Elke Thönnes

A native of Cologne, Germany, Elke Thönnes studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Kassel before  moving to Ireland in1988, graduating from the National College of Art and Design in 1991 with an  honours degree in Fine Art-Painting. Her practice includes painting and sculpture, but she is  primarily a printmaker, based at Graphic Studio Dublin. Thönnes has exhibited widely in Germany and Ireland and her work is held in the collections of Ireland's Office of Public Works, Queens  University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin, National Library of Ireland, The British Library, Dublin  City University. Thonnes was recently commissioned to make to make a series of prints for the  Davenport Hotel, Dublin.

"My work is largely influenced by my emigration to Ireland, by the tension between the loss of familiarity with language, culture, and habitation and the excitement of exploration. The search for a grounding and a structure leads me to explore maps that, apart from their inherent beauty, also serve as a key to understanding the history and development of urban spaces and the surrounding landscape. When I moved to Ireland my work changed dramatically, from being almost exclusively abstract to becoming at least in part quite figurative, exploring Irish landscape and architecture.

Having grown up in a country that is almost entirely landlocked, the sea is an immense draw for me and often features in my work. I use various approaches and techniques for these prints including monoprinting, carborundum, etching, and photo intaglio. "