Rodney Harris- Relief Print Show at Bristol University

This week, Spike Print Studio was invited to the Private View of Rodney Harris’s exhibition at the Wills Memorial Tower, Bristol University.

Bristol based artist Rodney Harris  joined the School of Earth Sciences in January 2015 for a creative collaboration between himself and staff as well as students in the School. The artist in residence project explored the potential for using geological materials as artistic media to create a contemporary interpretation of Smith’s original geological map. 

William Smith was one of the forefathers of modern mapping. He was the first to establish and apply the principles of ‘strata’ and ‘faunal succession’ and he developed a colour-coding method to visualise topographic data with geological and stratigraphic information. 200 years later we are looking back at Smith’s life and work and how it changed the way we understand the rocks beneath our feet today.

The exhibition is open to the public and can be viewed as part of the Wills Memorial Tower Tours. Please contact tour guide Gary Knott to make a booking.

Telephone: +44 (0)117 954 5219
Email: tower-tours@bristol.ac.uk
Work hours: Monday to Friday, 8 am – 4 pm

Text from University of Bristol website

Detail of Smith’s Map produced as part of the Leverhulme Artist in Residence at Bristol University. Rodney developed a unique technique of printing with crushed rock instead of ink.  Each area is printed with the rock from the place.

Print made from coal dust, of a fossil fern, which turns into coal over time.

Radiator, cast out of Somerset coal.

Text and Images from Rodney’s Leverhulme Artist in Residence Facebook page.