Print Club News / May 2024
I’m minded to write a little more personally here than I perhaps have before, and continue in that direction over the coming years. As I get older, it seems to me that the personal is blending with the professional, into some kind of singular existence that blends the art I make with my day to day life, in ways that become ever more inseparable. I recently heard success described as the ability to simply keep doing what you do each day, that success lies within the activity itself, not the outcome. That resonated with me!
Lyric / cyan base / EPC edition #26
For at least a decade now I've been exploring and writing about my interest in the hybridity between the digital and the analogue, what is gained and what is lost in the transition between these two very specific ways of working, and seeing if it's possible to navigate a path that uses components of each to create new works that couldn't have been made in the pre digital era; but that still evoke some of the beauty and magic of the more traditional techniques from our shared history. Looking backward as a method for moving forward as it were.
The Cyanotype is one such process, discovered by Sir John Herschel in 1842, it's one of the first methods artists discovered for fixing a light based photographic image permanently to paper. The studios at Spike incorporate a traditional darkroom, and so it's entirely possible to experiment with a wide range of photographic techniques there.
Print Club News / Editioning at Spike Print / November 2023
I’m feeling quite excited about the week ahead, and so wanted to drop you a note to let you know that I’ve finally arrived at my first week editioning prints at Spike Print Studio.
I’ll be continuing to work with Martyn Grimmer, at least initially, the task in hand being to create an edition of Cyanotypes for the Print Club.
Print Club News / November 2023
I just wanted to post a quick note to say that I am actively pursuing the next Print Club edition this week!
The last couple of months have been strangely busy here, in part because I’ve been working towards the Woolwich Contemporary opening, and in part because I’ve had an unusually large number of commissions moving through the studio.
Print Club News / October 2023
I’ve been making and refining my glass edition, entitled Vessel, over the summer. It remains a work in progress. The top image in the newsletter is of a 3d printed, one to one scale PLA maquette of the work, ready to be burnt out in the kiln, ahead of being cast into glass.
I’ll be working with Dr Angela Thwaites, a noted British glassmaker, in her London studio later in the autumn, in the hope of completing the work before Christmas. There’s a lot of polishing and grinding involved to complete the 11 glass components that make up the work.
Rock / Singularity / EPC edition #25
Rock singularity is the latest work for my Experimental Print Club, and also a component of the work I’ve been making during my residency at the Centre for Print Research at UWE, here in Bristol.
I’ve been building a new kiln fired glass sculpture - Vessel, a reliquary for the Holocene - and as part of that work I wanted to create some form of base component to ground the modular sculpture.
So I thought it would be fitting to choose a rock from my own locality, my garden, and use it as a part of the support for Vessel. There’s a whole load of thinking there about the rock as a barren, weathered surface, and the reliquary that contains the germ of a seed being planted on it.
Rock singularity / EPC edition #25 / WIP
I’ve been busy completing the latest Experimental Print Club edition over the last few days and weeks. It’s all come together rather nicely I think, definitely in my own top 5 so far.
Print Club News / May 10th 2023
Thought I’d post a teaser image of the 3d rock scans I’m working with at the moment. I found this rock in my garden, a rather lovely one, part of a path edge, and thought I could use it as a plinth for my glass work, but in fact the images from the scanning process have their own potential too.
Capsule / A folio of six photopolymer etchings with gilding and chine collé, work in progress
I thought I’d post a few images of work in progress from my latest series, Capsule. A set of six photopolymer etchings made as part of my residency at the Centre for Print Research at UWE.
I wanted to create a folio of six prints that further my ongoing study into digital drawing and haptic making. I like the idea of seeing how the introduction of digital techniques into the traditional workflow may change or augment the outcomes of a particular project or set of drawings.
Spinnaker EPC / foiled and Matrix / ONE
I’ve completed a pair of new works for my Experimental Print Club, edition numbers 23 and 24. I’ve been experimenting with foil blocking techniques for these editions, with the help and advice of Rik at Ripe Digital in Corsham.
Spike Print Studio / Intaglio etching with Martyn Grimmer
I’ve been enjoying expanding and improving my working knowledge of intaglio printmaking techniques under the brilliant tutelage of Martyn Grimmer at Spike Print Studio here in Bristol.
The studio offers open access to some fabulous printmaking presses, all set within what must be a Festival of Britain era daylight studio with curtain wall glazing looking out over the new cut.
CFPR residency, January 2023
As the Christmas and New Year break winds up, I've found it to be an invaluable time to reflect on the first few weeks of my residency at the Centre for Print Research, UWE. A really useful moment to pause, collect my thoughts and focus on what I’m hoping to make over the next few months.
Print Club News / Winter Solstice, December 2022
So we’ve reached the Winter Solstice, the beginning of the holiday period, and a beautiful moment for reflection and celebration. If like me you’re a gardener, you’ll know that today marks the point in the year when the light levels start to increase again, albeit slowly at first. As a point of interest, I found out recently that the rate of increase is sinusoidal, so maths and nature intertwined perfectly as ever.
Print Club News / December 2022
I hope this finds you well in the run up to the Winter solstice, Christmas and the New Year. I have to say I was hoping to be a little further on with the latest Print Club editions by now, but in fact, it has been pretty busy here, with a lot going on in the past couple of months, and the foil work I'm experimenting with hasn't been totally straightforward. It's an interesting challenge though.
Artist in residence, Centre for Print Research, UWE
I’m really excited to be working as an artist in residence at the Centre for Print Research at UWE over the coming months. It’s an incredible opportunity to realise some new works both in 2d and 3d, using some of the centre’s state of the art technology…
Ink Miami Art Fair 2022
Opening today, Ink Miami 2022. Really pleased to be exhibiting selected works on paper with Hobby Limon and TAG Fine Arts in Miami again this year…
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair 2022
Really enjoyed visiting the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair this November. Great to be exhibiting work there with Hobby Limon, and TAG Fine Arts. This was probably my favourite stand, in large part due to the fabulous Ian Davenport etching on the far right…
Studio News / September 2022
I've just completed a new Chime / cerulean crop edition for a collector in Canada. Courtesy of Avida Mohseni and the fabulous Avi Gallery in Ontario. I’ve spent a little while rebalancing the colours, and working on the colour profiles, so it has a little more vitality than before, quite a lot more in fact! Loving the new Fotospeed metallic lustre paper I’m experimenting with too, it seems really radiant in use.
Print Club News / August 2022
I've finally completed a new set of photos to document my Stellify 4 print club editions. They've been a little while in the works. I thought I'd post a few of the images here.
Sennen / EPC edition #22 dispatched
I just wanted to wrap up the week with a little Print Club news. I've completed the summer edition, #22, which is titled Sennen / EPC. I've also ordered some new packing tubes for the piece, which I believe will be here on Monday, so I'm very much hoping to have the work in the post to Print Club members on Monday or Tuesday, all being well.