Irene Buchanan

Irene Buchanan (2009)

Irene Buchanan [bju: kænen] (born June 28, 1945 as Irene Bollig in Malsch (Karlsruhe district) ) is a German biologist , painter , graphic artist and draftsman . She is particularly dedicated to contemporary woodblock prints , incorporating her point of view as a doctor of biology.

Life

Irene Bollig, married Buchanan , was born in Malsch in 1945. Her father Hubert Bollig was an anthroposophical educator, founder and director of the school and the Waldhaus youth welfare home, and resistance fighter against National Socialism. Her mother Mathilde was a eurythmist and worked in the forest house. Irene Bollig attended the Goetheschule Freie Waldorfschule from 1957 to 1965 . V. in Pforzheim . The curriculum of her school included not only the well-known general education subjects, but also a range of artistic and practical activities from which she was later able to benefit in many ways.

After graduating from high school in 1965, she studied biology and geography for teaching at the University of Tübingen , which she successfully completed in 1971 with the first state examination. She successfully completed her doctoral studies in 1974 with a doctorate in general botany and plant physiology .

In 1975, after her legal clerkship, she passed the second state examination for teaching at grammar schools in biology and geography. This was followed by academic activities at the universities of Tübingen , Glasgow and Darmstadt until 1985 .

In the years 1988/1989 she concentrated her main activity on painting and especially on woodcuts. In the years 1988 to 1995 she dealt increasingly autodidactically with painting and graphics.

From 1993 to 1995 she completed a postgraduate course in special education at the University of Heidelberg . In 1995 the family moved to Merseburg near Halle (Saale) in Saxony-Anhalt , because her husband Thomas Buchanan was appointed professor of computer science at the then Merseburg University of Applied Sciences in 1994 , which later developed into the Merseburg University of Applied Sciences .

In Merseburg she continued her artistic activity as a freelance artist . Furthermore, she has been teaching since 1996 as a lecturer at the University of Merseburg in the department of Social Work.Media.Culture . Since then, the main focuses of her work have been highlighted:

Irene and Thomas Buchanan (2017)

• 1997 Excursion to Egypt: Luxor
• 1998 Egypt cycle (oil paintings and watercolors)
• Excursion to Istanbul
• 1999 computer graphics, foil objects
• Excursion to Rügen
• 2000 woodblock prints "Hall and the salt of the earth"
• 2001 photography "Japan in Germany"
• 2001 foil objects on the subject of Egypt
• Color woodcuts on the subject of brown coal and Geiseltal
• Internet catalog "Computer graphics and objects"
• 2002 Foil objects on the subject of lignite
• 2003 Winter pictures: oil and watercolor; Color woodcut.

Buchanan maintains creative contacts with fellow artists and those interested in art, as well as with artistic institutions.

Irene Buchanan is married to the computer scientist Thomas Buchanan , the couple have a daughter and a son.

Color woodblock prints

Irene Buchanan's colored woodcuts give an old technique a new form of artistic expression. The woodcut is an age-old technique, and as a relief printing process, it is the oldest printing technique. Already known in China in the 9th century, in Europe the woodcut was used as an illustration since the middle of the 15th century in books that were printed with movable type. The woodcuts by Renaissance artists such as Albrecht Dürer are well known .

At the world exhibitions in London in 1862 and in Paris in 1867 , European artists were confronted for the first time with Japanese woodblock prints. These inspired art movements such as the Post-Impressionists, among them Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, as well as Art Nouveau . The newly developed form of the woodcut also became a central theme of Expressionism. Edvard Munch had been working with woodcuts since 1896, inspired by Gauguin's prints, became a pioneer of German expressionism and experimented specifically with the color woodcut technique.

And with the expressionists like Franz Marc or Max Pechstein , who further developed this technique in a completely new and intensive way, one finds back to the woodcuts by Irene Buchanan, who sees her role models in artists like August Macke and Paul Klee . She has found a special inner connection to the works of Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky .

