David Morrish is a visual artist whose eclectic practice began with Environmental Studies at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture (1971-74). He earned his BFA Honours in Photography from the University of Manitoba (1981) and MFA from the University of Calgary (1985).
Before art school, Morrish worked as an apprentice and journeyman carpenter in the 1970s, developing the woodworking skills that continue to influence his current studio practice.
Morrish taught photography and its history and practice beginning in 1985 in Calgary, then Sackville, NB (1987-8), before becoming Full Professor of Art at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Grenfell Campus, Corner Brook (1989-2016).
In the early 1990s, Morrish and his partner, fellow printmaker-photographer Marlene MacCallum, began their research into the nearly extinct process of copper-plate photogravure. Together they co-authored the book Copper Plate Photogravure (Focal Press, 2003), considered the last comprehensive resource for this traditional print/photo process.
Since 1996, Morrish has exhibited traditional copper-plate photogravure prints internationally across the world: Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Thailand, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, USA, England, Italy, Portugal, Lithuania, and Canada. His notable photogravure work includes portraits of distressed taxidermy, still lifes, and landscape panoramas of the Limestone Alvars of Newfoundland and Ireland.
Under his imprint DeadCat Press, Morrish created limited-edition artist books: GAZE and DIED, the latter featuring a rare four-plate CMYK color copper-plate photogravure. Research that explored animal and human mortality, faux biography, provenance, museum collections and archives led to his immersive Wunderkammer installation The Lyric Cranium; which also acted as a catalyst for ongoing works on paper, biography, artistamps, ephemera, and mixed media pieces.
DeadCat Press, established formally in 1998, is named in honor of a cat mummy which has been the inspiration for artworks since its discovery in an abandoned farm house in Alberta in 1984. Dubbed Fluffy by ironic University of Calgary art students, this dried out cat mummy has been with Morrish longer than any of his live cats. Today it (she?) has a good home, a clean storage box protected from all forms of vermin, and a new life as a model, icon, muse and all-around beautiful artifact.
Morrish’s DeadCat Press output and Marlene’s artistic production emanate from Residue Studio, their shared digital, intaglio and letterpress print-shop located in their home in Prince Edward County. As Morrish’s varied production may also include work not yet conceived nor produced, he thought it was wise to put everything under the umbrella of OBELUS †, an over-arching entity representing the totality of his output, archives and plans.
In 2016, Morrish established a well-equipped woodworking shop, and in 2021 began to turn wooden bowls, platters, and hollow forms on a large wood lathe. He lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario, where he and his wife Marlene maintain their artists’ studios and printshop.
For more information, visit davidmorrish.com and @deadcatpress on Instagram.
For a full CV, reproduction permissions, or to purchase work, please contact the artist.
Copper Plate Photogravure: Demystifying the Process (Focal Press, 2003) describes in comprehensive detail the technique of traditional copper plate photogravure as would be practiced by visual artists using normally available facilities and materials. Attention is paid to step-by-step guidance through the many stages of the process. A detailed manual of technique, the book also offers the history of the medium and reference to past alternative methods of practice. Illustrated photographically throughout, with a colour section that includes examples of current practitioners and historical precedents.