Every year we produce a calendar to exhibit some of our more specialised printing skills and showcase the talents of a remarkable New Zealand creative. For our 2019/20 effort, Erin Forsyth has provided a series of exquisite illustrations featuring NZ native species.
The works printed in our calendar come from Erin’s ‘A Few’ exhibition, which was held last year. A variety of flora and fauna are represented in this collection with special attention given to purerehua/butterflies (lepidoptera), manu/birds (avifauna), pekapeka/bats (chiroptera) and rakau/trees.
Erin’s not only famous for her nature illustrations. She also produces contemporary works, including sculptures, which reference traditional and contemporary symbolism, archetypes and anecdotes. Her comically dark illustrations have graced walls, cafes, clothing and album covers.
In recent months we’ve helped Erin produce two journals – Tauhou Volume 1 and Rakau, Trees A-Z. The words featured in our calendar are from her Tauhou series. Here’s Erin’s explanation of her Tauhou concept:
“Tauhou is a publishing concept that combines refreshed information and contemporary natural history illustrations of plants, animals and ecosystems - the biological diversity - of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
The motivation for works in this series is to ease accessibility to information regarding the flora, fauna and varied environments of this special place, with an aim toward increasing awareness of their cultural and scientific significance, as well as the threats and challenges they face, to increase active engagement with their protection for prosperity.
Illustrations in the Tauhou series are hand-drawn studies in gouache, graphite or ink paired with basic and factual descriptions.”
CarboNZero(CertTM) printing
This new calendar has been produced using our carbon neutral printing service, which means that carbon inputs associated with paper, inks, waste, finishing, transport and the electricity used by the printing technology have been neutralised through New Zealand carbon offset programmes.
Visit Erin Forsyth’s website.
See an online catalogue of ‘A Few’
Find out more about sustainable printing with Soar.
