In Memorium

Jörg Schmeisser passed away peacefully in Canberra last week. Jörg was a pivotal figure in the Printmaking Community in the Canberra region and on the broader national and international stage. He was originally invited to the Canberra School of Art by then Director Udo Sellbach in 1978, to set up and develop the Printmaking Studio. Jörg brought with him a passionate engagement with the medium and a remarkable technical rigor and extensive knowledge of both Eastern and Western printmaking traditions to Australia. His enthusiasm and consummate facility informed and influenced generations of students and artists who studied and worked with him over more than a twenty year period. Alongside his teaching he was highly influential in establishing links with local and regional arts communities and facilitating residencies, particularly for indigenous artists and a number of prominent international artists.

A roving curiosity and a deep love of the natural world were abiding themes in his work and underpinned a prolific creative output of this great traveller. Examples of Jörg work are currently on display at the Drill Hall Gallery in the survey exhibition Antartica. Jörg has left us all with a rich and varied legacy, reflected partly in the current resurgence of printmedia with a new generation of visual artists but also in the diversity of exhibitions, residencies and awards focusing on contemporary printmaking. It is this legacy which ensures that though he will be greatly missed, his presence will live on.