Terrie Reddish is an artist, printer and bookbinder. Using restored tools and vintage equipment she creates unique artists books, broadsheets and prints. Her artwork is often three dimensional and loosely based on book structures. Paper is her main medium. It might be book board, marbled paper, Japanese tissue paper, handmade paper or recycled. Tyvek and Kraft-tex occasionally make an appearance, although they are not technically ‘paper’. Gold foil, fabric and leather feature as well.
“I am inspired by nature but I also love the play of words, the shapes and negative spaces of letters and the third dimension of printing and book binding.”
Terrie’s journey into the art world started in 2002 when she began drawing with coloured pencils. Within a short time her largely self-taught skills focused on depicting botanically accurate New Zealand native flora. She was awarded a gold medal at the Royal Horticultural Society’s December 2008 Show. Because of her obvious talent and the finely detailed nature of her drawings, the RHS’s Lindley Library purchased one of her gold-medal drawings for its teaching library. Dr Shirley Sherwood, the world’s leading collector of botanical art, added one of Terrie’s medal winning drawings to her comprehensive private collection of twentieth century contemporary botanical art and the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in America has another in it’s collection.
Formerly a procurement manager with the country’s largest city council, Auckland City, Terrie and her husband Steve moved to Hawke’s Bay for a lifestyle change in 2008. For the next eight years she taught procurement to central and local government staff throughout New Zealand before deciding to concentrate on developing her art beyond botanical drawing.
In 2013 Terrie purchased her Cropper Charlton Franklin proofing press from a retired letterpress printer who patiently guided her through the steep learning curve of a acquiring a new ‘language’ and using restored equipment. In 2018, she purchased a 100-year-old Kelsey Star platen jobber press from another letterpress printer who has provided continuous support and encouragement. The Star will be used for print work where more prints are required, and hand inking becomes onerous. Terrie’s preference is to use oil-based inks on handmade paper for printing.
The press name, Imprimo, is from the Latin verb meaning ‘I press’ or ‘I print’.