OFF SCREEN / ON SCREEN

ARTIST, APRILLE ZAMMIT, SHARES HER STORY OF SPENDING SUMMERS WITH HER TALENTED GRANDMA AND HER SCREEN-PRINTING SKILLS WITH US.

This past March, I fulfilled a dream of mine to exhibit alongside my grandmother Rose Nygaard, an abstract expressionist artist. We created a body of work together. I layered my work on top of her paintings to represent a continuum of her approach. I extracted elements forming the composition or the landscape of Rose’s art pieces and formed a symbiotic expression by layering the extractions in the form of lines and shapes onto the original art piece. I grew up spending my summers in my grandmother's studio. I observed her get lost in a world of colours and this had a huge influence on my creative career.

This sparked my interest; I was a creative child, modelling playdoh, spending hours making cards and drawing with markers. While at Verdala International School, I started to take it seriously, did an IB in Arts and applied to various art schools to continue my education. I attended Virginia Commonwealth University, the number one public arts school in the USA and started my degree in fine arts.

While there I was exposed to the screen printing process, which I discovered allowed me to output my designs and creations by hand. Eventually, I convinced the department to allow me to officially study the subject and I left with a BFA in Graphic Design, with a Minor in Printmaking.

Moving bac k to Malta, I was disappointed by the lack of a communal printmaking space where artists could work together and share the use of equipment and facilities. It is one of my goals to create such a space. In th e meantime, I have a studio in Fgura where I w ork and run workshops for a growing number of enthusiasts.

The people that come to my workshops – which are limited to 4 people at a time - are generally novices. However, there is interest from people studying fashion or illustration as well. I also welcome tourists and holidaymakers to book a half-day session to come and create a memory of their trip to Malta. The finished pieces dry quickly and are light to carry too. Another benefit is the paint is water-based so it washes out easily if a splash or spillage onto clothing does occur.

Screen-printing is a really great way to relax; you briefly switch off and slow down from the fast-paced modern bustle. You don’t need your phone, it’s a way to create some space for mindfulness, it’s calming, and you can take your time to play, make a mess, trace and draw by hand and focus on enjoying the creative process.

I spend half my year in my studio and half crewing on yachts. This balance enables me to use the time on board to collect images and inspiration, sketch and plan, and when I’m back in the studio, I can evoke the memories and emotions of the sea in my work.

I create a set of limited edition screen prints each year to raise funds for a voluntary organisation. I got the privilege of meeting Jane Goodall at a young age and it inspired me to use my creativity for good.

Most recently, I did a series for the rain forest fires, a Black Lives Matter edition for the migrant women in Malta and last year I sold works for Ukraine. In 2023 I’m planning a series for a sea life nonprofit organisation.

My work is almost entirely inspired by nature, with reverence to the sea. My work often invokes a feeling of hope and appreciation for what we have, a tribute to the ever-changing present. I believe the creative process should be free-flowing, like the sea, where one is left to play around with ideas unrestricted, creating space for them to form. Tying in with my love for the analogue nature of screen printing, I am also passionate about film photography. The most exciting aspect of both processes is that you never really know exactly how a piece is going to turn out, and that unknown, that seeing it come to life, that is what keeps me hooked. Every single piece is unique and has its own beautiful imperfections. I sometimes combine my photography and screen printing together to create layered pieces, or I may also use the images as stencils.

The perfection of machine printing is just not for me.

@aprillezammit www.aprillezammit.com

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