Peter Green – Sixty Years of Printmaking
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.
Ravilious
I was lucky enough to attend the opening of the major show of work by Eric Ravilious at Dulwich Picture Gallery, curated by James Russell, but the show deserved a second visit at a slightly quieter time.
I’ve always found Ravilious' work totally absorbing, whether his watercolours (which are the focus of this exhibition), his lithographs and wood engravings or his designs created for ceramics, glass and other commissioned work.
On my recent second visit to the exhibition it became so much clearer to me that these watercolours were made by a printmaker and designer. There's a sharpness and a clarity to the objects in his compositions and the palette is perhaps purposely restricted. Closer inspection reveals Ravilious is creating textures and patterns in the same way that he might when creating a lithograph.
It's hard to single out one single painting but a firm favourite would be 'Ship's Screw on a Railway Truck' (1940). Not a promising subject perhaps. The sculptural propellor gleams out from the blue and grey landscape. The top left had corner is a beautifully composed scene of ship moored by a curved harbour and tree which in itself would make a perfect engraving or motif on a Wedgwood plate. In the foreground there's a playful pattern of footprints in the snow and in the grey sky above, soft white snow flakes and diagonal marks depict this bleak winter scene in the same way that Ravilious might have drawn on a lithographic stone.
James Russell has brought together watercolours of landscapes, interiors, still lifes and Ravilious' work as a war artist too. There’s much to see that I think a third visit is definitely on the cards.
'Ravilious' is at Dulwich Picture Gallery until 31st August 2015. Visit their website for full details.
And find out more via curator James Russell's website.
Mark Hearld’s Horses
Those visiting Mark Hearld and Emily Sutton’s recent Open Studio event in York will have had a sneak preview of the new hand painted ceramic slip cast horses that Mark will be creating for his exhibition at York Art Gallery when it re-opens on the 1st of August 2015.
Mark will be curating and creating The Lumber Room: Unimagined Treasures which will feature objects from across York Museums Trust’s collections, including oil paintings, works on paper, taxidermy and social history.
Mark will also create new work in response to the objects including individually decorated ceramic slip cast horses made in response to the Leeds Horses in the collection.
We’ll be posting further details about the horses and Mark’s exhibition closer to the opening - do sign up for our e-mail newsletter if you’d like to find out more.
In the meantime, you might like to take a look at Mark's fabric and wallpaper designs for St Jude's.
A Natural Selection – new watercolours
I'm pleased to be exhibiting a series of 18 new watercolours at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh from 1st to 30th May 2015.
Christina Jansen, director of The Scottish Gallery, explains:
"We are delighted to present Angie Lewin’s first solo exhibition with The Scottish Gallery. She is best known as a designer and printmaker whose sensitive patterns and motifs are inspired by the English Arts and Crafts movement and the work of Bawden and Ravilious. She divides her life between homes in Edinburgh and Speyside and this geographic diversity is reflected in her plant observations and interweaving of the natural and domestic worlds.
She walks, looks and draws; she collects and assembles and her studio is full of reference material, beautiful in itself witnessing a life lived in art and nature. Her chosen medium for this exhibition is watercolour, that most sensitive and difficult medium and her virtuosity is complete but should be no surprise in the context of her rigorous apprenticeship. The playful title for this show hints at her obsessive observing, refined through the artist’s editorial eye to make order out of chaos."
All of the watercolours are available to purchase prior to the exhibition opening. Please contact The Scottish Gallery for further details.
The exhibition runs from 1st to 30th May 2015 at The Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ.
View all of the watercolours that I'll be exhibiting
Spey Still Life with Yellow Book
Wild Garden, Seedheads (detail)
Coneflower with Spanish Seedheads
Sutherland Shore
New Town Cup (detail)
Weavers' Union
An exhibition in Bergen
We're just about to head off to Bergen for a few days for the opening of a new exhibition of work from long time St Jude's collaborator Alex Malcolmson.
In Møte over Nordsjøen (Meeting over the North Sea) Alex will be exhibiting a new series of box works and birds alongside the work of Shetland based painter Ruth Brownlee and Bergen based sculptor John Audun Hauge.
You can view a range of the work that Alex will be exhibiting or find out more about Ruth Brownlee's paintings.
The exhibition runs from 18th April until 10th May 2015 at Galleri Allmenningen, Bergen, Norway.
Compass Rose Alex Malcolmson
Vega Alex Malcolmson
Ship Spirit Alex Malcolmson
Hail Showers approaching Spiggie Ruth Brownlee
Grey Sky Clearing, West Yell Ruth Brownlee
Brita Granström and Mick Manning
Monday 27th April 2015 sees the opening of two exhibitions at Edinburgh's Open Eye Gallery from our friends Brita Granström and Mick Manning.
In Sea Salt and Sour Dough, Brita will present a series of paintings capturing intimate, everyday moments inspired by her home life and the landscapes of the Scottish Borders. Playful and charming paintings which reflect her creativity in all aspects of her life.
'Sweden and the British Isles feature strongly in my paintings; environments that are always changing, never still. Painting on location both indoors and outdoors in all weathers produces images that, for me, encompass and celebrate themes of hope, humanity, life and mortality.’
For his Beasts of Scotland exhibition, Mick Manning has created a series of unique pochoir prints, created using hand-cut stencils, stippling and block printing.
Born in Yorkshire, Mick studied at Bradford, Newcastle and then the Royal College of Art. Having spent a number of years teaching artists including Mark Hearld at Glasgow School of Art, Mick now devotes him time to his illustration projects and printmaking activities.
Both exhibitions run from 27th April to 11th May 2015 at Open Eye Gallery, 34 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh EH3 6QE.
If you're unable to visit, we have a good selection of Mick Manning prints available from our online gallery.
Rescuing The Washing Brita Granström
Vintage Plates Brita Granström
The Letter Brita Granström
Parrot Tulips Brita Granström
Setting The Table Brita Granström
Peregrine Over Edinburgh Mick Manning
Golden Eagle Mick Manning
Grey Seal Mick Manning
Lurcher Pup Mick Manning
Mark Hearld
As promised, here are some of the new original works that Mark Hearld will be exhibiting in York as part of York Open Studios 2015.
Opening hours will be Friday 17th April 6-9pm, Saturday 18th April 10-6pm, Sunday 19th April 11-5pm and then the following Saturday and Sunday. The address is 104 The Mount, York YO24 1AR.
We're busy working on new fabric and wallpapers designs with Mark which will be launched during the year.
View Mark's current fabric and wallpaper designs for St Jude's, including the award winning Harvest Hare.
