Maya McMahon-Boon is the Graduate Award Printmaker 2025 ~
Upon graduating from the Glasgow School of Art’s ‘Painting and Printmaking’ pathway, I felt a true momentum to continue walking a tightrope between the two, and to resume developing a confident and diverse portfolio for which I believe my final year work was the foundations. An important aspect of this investigation is a collection of intaglio works on calico, which when exhibited, are presented on canvas stretchers. My practice aims to highlight the physicalness of the materials, whilst plainly showcasing colour, form and mark-making. By presenting prints more unconventionally, my practice converses in multiple visual languages. Artists I look to, include Victoria Ahrens and Bronwen Sleigh; both work across expanded printmaking, sculpture and installation.
After my degree show, I showed some of this series at the Bankside Gallery with LOOP Printmakers (September 2024). I also have an upcoming feature in Printmaking Today (Autumn 2024) in recognition of my expanded practice. I feel very excited to continue exploring and developing this body of work and to continue experimenting with fabric as a surface in the intaglio process. This award would allow me to share a large collection of my work with a new audience who are fully engaged in contemporary printmaking. It would also offer a fantastic opportunity for support both professionally, and conceptually and invite new conversations around my work to start. My longer-term goal is to really push the boundaries of printmaking through process, materials and composition. Currently, I am constructing monotypes on calico as well as trialling a reduction print, using etching plates.