After graduating from high school in 1965, despite her inclination towards artistic design, she decided to study natural sciences. In this phase of life she still lacked the courage and the necessary self-confidence for a professional artistic career. During her studies, however, in addition to biological drawing courses, she also attended painting courses by the Stuttgart artist Kling-Bögler .

However, artistic design, painting and drawing are increasingly becoming a vocation, and since 1988 it has become Irene Buchanan's main activity. In search of her own artistic expression, she met the internationally known artist Esteban Fekete in 1990 , who inspired Irene Buchanan for the technique of color woodcut. The artist was already fascinated by the first attempts to convert pictures into woodcuts and always encouraged her to come up with new variations. In Estaban Fekete, who lived near Darmstadt and in Ireland, Irene Buchanan had found a counselor and teacher with whom she could discuss technical and content-related problems and questions.

The friendship with other artists, such as the Darmstadt professor and painter Hans Meyers , gave inspiration and directions in the search for one's own expression. She participated in a whole series of exhibitions in Pforzheim, Darmstadt, Stuttgart, Malsch, Sezanne, Merseburg, Halle (Saale) and in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.

Combining the expressively curved lines of Franz Marc and the colourfulness of a Max Pechstein in the South Seas, the artist developed her own expressive artistic expression. The color woodcut in particular suits her artistic intentions. In the repeated recombining of shapes and colors and their sequence, series of works of art emerge that are unmatched in their intensity. Serial pictures or picture series that sharpen the eye for a thing or landscape, but which also speak of the inner struggle for the best expression in the picture.

Based on the color woodcut, Irene Buchanan also found her own formal language with paintings (watercolors and oil paintings). The landscapes, flowers, plants and animals testify to a deep connection to nature and the knowledge and understanding of nature. She finds inspiration for her work in nature: flowers, blossoms and plants become lush arrangements of Mediterranean colors. It is not the object itself that determines the visual content of the works. Nature and things are seen with her eyes as a trained biologist and transformed into art under the hands of the artist.

Staying true to her role model Paul Klee, Irene Buchanan rearranges natural things and creates something very special. In the artist Irene Buchanan, the natural scientist (biologist) unites with the painter and graphic artist, a happy combination of knowledge and art, as her works clearly demonstrate. With the woodcut, which has been repeatedly chosen by artists as a means of expression over the centuries, it has reached its own and generally applicable artistic climax, which the contemporary art landscape has little to offer in terms of its artistic and technical quality.

Memberships

• Kunstkreis Malsch e. V.
• Merseburger Kunstverein eV: advisory member of the board
• Hallescher Kunstverein eV
• Association of Hallescher Künstler e. V.

Exhibitions

Personal exhibitions (selection)

• 1996: “Color woodcuts”, Merseburg University of Applied Sciences
• 1996: "Painting and Graphics", gallery in the town hall, Malsch
• 2000: "Color woodcuts", Quedlinburg Castle Museum; "Computer graphics and objects", Sociocultural Center Halle (Saale)
• 2001: “Painting”, Trigon Gallery, Darmstadt; "Journey to Egypt", Opera House Halle (Saale), Hallescher Kunstverein
• 2002: "Color woodcuts", Regional Education Center Rossmarkt, Merseburg
• 2003: "Geiseltal", Pfännerhall, Braunsbedra (with Jörg Hansel, pavilions in the Geiseltal for archaeological excavations); “Color woodcuts”, House for Assisted Living, Bad Dürrenberg
• 2005: "From pebbles and coal - graphics to the Geiseltal", Kulturhistorisches Museum - Merseburg Castle in Merseburg
• 2006: “Color woodcuts and painting”, Zeitz District Court in Zeitz; "Moving forms - moving times", Gottfried Benn Library, Berlin-Zehlendorf
• 2007: “Woodcuts on Bad Dürrenberg”, Borlach Museum, Bad Dürrenberg
• 2008: "Graphics - Color Woodcuts and Drawings", Saale-Sparkasse Halle, Halle; "Preservation of Creation, Challenge and Mission for Man", Project Fire Restoration 7, Weißenfels
• 2009: “Painting and Graphics”, cCe Galerie, Leuna; "Wood cuts", Noah's Ark, 33178 Borchen
• 2018: "Woodcuts" Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis / Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar, Rathaus Schifferstadt.

