Marina Elphick

Drawing and creating have been a major part of Marina’s life since a young age. It was always her aim to be a working artist as a way of expressing her love for life and colour.

Marina became interested in batik at an early stage of her career and was captivated and greatly inspired by its possibilities and potential. Batik is a traditional art form originating from Indonesia where wax is used as a dye resist to produce intricate designs on cotton.

When she was studying textiles at Goldsmiths College in the early eighties, art had become dominated by minimalist and conceptual ideas. Video art and installations were keenly endorsed and encouraged, even in the Textiles Department and her work was openly criticised as being unfashionable and representational by some and she found little support.

Batik was something that she wanted to explore in a contemporary way. Marina felt that there was so much more scope for experimentation as well as pushing the technique to its limits in terms of achieving the detail, vibrancy and subtlety of painting. She wanted to paint figuratively and expressively like the Old Masters, but with hot wax and dye.

Marina’s batiks have attracted favourable attention in the wider world, allowing her to make a living as an illustrator for several years utilising batik’s unique qualities to achieve some special works.

She has run batik workshops, demonstrations and given tuition in many schools and Art colleges. These have always been received enthusiastically and she enjoys the response, and feedback from all ages.

Recently, since moving from London to The Weald, she has exhibited in local galleries and open shows. Most of her sales are commissioned portraits or floral works and she continues to run small, individually arranged workshops in batik, portraiture and drawing.

Currently Marina is working on a new series of themed portraits on paper, using watercolour and wax resist, in a similar approach to batik, layering the colours from pale to deeper shades. She continues to experiment with new techniques and other mediums while not letting go of the vivid qualities and resonance that batik have always inspired in her.

To view more of Marina’s work please visit www.marinaelphick.co.uk