Sketchbook Tour: Molly Rooke

Based in Exeter, artist Molly Rooke brings her knack for printmaking to the pages of her Volume 16 sketchbook, “This Could All Be Yours.” Each of these pages contain delicate arrangements of prints, collaged archival images, and geometric shapes and patterns that create playful dynamics of color and form.

Over the years, Rooke’s creative practice has reckoned with such visual interrelationships, using the layered surfaces and multiplicity of prints to produce works rich with ephemera. From postcards to stacks of newspapers, Rooke skillfully manipulates familiar elements of graphic design and elevates them through experiments of abstraction. One of Molly’s recent screen-printed series, “Making the most of our time here,” heightens the organic beauty of seashells through a prismatic effect of thermography, alchemizing the traditional format of scientific illustrations.

Rooke’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows across the United Kingdom and her prints are in the collections of the British Museum, the Royal College of Art Print Collection, and Jeremy Cooper's Artists' Postcard Collection. A co-founder of commercial studio Pigeon Print, you can see more of Molly’s work on her website and keep up with her latest projects through her Instagram.