“When a certain government minister uttered the flippant comment, “if there is a mining opportunity and it’s impeded by a blind frog, goodbye, Freddy”, he raised the hackles of many, including mine.”
Printmaker Toni Hartill has channelled that rage into her own political statement: a stunning original handmade linocut print of Archey’s frog, the world’s most evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered amphibian species. Archey’s frog is only found in two locations in the North Island, and they are notably in the way of fast-track plans to expand Oceanagold mining operations in the Coromandel.
An ancient species, Archey’s frogs are endemic to Aotearoa, and the smallest of our three remaining frogs at less than 4cm long. They can’t croak, have no ear drums, and hatch as froglets with tails. Their markings are so unique and distinctive that they can be used to identify individual frogs.
“Brushing aside a threatened species, as an impediment to economic progress, disregards the importance of any such species as an important element in our ecosystem, no matter how tiny or inconspicuous.
“By shining a spotlight on ‘Archey’, I hope to raise awareness of their plight as they battle against predators, disease, environmental challenges, and now, economic imperatives.”
Archey’s frogs being so tiny, ‘Toni’s’ Archey needed to be hugely scaled up to be the centrepiece of the image. His surroundings therefore needed to scale up as well, leading Toni to spend time studying various mosses and other tiny plants up close so she could enlarge these in the composition. A walk to the Fairy Falls in Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges provided inspiration and reference photographs.
“I became fascinated with the huge variety of mosses and their many different patterns and leaf structures. I really wanted to create a feeling of a lush mossy mound.”
Toni prepares her preferred choice of battle-ship grey, hessian-backed lino by sanding it with fine wet-and-dry sandpaper (with water) to remove the plastic surface and any hint of a machined texture. This gives a nice matte surface to work on which holds the ink better, giving a more even print.
She then stains the lino with a coat of thinned Indian ink to make it easier to see the pencil drawing and to see clearly what she’s carving. Rather than pre-planning all of the detail and markings, Toni works this out as she carves, with scraps of lino to the side that she can use to warm up and practice making marks.
To enable lengthy sessions of carving lino, Toni has a sloped desk that she built by repurposing her children’s wooden art easel, so she can work standing up and have all her tools within easy reach.
“It’s really worth taking the time to ensure you have a comfortable set up for working to avoid straining your body. Once I begin carving I become quite obsessed – excited to see the progress yet on tenterhooks, hoping I won’t mess up!”
She carves using Flexcut micro tools and a selection of very fine Pfiel tools, which she never sharpens but keeps constantly honed using leather strops and the handy Flexcut Slip Strop tool. For more organic textures, Toni uses a Dremel-type rotary tool with a very fine burr – this is what she used to create Archey’s textures.
Toni started with a limited edition of 15 prints, for which she chose to mix a dark earthy brown and print onto Tiepolo printmaking paper, which is “ever so slightly creamy” in colour. She tore the paper to be slightly smaller than the lino block and printed the image right to the edge.
“Previously I’ve printed an image of this size onto larger paper, leaving a white border, however, while testing a number of variations for this image I really liked the effect of it being printing to the very edge of the torn paper, with the intention that it would be float mounted in a frame.”
Before committing to this decision, she took three different coloured prints to the framers to experiment with available framing options and choose which option she most preferred for the effect she was aiming for.
“Taking the time to do this resolved any doubts I was feeling about my decision which meant I felt confident to go ahead and print the edition.”
The end result: an original, handmade linocut print, with just 15 printed using an etching press. Each print is signed and numbered on the front in pencil.
“I enjoyed printing this image so much and so wanted to experiment with different colours and different papers. I happened to have some beautiful yellow mulberry paper so I mixed a mossy green colour and printed onto some carefully torn sheets.”
There are just six prints in the limited edition moss green Charbonnel ink on yellow mulberry paper with torn deckle edges. Each print is signed and numbered on the front in pencil.
Toni’s work Archey’s Stand is currently featured in Towards Predator Free NZ 2050, an exhibition showing at the Estuary Arts Centre in Orewa, in partnership with Forest & Bird, one of New Zealand’s longest- standing conservation organisations.
On until 25 October, the exhibition brings together a collective of six specialist tutors and 40 artists, each committed to producing work that reflects the central theme: the ecological damage caused by invasive introduced species and the work being done to help ameliorate it. The works explore the fragility of native species such as birds, frogs, geckos, skinks, weta, bats, and snails, and interpret the deep cultural, environmental, and emotional connections we have with them.
The Predator Free NZ Trust website has ways you can join the movement to protect Aotearoa New Zealand’s unique environment for generations to come.
Coromandel Watchdog has a petition you can sign to add your voice to the call for immediate action to strengthen the Wildlife Act 1953 to prioritise the protection of Aotearoa New Zealand’s unique species and remove clauses from the Act which fail to protect native species, along with other ways you can help protect Archey’s frogs on their website.
