Anđela Rončević was born in 1994 in Zadar, Croatia. Growing up by the sea on the Adriatic coast has deeply influenced her artistic expression and creative process. She is a printmaker, illustrator, and visual arts teacher who also enjoys experimenting with ceramics.
At the age of 17, Anđela was awarded a full scholarship to study at the the United World College of the Adriatic, Italy, where she spent two years in a highly international community. It was there that she took her first steps in the visual arts, particularly in printmaking. This period also marked the beginning of her growing interest in social justice.
Her path then led her to the United States, where she did her bachelor’s degree in Human Ecology at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. During those four years, she focused on visual and theatre arts, as well as literature.
She later completed a Master of Arts in Art in Public Spheres and Art Teaching at the Lucerne School of Art and Design in Switzerland.
A passionate lover of languages and linguistics, Anđela draws on these interests to enrich her artistic practice.
I can attest to this. During her electrolytic printmaking practice, I had the opportunity to speak with Anđela Rončević in both Spanish and English; she is a polyglot.
She is attending our workshop thanks to one of the two grants our studio-residency offers each year to artists under thirty.
We have worked on copper plates using various electrolytic etching techniques: line drawing on hard ground, open bite electrotint, and our safest and most versatile grounds, such as graphite ink as a resist and BIG (Baldwin’s Ink Ground).
She has also successfully experimented with semi-dry electrolytic electrotint, galvanized lines, and passive electrolysis.
I am confident that Anđela Rončević, who is so active and restless -imaš leptire u guzici!, as her grandmother says about her-, will be an excellent ambassador for electro-etching in Europe - or at the very least, in Switzerland and Croatia.
In addition to the electrolysis practices, he has walked with my friends along some of the island’s trails, visited galleries and art centers where he came across exhibitions by Canarian artists, and also explored La Cueva Pintada, Website La Cueva Pintada, in Gáldar, an exceptional example of the art created by the island’s ancient inhabitants before the conquest by the Crown of Castile (1402–1496).
Pictures from the workshop
Anđela Rončević speaks about her experience in the workshop-residency
Suria, Alfonsova malena unuka me jednog vrućeg dana pitala: ‘Ma zašto ti uvijek nosiš cipele?’ Ona je, naravno, cijelo vrijeme bosa. Odgovorih joj: ‘Zato što radim u studiju, a ovdje je ponekad opasno pa da se zaštitim!’ Suria se na to malo namršti i kaže, ‘ Ma daaaj, muchacha, što se brineš, ovo ti je ekološki studio!’ Tj. ‘Ayy muchacha, no te preocupes, este es un estudio ecológico!’ To me jako nasmijalo, jer ja sam pod ‘opasnošću’ mislila na alat koji može pasti na noge, a ne na otopine koje se ovdje koriste. No, iskreno, na samom početku učenja o elektro-etchingu, očekivala sam kompliciranu fiziku i kemiju, zvukove struje koje prolaze otopinom, svašta. Vrlo brzo sam vidjela da je ovaj postupak zapravo jako - smiren i pristupačan , ali kao i sve, potrebna je praksa i preciznost. Jako me se dojmila metoda BIG sa šećerom, kao i eksperimenti s grafitnom tintom.
Nakon prvih pokušaja, počela sam razmišljati i o tome kakva slika/crtež želi kakvu tehniku, ili bolje rečeno, kakvu tehniku treba da bi se pokazali ona bit tog crteža. Alfonso je vrlo drag, strpljiv i kompetentan učitelj koji me u svakom tom koraku pažljivo vodio.
‘Muchacha, muchacha’, zafrkavali smo se do kraja mog boravka. Vrijeme u Alfonsovom studiju i njegovoj obiteljskoj kući je prošlo baš u tom stilu; sve polako, ali s puno energije, kreativnosti, preciznosti i slobode. U dva tjedna sam svladala jako puno novih tehnika i metoda te obnovila svoja jednostavna znanja o struji. Boravak u mojoj privatnoj sobi je bio vrlo ugodan, čist i miran. Bilo mi je stvarno kao doma; toplina i gostoprinstvo Alfonsa, Amparo, te Surie, Nehru, Sare i Heliosa je bila tu od prvog trenutka. Svaki dan sam imala vremena za duboki rad, ali i odmor i zabavu.Također sam vrlo zahvalna na tome što sam imala prilike vidjeti lijepe plaže, posjetiti izložbe u Las Palmas, i Cuevu Pintadu u Gáldaru. Posebno mi se svidjelo i naše subotnje planinarenje tijekom kojeg smo vidjeli ovaj lijepi otok, posebnu bioraznolikost, planine i brda, i sve to kroz maglu, kišu pa i sunce.
Učeći od Alfonsa nove tehnike, koje su po meni budućnost grafike i koje planiram koristiti zauvijek, učila sam i o načinu bivanja jednog umjetnika; što je sve potrebno da se stvoji jedan kvalitetan i ispunjen život? Puno toga, ali Alfonso pokazuje primjerom da je moguće. Alfonsov primjer je moja velika motivacija i inspiracija u otvaranju mog osobnog studija, nadam se uskoro. Sin prisa, pero sin pausa, kako kažu Španjolci.
Hvala puno na svemu! Vidimo se opet (u mom electro-etching studiju) :)
------------------------- Translation from Croatian to English by Anđela Rončević ---------------------------
Suria, Alfonso’s little granddaughter, asked me one hot day:
‘Why do you always wear shoes?’ She is, of course, barefoot all the time. I replied: ‘Because I work in the studio, and it is sometimes dangerous here, so I should protect myself!’ Suria frowned a little at that and said, ‘Oh nooo, muchacha don’t worry, this is an ecological studio!’ Or in the original, ‘Ayy muchacha, no te preocupes, este es un estudio ecológico!’ That made me laugh a lot, because by ‘danger’ I meant a tool that could fall on my feet, not the solutions usedhere. But honestly, when I first started learning about electro-etching, I expected complicated physics and chemistry, the sounds of electricity passing through the solution. I quickly saw that this process was actually very - calm and approachable, but as everything it takes practice and precision.
I was very impressed by the BIG method with sugar, as well as with graphite ink. After the first attempts, I started thinking about what kind of ainting/drawing is demanding what kind of technique, or rather, what technique was needed to show the essence of that drawing. Alfonso
is a very kind, patient and competent teacher who carefully guided me through every step.
‘Muchacha, muchacha’ , we joked around until the end of my stay. The time in Alfonso’s studio and his family home passed in exactly that style; all slowly, but with a lot of energy, creativity, precision and freedom. In two weeks I mastered a lot of new techniques and methods and
renewed my simple knowledge about electricity. The stay in my private room was very pleasant, clean and peaceful. It really felt like home; the warmth and hospitality of Alfonso, Amparo, and Suria, Nehru, Sara and Helios was there from the first moment. Every day I had time for deep
work, but also rest and fun. I am also very grateful for having had the opportunity to see beautiful beaches, visit exhibitions in Las Palmas, and Cueva Pintada in Gáldar. I especially enjoyed our Saturday hike during which we saw more of this beautiful island, its unique biodiversity, mountains and hills, all through fog, rain and sunshine.
Learning new techniques from Alfonso, which in my opinion are the future of printmaking and which I plan to use forever, I also learned about the way of being an artist; what does it take to create a quality and fulfilling life? A lot, but Alfonso shows by example that it is possible. His
example is my great motivation and inspiration in opening my own studio, hopefully soon. Sin prisa, pero sin pausa, as the Spanish say.
Thank you very much for everything! See you again (in my electro-etching studio) :)
Anđela Rončević's electro-etchings
