Silver exhibition at Scion House Stirling University

FDPW members Colin Beaumont, Steve Ramtomski, Lorna Doherty and Angela Heidemann have spent the past few days making preparations, and installing the printmaking exhibition "Silver".

This is the second outing for the touring exhibition which celebrates 25 years since the founding of the print workshop, which is situated in the basement of the Del Farqueson Community centre in Netherton Broad Street, Dunfermline.

Residency at East London Printmakers

Residency Programme details


Since East London Printmakers' tenth anniversary in 2008, the studio has been running a residency programme. The purpose of this opportunity is to promote professional development in printmaking and to create an arena for visiting artists to share their knowledge and experiences with ELP members. The programme supports the development of new work and access to a network of artists in London.

The studio is based in the heart of East London's contemporary art scene, close to Vyner Street, London Fields and Regent Street Studios.

Two artists per year will receive:

* 24-hour access to the studio's facilities
* £100 budget for materials
* £200 fee for running a one-day master workshop
* Free membership of East London Printmakers for one year
* Storage space for materials and a plan chest drawer

Applicants are invited to submit a proposal for a project lasting no longer than twelve consecutive weeks, focusing on either screen-printing or relief and intaglio. Applicants must demonstrate prior knowledge of printmaking, however the programme encourages experimentation, thus artists from all disciplines are encouraged to apply.

The programme is open to local, national and foreign artists. Applicants need to be self-sufficient as this opportunity does not include accommodation or expenses for materials. Recipients must be prepared to teach a one-day master workshop and host an artist's talk for the benefit of ELP members. Opportunities to learn new printmaking skills will be dependaet on workshops and places will be available at the members' concessionary rate.
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Applicants should send, by recorded delivery:

* a completed application form
* a resumé
* 10 photographs/digital prints or one CD/ DVD/VHS

Please do not send actual art pieces as ELP will retain applications and confirm receipt by email. The ELP committee meet twice a year and applicants will be notified by email within two weeks of the deadline.

Application deadlines

* 6 December 2009 for an Artist Residency between January and June 2010
* 1 June 2010 for an Artist Residency between July and December 2010


East London Printmakers

East London Printmakers BLOG


note image above is by East London Printmaker Wuon-Gean-Ho

titel: Guardian-III

Visit her website

Printmakers exhibiting at Scion, Stirling University

Currently Catherine King is showing work at Scion in Stirling University (well actually it has just come down).
Here are some pictures from the show, as well as the exhibition in situ.

Update on Aine..............

As may be noted posts to the FDPW blog have been few and far between of late. This has been due to my spinal surgery at the great Western in Edinburgh at the end of June. Initially the pain was awful following the week in hospital and it improved slowly. Now although my back pain is still there all the time - at least the nerve pain down my left leg has ceased.

It seems that the surgery has been successful But I still cannot stand or walk far but I do now have a fancy 'hight tech' "Zimmer" with rubber wheels so when working at FDPW I will be using it to help my movement around the workshop. Its even got a built in seat so I can sit down when folks start chatting to me which for some reason, I have become particularly aware, always tends to happen, when one is standing or just leaving or just entering.



Thanks to all of you who were kind enough via emails/phone calls ....to ask how I was getting on and wishing me luck even before I went into have the operation. I have never received so many cards and flowers which was lovely and very much appreciated.

Special thanks to Steve and Sheila who individually came to visit in my first few weeks when I was out of hospital. I was feeling pretty low then what with the increased pain level. Never mind thats all gone now.

Finally words cannot express the friendship and support I experienced from Tatiana (who lives nearby). She has truly helped me so much with her lively visits and these things really count when things are not going so great.

Apologies to people who emailed me stuff to post on the FDPW blog during the past 6-7 weeks that I have not put up here. I just could'nt face doing anything like that. I was tired a lot of the time so might well have posted them without including the dates or location....

anyway I will try to keep up with updating. Fellow contributors are welcome so if you would like to post items then please contact me.

Aine

Introductory Printmaking Course Sep 2009

FDPW has set up an introductory course that will run over a period of four Saturdays

i.e., 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th.

C O U R S E O U T L I N E

Areas to be covered
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COLLAGRAPHS, which essentially is a printmaking plate ( most often initially made of board or thin wood) onto which you make a form of 'collage' of thin materials such as torn paper, textured paper, lace, dried plant materials, fabrics of all sorts, string, threads, fibres.

YOU are invited to bring along some items to potentially include in the making of your own collagraph.


