract and figurative immediately recognisable. When carborundum grit and strong glue are made into a paste and drawn onto the plate and allowed to dry, the inks applied afterwards will be absorbed to varying degrees creating deep colour and texture.

Birds are a huge feature in Manja’s figurative work representing a love of nature and a celebration for life, an aspiration of freedom. Similarly, the form of a line in her abstract work or a particular hue chosen will create a corresponding feeling of being uplifted, of lightness, in the viewer.

As a printmaker Manja will produce short print-runs of a particular image – between 12 and 40 before the original plate is destroyed. Her work has been shown all over the world. We normally have some of her work for sale at all the art fairs and exhibitions that we curate.