In June 2025, Northern Print made a call out for the project Fabled, and studio members were asked to produce artworks freely inspired by Aesop’s fables. I started reading the different fables to see which one to choose for the project, and I have been inspired by Aesop’s fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper”.
In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?” “I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “And recommend you to do the same.” “Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present.” But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: “It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.”
I had already started to experiment with botanical monoprint in the studio, and when this project came across, I thought I could use this as the main printmaking process for this project.
I collected botanicals from the countryside, and I used them to create monoprint impressions on Fabriano paper. I experimented with various wild grasses and mixed inks to obtain different colours. The final print has four different layers printed across a few weeks, in order to give them time to dry in between the different stages.
Once the background was completed, I created the image of the ant in the field using a small linocut block I carved.
Valentina Usai Zucca 