Many thanks to everyone who came along to the opening of The Masters - Relief Prints, the first in a series of technique-specific annual exhibitions presented by the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers.
I've had the honour of curating this event which runs until the 15th of November 2015 at The Bankside Gallery, next to Tate Modern.
Thanks to all of the artists who have made the exhibition possible. The quality of work submitted was impressive and it was a very tough job narrowing down the selection of works exhibited from over 1,100 submitted prints - the exhibition features around 160 works by 150 artists. Below are a few images illustrating the diversity of the work on show.
The Masters - Relief Prints until 15th November 2015 at The Bankside Gallery, 48 Hopton Street, London SE1 9JH.
Mark Hearld has just designed a couple of new pieces for Art Angels - a flying robin and a new winter inspired die-cut menagerie featuring hares, ptarmigans and a stoat in winter. Keep an eye out for these cards in shops in the coming weeks.
We'll soon be starting work on a Random Spectacular project dedicate to Mark's exhibition in York, The Lumber Room - Unimagined Treasures.
We'll also be working on new fabric and wallpaper designs for 2016. View Mark's current fabrics and wallpapers.
The Gentle Author, creator of the Spitalfields Life journal, has just published a book dedicated to the work of specialist printers, Baddeley Brothers.
This book is embellished with fine tipped-in samples illustrating the range of Baddeley Brothers’ print techniques, an anatomy of envelope design, a glossary of printing terminology, typographic designs by David Pearson, drawings by Lucinda Rogers and a fold-out map by Adam Dant.
Find our more about purchasing a copy of this wonderful publication.
As part of his forthcoming exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, our friends at Art Angels have produced three cards based on Jonny Hannah's work.
Jonny has adapted three of his prints - 'Mare Vivimus', 'Fyret' and 'All Aboard the George Bennie' - to produce these die-cut cards. Also launching at the exhibition is Jonny's 2016 'The Captain's Calendar'.
'Main Street' will run from 14th November 2015 until 28th February 2016 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and visitors will be invited to take a stroll down Hannah’s vintage-inspired homage to the independent trader.
Find out more about the exhibition
You might also like to view Jonny Hannah's fabric and wallpaper designs for St Jude's
I'm pleased to share details of my latest limited edition print, 'Saltmarsh, Morston'.
This screen print is based on sketches made on the North Norfolk coastline on a sunny, breezy day, sitting on the saltmarsh amongst the sea campion and thrift, looking through the grass and flower stems. Across The Pit, a narrow stretch of water, I can see Blakeney Point. Strong yellow discs of cat’s ear flowers (also known as flatweed) stand out against the pale chalky colours of the other vegetation and the bright blue early summer sky.
You can find out more about the print and view a selection of my current editions over at my website.
Posted by Angie Lewin
This Thursday (4th June) Christies will be auctioning an incredible collection of Shell posters which belong to Hugh Wickham, ex-head of marketing at Shell. It’s a long story with several twists and turns along the way, but all the proceeds from the sale of the posters are going straight to the Regeneration Fund of St John’s Church in Kingston-upon-Thames to help with the considerable cost of refurbishment.
The collection comprises 20 lots of approximately 42 posters from the Golden Age of Shell advertising and includes iconic images from artists and designers such as Edward Bawden, Ben Nicholson, Duncan Grant, Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland, Richard Guyatt, John Armstrong, Abram Games, Tom Eckersley and Eric Lombers. They are mostly from the ‘You Can Be Sure of Shell’, ‘These people Use Shell’ and ‘To Visit Britain’s Landmarks’ campaigns and date predominantly from the 1930s, with a few from the 1950s. It really is a remarkable group with great provenance and it’s a great opportunity to acquire a piece of classic British advertising history.
To find out more visit the Christies website and look for lots 17 to 37.
Join us for the opening of Peter Green - Sixty Years of Printmaking at Mascalls Gallery, Maidstone Road, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6LT between 14.00 and 16.00 on Saturday 13th June 2015. The exhibition will then continue until Saturday 5th September 2015.
Peter Green has always been anxious to demystify the printing process, making it as simple and accessible as possible. For his relief printing, he does not use a press. Although this was initially a practical response to limitations of space and money, Green soon realised the advantages of printing by hand. Producing work in this way allowed him to explore the full depth of a cut block, and to control gradations of pressure and tone without any limit on paper size. Much of Peter’s work also features the use of paper stencils, rolling colour through a cut shape directly onto the paper’s surface.
Green’s images have a variety of origins, but usually emerge as part of the printing process itself rather than from extensive preliminary drawings. The initial proofed image may suggest, for example, a fantasy dreamlike landscape form, which grows progressively into something more abstract, made up of vibrant colour and shapes.
Peter Green is a teacher as well as a printmaker, having studied at Brighton College of Art and later at the Institute of Education at the University of London. He was Head of Art Teacher Training at Hornsey College of Art and then Dean of Art and Design at Middlesex University. Alongside teaching he has always continued to make his own prints, and in 1958 he was elected to the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. In the 1960s and 70s he made a series of prints, mainly woodcuts and stencils, for London Graphic Arts. In 1988 he was awarded the OBE in recognition of his work.
We're delighted to be working with Mascalls Gallery and with the Emma Mason Gallery on this exhibition which brings together work from the past sixty years, alongside many new works produced this year. Find out more about the exhibition.
We'll be publishing a book about Peter Green's printmaking later in the summer, under our Random Spectacular imprint. Sign up for our newsletter if you'd like to receive details of this.
If you're unable to visit the exhibition, do keep an eye on our gallery website - we'll be adding further prints during the summer.
And you might like to find out more about our first fabric collaboration with Peter and Linda Green, Colourdrome.