Paul West was interviewed by Computer Arts magazine about his art etching series “Silent Voices”. The full page features in Issue 249 which was out on 8th Jan.

Here it is in full:-

“The tree lies at the heart of all tribal cultures,” says artist Paul West. “The Anglo-Saxon word ‘treow’ means both ‘tree’ and ‘truth’, and the Cherokee tribe called trees ‘standing people’, who provided witness for contracts between people from marriages to pledges.”

Silent Voices is a two-part project comprising 12 etchings and large-format charcoal drawings, plus an ‘ambient’ installation distributing leaves printed with messages across city spaces. “The new works imagine the trees listening to our thoughts, whispering back to us with their leaves in the wind,” explains West.

The etchings are based on scans and photos of real leaves, converted to bitmaps in Photoshop and etched onto zinc plates – a process that West found enjoyably hands-on. The leaf messages were screen-printed using water-based non-toxic ink. “It was the hope that out of the scores of leaves that were distributed, only a couple may be found, and the connection that might be made with those people.” he says.

Silent Voices can be seen in their entirety and are available to buy from www.p-west.co.uk