Jo Giddens

Artist Statement

A huge interest in typographic forms and wordsmithing gives great power when integrated into printed works, maybe on cloth or beautiful printmaking paper. I have no desire to mass produce anything I create and embrace slow media techniques, tools, and machinery such as Letter Press, Typewriters, Woodcut and more recently Wood lithography (Mokulito) to make my limited-edition artworks.

Nearly always the inspiration for a new work comes from my writing —a simple haiku or something I’ve been reading and often from observations of what is going on around me. Every day I write in journals and document events – major and completely ordinary – as snap shots of time and place.

My years of teaching fashion design, pattern-making and then Graphic Design has a major influence in the aesthetic of my works. I have my own style and the confidence to discover new ways of creating contemporary works that are unique and hopefully always inspiring.