MONOPRINTS

A very immediate printmaking medium that essentially constitutes using ink applied to a plate surface. This is then run through the etching press. It may be executed through a range of approaches which include drawing, painting, wiping away and masking.............


DRYPOINT

Drypoint etching essentially is a simple and direct method of intaglio, where the surface of the plate is scratched into to produce a burr, which then holds the ink.

It can also be combined with collagraph and/or monoprinting.

RELIEF PRINTING

Relief printing may be conducted using card whereby a scalpel knife is used to 'cut' the image into the surface. Stripping off layers of the card can produce areas of tone and texture.

COURSE TUTOR: Colin Beaumont; an experienced and friendly printmaker, has an easygoing character and you will enjoy your course learning and sharing in his wealth of knowledge. He will also provide guidance as to the development of your imagery and creative ideas.

NO PREVIOUS PRINTMAKING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED - JUST THE 'DESIRE' AND COMMITTMENT TO INVOLVE ONESELF IN AN EXPLORATION OF THE PRINTMAKING PROCESS!!



To book a place on this course

Contact

Jenny Grundy: tel: 0131 343 3707

or by email: davidgrundy@lineone.net

also you can phone Colin Beaumont (course tutor)

01333 309 223 or by email

co.beau@hotmail.com


Cost

The course fee is £140.00 (130 for current members of FDPW)

Payable by 1st September

POST

Send Cheques made payable to FDPW

Fife+ Dunfermline Printmakers Workshop
The Basement,
Dell Farquharson Community Centre,
Netherton Broad St.
Dunfermline, Fife,
KY12 7DS


What you need to bring along:

work clothes - as it’s a hands on practical course where you can expect to get dirty!!

Source material:

Sketches, photos, images from magazines that you like, or books.

Tea and Coffee are provided but bring your own lunch.


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Prints for peace 2 ++ Exhibit in Mexico

Second International Prints for Peace 2009 Juried Exhibit in Monterrey
México-Grabados por la Paz



Dear Printmaking Artists:
We hope you find this call interesting.
A panel discussion promoting Peace will be organized in combination with the exhibit.





Deadline for receiving Print in Monterrey: July 15, 2009

See the url reference here for further info

SSA - Cubes Project - Juteopolis - more info.

SSA Collaborative Art Project

Juteopolis

This is what the SSA sent me when I requested an explanation /further details re the Cubes project. Steve has brought about 10 or 12 of them into the print workshop. They are in a black plastic refuse sack on the main worksurface. So if you are interested in participating get yourself along and grab one.


"As part of our unique and exciting Annual Exhibition at The Vision Building in Dundee, we are putting together a large-scale sculptural piece that will involve all of our membership. The concept is to create a piece of work that has a collective provenance at its heart and will be a feature for the show as well as being a major fundraiser for the SSA. All members are being asked to create a small piece of work on a wooden cube approx 10 cm squared that will take jute as its subject matter.

As you will probably know, Dundee is famous for its once dominating jute industry and its legacy is deep rooted and visible in all manner of ways from names of streets, parks and parts of the city to the building of grand mansions and public buildings, the expansion of the city’s harbour, shipbuilding and whaling industry, and history of many business institutions, to name but a few! Our idea is to give the nod to the Dundee context but at the same time be able to provide a subject matter wide enough to be accessible to all of our artists. We have, in the past, used the postcard idea but it was felt that given the uniqueness of this year’s exhibition we wanted to do something equally unique to mark it.

Juteopolis is the name for our piece and was the term used to describe Dundee at the height of its success but was also the name of one of the ships that travelled between India and Dundee carrying the raw materials. The cube echoes the `pucca` jute bales and will provide each artist with an unusual 3D format that gives them 6 sides to play with and be the carrier of the artist’s idea in the way that jute bags were used to carry raw materials from India. The cube can be cut into, become a vessel, be drawn, painted or printed on or have any manner of objects or materials attached to it. The artist has complete freedom as to how or what they want to do with it as long as it has some reference to jute in there. Once we have all these hundreds of cubes they will then be combined with each other and form a large floor piece that will take the shape of a lade which is the stone channel that drew the water from The Scouring Burn in Dundee and was the major water supply for the jute mills.

We need as many` pucca` cubes as we can possibly get for this to have the desired impact so we hope that you will get behind this project by adding your cube to `Juteopolis` and make it something to remember. We will be circulating wooden cubes to the artists via WASPS in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee hopefully by the beginning of April, and indeed, if there are any members out there who would like to help this process by circulating bundles of cubes to those who cannot readily access wasps, please get in touch with Noreen Sharkey Paisley, SSA Secretary. You can donate as many as you like and as there is no submission process for this piece, all cubes will be included in `Juteopolis`. You can then hand your cube/cubes in with your submission or send them directly to Noreen for the same date.