Printmaker Toni Hartill has channelled that rage into her own political statement: a stunning original handmade linocut print of Archey’s frog, the world’s most evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered amphibian species. Archey’s frog is only found in two locations in the North Island, and they are notably in the way of fast-track plans to expand Oceanagold mining operations in the Coromandel.
An ancient species, Archey’s frogs are endemic to Aotearoa, and the smallest of our three remaining frogs at less than 4cm long. They can’t croak, have no ear drums, and hatch as froglets with tails. Their markings are so unique and distinctive that they can be used to identify individual frogs.
“Brushing aside a threatened species, as an impediment to economic progress, disregards the importance of any such species as an important element in our ecosystem, no matter how tiny or inconspicuous.
“By shining a spotlight on ‘Archey’, I hope to raise awareness of their plight as they battle against predators, disease, environmental challenges, and now, economic imperatives.”
Designing the image
Archey’s frogs being so tiny, ‘Toni’s’ Archey needed to be hugely scaled up to be the centrepiece of the image. His surroundings therefore needed to scale up as well, leading Toni to spend time studying various mosses and other tiny plants up close so she could enlarge these in the composition. A walk to the Fairy Falls in Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges provided inspiration and reference photographs.
“I became fascinated with the huge variety of mosses and their many different patterns and leaf structures. I really wanted to create a feeling of a lush mossy mound.”
Carving the lino
Toni prepares her preferred choice of battle-ship grey, hessian-backed lino by sanding it with fine wet-and-dry sandpaper (with water) to remove the plastic surface and any hint of a machined texture. This gives a nice matte surface to work on which holds the ink better, giving a more even print.
She then stains the lino with a coat of thinned Indian ink to make it easier to see the pencil drawing and to see clearly what she’s carving. Rather than pre-planning all of the detail and markings, Toni works this out as she carves, with scraps of lino to the side that she can use to warm up and practice making marks.
To enable lengthy sessions of carving lino, Toni has a sloped desk that she built by repurposing her children’s wooden art easel, so she can work standing up and have all her tools within easy reach.
“It’s really worth taking the time to ensure you have a comfortable set up for working to avoid straining your body. Once I begin carving I become quite obsessed – excited to see the progress yet on tenterhooks, hoping I won’t mess up!”
She carves using Flexcut micro tools and a selection of very fine Pfiel tools, which she never sharpens but keeps constantly honed using leather strops and the handy Flexcut Slip Strop tool. For more organic textures, Toni uses a Dremel-type rotary tool with a very fine burr – this is what she used to create Archey’s textures.
Planning the printing
Toni started with a limited edition of 15 prints, for which she chose to mix a dark earthy brown and print onto Tiepolo printmaking paper, which is “ever so slightly creamy” in colour. She tore the paper to be slightly smaller than the lino block and printed the image right to the edge.
“Previously I’ve printed an image of this size onto larger paper, leaving a white border, however, while testing a number of variations for this image I really liked the effect of it being printing to the very edge of the torn paper, with the intention that it would be float mounted in a frame.”
Before committing to this decision, she took three different coloured prints to the framers to experiment with available framing options and choose which option she most preferred for the effect she was aiming for.
“Taking the time to do this resolved any doubts I was feeling about my decision which meant I felt confident to go ahead and print the edition.”
Inking up
The end result: an original, handmade linocut print, with just 15 printed using an etching press. Each print is signed and numbered on the front in pencil.
A second variation in green
“I enjoyed printing this image so much and so wanted to experiment with different colours and different papers. I happened to have some beautiful yellow mulberry paper so I mixed a mossy green colour and printed onto some carefully torn sheets.”
There are just six prints in the limited edition moss green Charbonnel ink on yellow mulberry paper with torn deckle edges. Each print is signed and numbered on the front in pencil.
Toni’s work Archey’s Stand is currently featured in Towards Predator Free NZ 2050, an exhibition showing at the Estuary Arts Centre in Orewa, in partnership with Forest & Bird, one of New Zealand’s longest- standing conservation organisations.
On until 25 October, the exhibition brings together a collective of six specialist tutors and 40 artists, each committed to producing work that reflects the central theme: the ecological damage caused by invasive introduced species and the work being done to help ameliorate it. The works explore the fragility of native species such as birds, frogs, geckos, skinks, weta, bats, and snails, and interpret the deep cultural, environmental, and emotional connections we have with them.
How can you do your bit for Archey’s frogs?
The Predator Free NZ Trust website has ways you can join the movement to protect Aotearoa New Zealand’s unique environment for generations to come.
Coromandel Watchdog has a petition you can sign to add your voice to the call for immediate action to strengthen the Wildlife Act 1953 to prioritise the protection of Aotearoa New Zealand’s unique species and remove clauses from the Act which fail to protect native species, along with other ways you can help protect Archey’s frogs on their website.
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