Making Nowhere Somewhere

Gail Mallatratt says, ‘I’m a colour person and the longer I live the more I love it and am motivated by it. Colour and stories are best. Colour gives me energy.’The vitality of Gail’s colour printmaking is often startling and even surreal, making the familiar seem new. ‘I hold a dialogue with the print coming off the woodcut’, and there is always an element of surprise for her in the result, causing her to adapt colour and process as the work proceeds.‘One important thing about colour and living with it’, Gail reflects, ‘is that it is relative. It changes depending on what it is next to – a muddy ochre can zing out next to a blue or a black. Burnt Sienna can look bright next to a polished medium-tone oak wood. Water can be grey or brown or blue depending on how the light hits it.’‘I need to wear colour, lots of different ones, to feel right for the day. There is no underestimating its importance to the spirit.’ Born in San Francisco, Gail came to London in 1972 with an English husband and her first child. She has an MA degree from Stanford University in teaching English, and Graphic Design and Information Design degrees from the University of the Arts. She studied printmaking at Camberwell and was awarded an MA degree. Before taking up printmaking full-time Gail worked in Corporate Identity design.