Midsummer is here.
| | Midsummer is here and for once the weather reflects the time of year in the UK and we are busy working on the new issue whilst trying to stay cool. The layout of the magazine has come together nicely and we are doing final checks before proofing articles with our featured makers later this week. The magazine is off to print later this month, but the release is being held back until after some annual leave, so will be out in mid-August instead of late July. As well as our summer break/time off, there is a new €3 customs charge being applied to all parcels sent to the EU from the start of July and we are keen to delay our launch a little, to put some time between this change and our release, so that we can ensure your magazines arrive with you safely.
With a forecast of hot weather continuing here in the UK and elsewhere in Europe this week, I’ll be finding a cool spot to proof the magazine, keeping the wheels turning on our upcoming issue and enjoying some entertaining sporting encounters – yes, I mean the football..!
Keep cool and keep on rolling… |
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| | John Coe Founder of Pressing Matters magazine
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| | Instinctive Impressions Working from her home studio in a coastal village just outside Cape Town, Kristen McClarty’s ideas come to life through the medium of woodcut, evolving into screenprints, monotypes and sculptures that echo her instinctive approach to making. “I started printing edge-to-edge and the work took on the look of a painting rather than a bordered, conventional print – imprinted until the filigree whispering edges of the paper,” notes Kristen. Read her article, Instinctive Impressions in Issue 34, out now in print and digital editions. |
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| | After The Ascent We’re happy to announce the Pressing Matters Award winner for the Derby Print Open. After the Ascent by Sidney T Wilson caught our eye for its use texture, shapes and a healthy dose of intrigue and narrative. The winning artist works across a number of mediums, including printmaking, drawing and animation. As a competitive cyclist, his experience of training and injury informs his collagraph prints, where he explores themes of memory and endurance. The show is on until the end of June at Banks Mill Studios, so head down to Derby Print Open to see his print (and many others) in real life. |
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| | Safer Printmaking Processes Contemporary Printmaking: Safer Intaglio Techniques and Processes by Mark Graver is due for release on 30th July and available for pre-order now. A practical guide for artists seeking more environmentally conscious ways to work with intaglio printmaking techniques, it uniquely blends technical expertise with sustainability concerns, including guidance for setting up your studio, advice on eco-friendly inks and cleaners, a comprehensive guide to safer etching and direct intaglio techniques and plenty of contributions from leading international artists. |
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| | In 1979, Tomas Transtromer, future Nobel prize-winner, wrote poet David Annwn Jones a letter stating that “he loved my monoprint sequence 'Lava Island', consisting of 40 hand-manipulated prints made on a Xerox 1040 machine". Tomas had linked this postmodern sequence to music and film, sending David the handwritten letter on the back of an image of Mendelssohn's copy of Bach's 'Passion of St Matthew, “He was obviously making very interesting multiple/meta connections there”. The sequence and letter are part of the archive which will be presented to the National Library of Wales by David this August. David has also collaborated with letterpress artist Alan Kitching for his poem Surface & Depth. |
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Bristol Artists’ Book Event (BABE) is a biennial showcase of artists’ books with hundreds of artists and small presses exhibiting and selling their works. This year’s focus is ‘BABE Looking East’ with curators and artists from Japan showcasing bookworks and the participatory Kujibiki Drawing project will be happening in Bristol for the first time. Initiated by artist Hisako Inui in 2008, the Kujibiki Drawing project sees participants draw pictures and leave prompts to connect with someone – with a world of words that is neither poetry or everyday life unfolding as a result. Free to enter, it’s on at UWE Fine Art Studios, Spike Island this time around on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th June from 11am–5pm. |
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| | Tyring Out The Trilograph
I’m more than excited to have been sent a Trilograph press from Mauro and the team of independent creators in Patagonia who are behind this new project. Offering a portable, hand-held alternative to a large bulky printing press, “many professional printmakers in Argentina are already using this press for etching, linocut and relief printing and they love the results,” enthuses Mauro. As a tiny, passionate team operating from South America, gaining visibility in the US and Europe is their biggest challenge, so I’m more than happy to spread the word from them here. We’ll be having a proper play with the press in the coming months and writing more about it in our October edition, but in the meantime, head over to their Kickstarter page to find out more and try out the Trilograph. |
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| | Printing With The Hockney Press With the global art community currently reflecting on the extraordinary life and legacy of David Hockney following his passing, his deep roots at the Royal College of Art (1959–1962) feel incredibly poignant right now. “As the art world looks back at his impact, we are looking forward to the next generation,” explains RCA’s Faye Hoogendoorn, “To this day, our current Print MA and MFA students still pull proof after proof on the historic 1851 press that Hockney famously used for his own student prints – now affectionately known across our Battersea campus as ‘the Hockney press’. Their graduate show took place this weekend and showcased many exciting print works, including these by Haseebah Ali, Zixi Wang and Beckie Billingham (pictured above). |
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