Barry Cottrell

BARRY COTTRELL

burin engravings on copper

	catalogue of engravings: about the artist




						Born 1953 in Bristol, England, I studied psychology and philosophy at Oxford University and art at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art. I am also a researcher and writer: in 2008 my book, The Way Beyond The Shaman – Birthing A New Earth Consciousness was published by O Books now under Moon Books imprint. Engraving and shamanism are both ancient practices and over the years I have been exploring ways in which they can communicate to us today. My recent project, Totem Body, continued this exploratory synthesis of consciousness research with image. For exhibitions on this theme please see below.

Engraving

From 2011 to 2014 I researched the origins of engraving as a PhD research project at Aberystwyth University.

In November 2007 I had two solo exhibitions of engravings, one The Driven Line at Christ Church Picture Gallery, in Oxford, and the other The Driven Line@Lessedra at Lessedra Gallery & Contemporary Art Projects in Sofia, Bulgaria .

The 'driven line' refers to the technique of pushing the burin through the copper plate. For more information about engraving and intaglio printmaking with some illustrations of my work see Mychael Barratt's handbook Intaglio Printmaking.

The Totem Body project

In early 2011 I had two solo exhibitions in the UK on the theme of Totem Body, one Totems and Transformations at Quay Arts, in Newport on the Isle of Wight; the other was Totem Body at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre in Scunthorpe, an exhibition of selected recent monoprints including the Wounded Animal series.

In June 2011 I curated and exhibited in Totem Body at the Crypt Gallery, London, a group exhibition exhibition celebrating our 'creature consciousness.' There is more information about this exhibition on the project website.