20:20 Print Exchange 2011

After the success of last year’s 20:20 Print Exchange organised by Hot Bed Press, 10 members of WYPW have again taken part this year, to each produce an original, limited edition print on 20 x 20cm paper. It was really exciting to see all the prints being produced in the WYPW workshops, and I think we’ve got a really great variety of styles and techniques this year. They have now been boxed up and sent off to Hot Bed Press, and each artist and workshop which has taken part will receive back a box of 20 randomly selected prints – one of their own and 19 others. There were around 15 other workshops from around the UK and Ireland taking part this year, and it was really good to be involved in such a big project.

West Yorkshire Print Workshop will be displaying 40 of these prints – including all 10 produced by WYPW members – in the downstairs corridor gallery, from FRIDAY 25TH NOVEMBER, which un-coincidentally is also the date of the FLOURISH PRINT AWARD prizegiving evening from 6.30 – 8.30pm, so you can come and see the 20:20 prints at the same time!

Here are a few images from the Photopolymer and Solar Plates Workshop which tool place on Friday 7th, Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th October. There were some stunning images produced, which show the subtlety of marks you can obtain using these processes. We will be holding another 'Introduction to Photo-Etching' 1-day course in February 2012. Visit the courses page on our website for more details: http://www.wypw.org/courses.html

A print taken directly from the photopolymer film
- very rich tones of black can be obtained using this technique



A solar plate relief printing block made by exposing
 a photograph printed onto transparent film onto the
plate using a UV light source, then developing it in water.



A print taken from the above block

 A print from an etched zinc plate - the photopolymer
film acts as an acid-resist during the etching process

 

Very pure colours can be obtained using these
processes as the polymer surface does not react with the ink
as some metals do.



An image drawn onto grained glass is then exposed onto a solar plate with
UV light - creating almost lithographic-quality prints

A print created from the above drawing using a solar plate



Developing the solar plate in water. The plate is gently
rubbed with a paintbrush to remove areas of polymer which
have not been hardened by the UV light



A print from a solar plate made using a photograph
containing very subtle tones - much of the intricate detail
in an image is retained using this process

Test plates

A print taken from an metal plate etched using photopolymer
film as an acid-resist.

A long overdue update...

It's been so long since our last update there are too many things to mention! We have had some fantastic artists in to run workshops, including Catherine Sutcliffe-Fuller to run the 'Working with Lino' course, and Mark Graver who ran the 'Acrylic-Resist Etching' weekend, along with all the regular courses, Children's workshops, HOST weekend, and the general comings and goings of open-access. It's been busy!

I have also been researching platen presses for the workshop, and can now finally reveal that WYPW has purchased one! It is an old Cope and Sherwin Imperial Press, currently in the process of being re-conditioned by the fantastic Harry f. Rochat Ltd , and should be installed in the downstairs print room by the end of the year. It's very exciting and will bring a whole new area of printmaking to WYPW, as during the summer we also purchased some letterpress equipment, so look out for a new 'Introduction to Letterpress' course here in the New Year!

So here are a few images from my travels and some of the excellent workshops which have run here in the last few months...

Acrylic-Resist Etching with Mark Graver

 


Mark Graver demonstrating inking a plate

   

Pouring the acrylic ground over the aluminium plate



painting ink onto the grounded plate



Etching the plate in Copper Sulphate solution 



The surface of an etched plate

 

Once the soft resist is applied it is worked on by wiping back to reveal the metal underneath



Etching Weekend with Kate Desforges



Wiping a copper etching plate before printing




A printed open-bite aluminium plate

 

Printing the etching plates




Open-bite etching plates printed with colour rollovers

 


Soft ground etching  on zinc with colour rollover

 

Soft ground etching on zinc



Hard ground and soft ground etchings on copper



Open-bite etching on aluminium



Trip to Scalby to Bracken Press to see printmaker Michael Atkin

A few months back I went to see Michael Atkin to find out a bit more about relief presses and have a go at using his large Albion press. His studio is amazing and filled with printmaking equipment. It was the first time I had used a relief press, and I was surprised to find that the process was so much quicker and easier than using an etching press. Michael was a wealth of knowledge about all things print-related, and the visit helped me enormously in deciding what sort of press to buy for WYPW, so thank you Michael!



Colour Drypoint Workshop with Kip Gresham

On Saturday 7th May we had the pleasure to welcome Kip Gresham of The Print Studio, Cambridge, to WYPW to run a Drypoint workshop for us. He also brought along two knowledgeable helpers in the form of his son, aka Mr. Penfold, and his wife Ivanna, so participants had 3 tutors for the price of one! Kip's wealth of printmaking knowledge helped everyone on the course produce some fantastic, colourful, vibrant prints.

The workshop co-incided with the preview of the exhibition in the WYPW Gallery entitled 'In Visible Ink' - an exhibition of original prints by leading printmakers from The Print Studio, Cambridge, which is on until 4th June, so there is still time to come and see it if you haven't already.

Thanks Kip and Co! We hope to see you back here soon...



Drpoint print by Emma Lawrenson




Liz Samways working on a plate





Registering a print



Some Past Exhibitions...

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

2 New Members of WYPW

Bookbinding with Victoria Lucas

On Saturday the 23rd of April Victoria Lucas came to WYPW and delivered an amazing bookbinding workshop. The participants were taught a variety of different binding techniques, from japanese stab bound to hard back book binding. Not only was this an excellent opportunity to learn these skills, Victoria also brought in a lot of her own entertaining book work. " The tutor was clear, skilled and a great facilitator, many thanks."  Below are some images from this workshop.

Zine - Making and Self Publishing workshop with Helen Entwisle

These are some images from the wonderful one day Zine making course taught by Helen Entwisle. It took place on the 2nd of April and provided an informative and interesting look into the world of zines. The work produced by the participants were both fantastic and original, and made good use of the many materials and equipment provided by Helen. "Helen was brilliant and knowledgeable"

 

 

A zine of old stories made by Marvin Harrison

 



A zine of Fairies made by Samantha Bryan



 

 

Helen's maginificent vintage typewriter

A collection of bird stamps