Please support this unique initiative and contribute to what we hope will be an amazing, beautiful and exciting work of art that brings the SSA artists together and echoes our own individual inclusion in what is an equally unique organisation."



Annual Open Exhibition 2009
Vision@Seabraes, Dundee

Saturday 23 May - Friday 19 June

Hand in dates: Fri 1st & Sat 2nd May

Private View 22nd May

Cubes can be returned to Noreen at 2 Wemyss Ave, Glasgow G77 AR right through until Friday 12 June.

For more information please call 0141 616 2566 or email ssa@tangledwebs.co.uk.

DO NOTE - I CONTACTED SSA AND RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING WHICH INDICATES THAT PARTICIPATION IS NOT LIMITED TO S.S.A., ARTISTS ONLY.

"you are more than welcome to do a cube and submit, there is no selection process so all cubes received will be part of the project.
When the project was initially conceived, it was thought that only members would be interested in helping out but many non members are supporting the project and we are absolutely thrilled about that.
Looking forward to seeing your cube in Juteopolis"

JUTE see some definitions springboards etc on these url references

Jute on wikipedia


Dundee, Jute and Empire (Open University)

Accented Residency - international.

Just came across this opportunity for an artists residency at Spike Islands Printmakers This residency is mentioned on the main Spike Island Arts Studios website, though. See it under under "residencies" or visit the residency page created at this url:
http://www.accentedresidency.blogspot.com/



Jenny McGee's website

There's something so appealing about Paper Boats.....

which is why I made one and sent it to this, although I plan to make at least another one if not two, to send again before the deadline in August.




Make a paper boat and participate in project to support Mary Ann’s Cottage, based in Caithness.

Visit the blog about the project which is being run by an artist from Scotland ( Joanne B Kaar) and another from New Zealand (Lynn Taylor)





You have until the 10th August 09 to post your paper boat to the project.

Paper boat fundraiser for Mary-Ann's Cottage - Caithness Scotland UK.
At the beginning of 2009, Joanne B Kaar and Lynn Taylor launched their paper boat project - a fundraiser for Mary-Ann's cottage,a living history museum in Caithness Scotland run by volunteers from The Caithness Heritage Trust (a registered Charity no: SCO 19998).
There's a link to the museums blog, on the paper boat website and I found it really engaging and spent far too long looking at various things.

As paper boats are sent to Joanne, from around the globe, she documents them on the blog.

The launch date and theme were inspired by the maiden voyage of the Westland Ship - 30th January 1879 (130 years ago) from Scotland to New Zealand. Mary-Ann's father, William Young was a member of the crew.


All boats will be exhibited in Sept 09 in Caithness Horizons.

All money from sale of boats will go to the Caithness Heritage trust to help keep Mary-Ann's cottage open for future generations.

Local Arts Organizations and Galleries (1)

I have just been visiting the creative Fife website and there is a lot of information on there concerning the activities of 'creatives' ( and those allied to them).
Take for example art galleries - I had not realized that there even was an art gallery in Dunfermline. Apparently there is !!............. It's called ARTROOM 59



which is a kind of mysterious name, I guess the owner, Ruth Walls, would be able to explain the idea behind the name?. It's a lot better than being called something typical such as eg "Frames". I can see from the 'previous exhibitions' on their website, that FDPW member, Sandra Baxter has shown there in a group exhibition but sadly as we have not seen Sandra for such a long time.......... it's not easy to explore what her experience was from the perspective of an exhibiting artist.


on further inspection I noticed that FDPW member, Clare Yarrington has also shown there so I will ask her, if her overall encounter was of a professional and satisfactory nature. Interestingly, one of my most pleasant and professional gallery experience was with my former "local gallery", in Ealing West London namely the PM Gallery, London, W5.



Well done Clare on finally getting your very own website on line - it's something many of us dream of/ strive for etc etc ....and many of us never get organized ....ho hum !!!

Artists Residency opportunity at Cove Park, Scotland

Artwork is by recent recipient of an artists residency at Cove Park, Duncan Marquiss.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Visual Arts Creative Development Programme 2009 at Cove Park

Deadline for Applications: Friday 15 May 2009

The residencies will run over the period 3 August - 11 September 2009
The Visual Arts Creative Development Programme 2009 at Cove Park consists of six six-week residencies for artists, makers, curators and critical writers supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to enable research, the development of new ideas and the creation of new work.

