Diane Masters Printmaker

I’ve spent many years as a scuba diver, observing the changes to our natural underwater world.

The marine environment features strongly in my work. I have worked with CSIRO scientists, looking at plankton and the effect of plastics and microplastics in our oceans and waterways.

I feel I have a special affinity with island life. I have lived in rural and coastal Tasmania, as well as other islands, for more than 40 years. Being a resident of an island state within an island continent, I feel a strong connection to place. I am concerned about human impact on these beautiful, unique, and isolated but vulnerable environments.

I settled in Hobart in 2008, and immediately enrolled at the University of Tasmania. I completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts, followed by my Masters in Fine Art and Design (Printmaking). I work mainly as a printmaker using etching and aquatint techniques.

I have particularly enjoyed using the elements to create my etching plates. This highly experimental, fun, and often surprising work involves the immersion of steel etching plates within the environment. I have burnt plates in the bush, suspended plates in the River Derwent, hung them in trees, and buried them in soil where they have been left for months to etch naturally.