Participation in exhibitions (selection)

• 2000: "II. Triennale - Art Exhibition Saxony-Anhalt South ”, Moritzburg Castle Museum, Zeitz; "Hall and the salt of the earth", competition Hallescher Kunstverein
• 2002: "Reflections", competition Hallescher Kunstverein; "III. Triennale - Art Exhibitions Saxony-Anhalt South ”, Merseburg Castle Museum; "Orient in Halle", nt gallery, Halle (Saale); "How much earth does a person need", 27th Leipzig Graphics Exchange, Handelshof Leipzig; Germanisches Museum Nürnberg 2002/2003; Saxon State Parliament, Dresden
• 2003: "Kamtschatka - it doesn't go any further", Association of Halle Artists; "Such a theater", nt-Galarie, Halle (Saale)
• 2004: “Art is everywhere”, cCe Galerie, Leuna
• 2008: "Bilderfluss", Pikanta eV, Leipzig; "V. Trienale Saxony-Anhalt South ”; University of Applied Sciences Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Detmold
• 2009: “Retrospective 10 Years Gallery at cCe Leuna”, cCe Galerie, Leuna; "V. Trienale Saxony-Anhalt South ”, Museum Schloss-Moritzburg Zeitz, Zeitz
• 2019: "XV. Work exhibition of the Merseburg Art Association ”, Schlossgarten Salon, Merseburg.

Works by Irene Buchanan are in private collections in Germany and the USA .

Publications (selection)

• Irene Bollig: Is the time measurement for photoperiodic reactions carried out by the circadian clock? A new test of the Bünning hypothesis. State examination thesis, University of Tübingen 1970.
• Irene Bollig: Photoperiodic time measurement and circadian leaf movement in Pharbitis nil controlled by the same clock? Z. Plant Physiol. 1975, pp. 54-69.
• Irene Bollig: Different Circadian Rhythms Regulate Photoperiodic Flowering Response and Leaf Movement in Pharbitis nil (L.) Choisy. Planta, vol. 135, no. 2 (1977), pp. 137-142.
• Catalog: Computer Graphics and Objects. 44 pages, 3.85 KB, 2001.
• Thomas and Irene Buchanan (editors and copyright): Irene Buchanan, color woodcuts 1990–2003. 57 pages, 212.2 MB, 2004. [3]
• Kristin Otto (Ed.), Rüdiger Giebler (Contributor), Irene Buchanan (Illustrator): 5th Triennial Art Exhibition Saxony-Anhalt South. Moritzburg Zeitz Castle Museum; September 27, 2008 to January 11, 2009. Hasenverlag, Halle (Saale) 2008, ISBN 978-3-939468-50-9 .

literature

• Woodcuts [4]
• Irene Buchanan - Hallescher Kunstverein e. V. [5]
• Imprint Merkunst - the association [6]
• Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis - Vernissage of the exhibition "Wood cuts" by Irene Buchanan - /// METROPOLIC REGION RHEIN-NECKAR NEWS & EVENTS - MRN-News [7]

Web links

Commons : Irene Buchanan  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Irene Buchanan in the catalog of the German National Library
• Irene Buchanan's website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Irene Buchanan: Notes on the technique of the color woodcut. In: Thomas and Irene Buchanan (editor and copyright): Irene Buchanan, color woodcuts 1990-2003. 57 pages, 212.2 MB, 2004, pp. 8-10. [1]
2. ↑ Christian Siegel: Color woodcuts by Irene Buchanan. In: Thomas and Irene Buchanan (editor and copyright): Irene Buchanan, color woodcuts 1990-2003. 57 pages, 212.2 MB, 2004, pp. 5-7. [2]