Golder-Thompson Viewing

Rabley Gallery had a special morning visit from Mark Golder and Brian Thompson of the ‘Golder-Thompson Gift’  to discuss new acquisitions and gifts. 

Over the past two decades these laudable partners and philanthropists have collected and donated hundreds of prints to public museums and galleries to be enjoyed by the public. Mark has a very keen eye, great knowledge, and an ability to remind us of prints seen perhaps ten or more years ago, alongside relishing newly printed editions.

We revisited the beautiful woodcut prints by Sadie Tierney in the Rabley Gallery plan chest, many made at Rabley Drawing Centre during the artist’s residency in 2017.

Process

Sadie Tierney utilises the printmaking medium of woodcut as she would the sketchbook page, her lines cut with all the nuances, energy and excitement of the original drawings made on location.

These woodblocks blocks are often jig-cut, like a jigsaw puzzle, with each colour being printed separately, sometimes in a blend of delicate chroma. The sky-lines nod to the Bokashi techniques of the 19th century Japanese printmakers that inspire her – Hokusai and Hiroshigi.

Fujisan 7

In Fujisan 7 you can see the bokashi (blend of colours) visually rippling the surface, and enhancing our understanding of how this relates to the famous Hokusai image of Mount Fuji.

Editions Variable

Woodcut prints like Cruise are Editions Variable (EV), this means that each print in the edition has been made in a different colour palette and is unique but tied by the jigged blocks that make the image.

Joie de vivre

Tierney gives us a love of life, whether it’s climbing up an icy mountain road in sight of the Alps ahead, or promenading the boardwalk entertained by a fairground.

In Starry Mantle Boardwalk Triptych, the big wheel, carousel and rollercoaster thrill us with their colour and vivacity, while in Starflyer, we teeter on a tightrope.

Sadie Tierney

Sadie Tierney will be exhibiting in ‘Pines under the Moon’ with Rabley Gallery at 155a Gallery, London from 26 Nov – 19 Dec 2026.