Walter Oltmann
Born in 1960, Walter Oltmann holds a BA (Fine Arts), from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg (1981) and a MA (Fine Arts) from the University of the Witwatersrand (1985). His father worked as a civil servant and the family moved from one remote area of Kwa-Zulu Natal to the next. This migratory lifestyle exposed Walter Oltmann to the rich craft tradition of rural South Africa.
Walter Oltmann’s work can be divided into two main areas of practice: drawing (pencil, ink and bleach) and sculpture (wire work). He is a master at manipulating both two-dimensional and three-dimensional line. A thread runs through the prints that he has made at The Artists’ Press. After his first session at the press he commented: “While I have dabbled with lithography, this is my first real adventuring into it. The thread of the pencil line moves into wire which moves into polymer plate and then is transferred onto paper. Mark helped me to find a way to translate the delicacy of lace and wire work into a suitable print media via letterpress. This was unexpected, a nice discovery!”
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