Includes accommodation, studio/work space and a fee of £2,400 and a materials allowance of £1000. The focus will be on individual development, but the programme will be enhanced by related events and opportunities for discussion among the participants. Cove Park is situated on a 50-acre site overlooking Loch Long on the west coast, an hour from Glasgow.
For more information, please visit: http://www.covepark.org

Lesley McDermott on show at Scion House, Stirling University

artwork by Lesley McDermott
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Fusion

An exhibition of paintings by Mary Hamilton and FDPW member, Lesley McDermott.

Two artists exploring a seemingly contrasting style of imagery in their paintings, connect in subtle ways; particularly their exploration of pattern, texture and a dramatic use of colour.

Multi-layered surfaces offer striking viewpoints of the natural environment that combine beautifully detailed realism with exciting modern effects in the tree paintings. Considerations of representations are at the heart of the abstract series.
Teaching Art in the primary sector whilst pursuing an artistic career is challenging for both artists who have found the mutual support in their shared studio space invaluable. Current work and future ventures can be viewed online

http://artworksdelta.blogspot.com

24th April – 28th May 2009

Scion House
Stirling University Innovation Park
Stirling
FK9 4NF
T: 01786 448333

info@suip.co.uk http://www.suip.co.uk

Opening Times:
Monday to Friday 8:30am – 5pm
(Evenings & weekends by appointment only)

Artists Residencey in Montreal, Canada (clo 1 Jun 09)

Canada Council for the Arts International Residence
Application Deadline: June 1, 2009


The Canada Council for the Arts offers an international residency program at the Darling Foundry for professional visual artists from outside of Canada.

Two artists will be awarded four-month residencies in 2009.

Each resident will receive a grant to cover living expenses, travel fees and production costs.

Artists are provided with a creation studio with separate living accommodation, common spaces and a wood and metal workshop.

They are also invited to participate in open studio events, studio visits by art professionals, networking activities, and excursions.

For more information visit: Fonderiedarling's website

Drypoint on Perspex

I have come across an excellent post on the Lighthouse Keepers Cat blog by "Minu", from Wellington, New Zealand. It explains very well particularly for beginners how to do drypoint on perspex.

So take a look and read through - the photos are pretty instructive and well _ it's uncomplicated.

Here's a sweet and somewhat straight forward drypoint by Peta Hansen. I came across it, on portjackson press which has some excellent printmaking on it - always worth a visit.



Getting back to drypoint - well it's a process whereby one makes a scratch into a surface, and then you push ink into this for printmaking purposes. Usually one scratches these 'lines' or 'marks' into metal such as aluminium a softish metal, or copper - which is harder). One often nowadays finds people working onto perspex.

If that sounds just too easy for words then believe me it is in a a way!! BUT as with all printmaking processes doing it well is a lifelong learning curve. There are always a plethora of technical variations to consider. The main thing though is its one of those things that you learn about through DOING IT !!

Exhibit at Tron Theatre Gallery 2010

As an active member in Glasgow's arts & culture sector, the Tron Theatre seeks to promote new and exciting work. Providing an opportunity for emerging artists and recent graduates to showcase their work in a busy and vibrant arts venue.

The Tron Theatre is currently running an open
_____________________________________________

call for contemporary visual artists to exhibit in 2010
_______________________________________________________

For more information or if you wish to apply please email longgalley@tron.co.uk
or check out the gallery page on their website


Location: Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, Glasgow, G1 5HB

Deadline: 31 August 2009



Featured above is a print by recent graduate Janet Brown who was one of the few artists graduating in 2008 that had a WWW representation. Theres a photo of this on her website which if you click on it - shows it really large. It's a screenprint - I rather like it.
I have included it as a representation of "Recent Graduates of Duncan of Jordanstone" because they are scheduled as one of the exhibitions forthcoming at the Tron theatre gallery.

7th RWA Open Print Exhibition

Exhibition dates : 9 August - 19 September 2009

7th RWA Open Print Exhibition

A survey of contemporary printmaking selected from open submission. The exhibition will also include examples of recent works by invited artists from Japan, Russia and Poland. Other special features include bookplates and print works in three dimensions.

Submission dates:
16th, 17th, and 18th July, 2009

Further information on rwa.org.uk/openfrm.htm.

Course Outline ++ Intro to Printmaking

Fife (Dunfermline) Print Workshop
The Basement, Dell Farquharson Centre,
Nethertown Broad Street,
Dunfermline KY12 7DS
Introduction to Printmaking Course
Thursday 23rd April – 21st May 2009
An introductory course run over 5 days from 10.30 – 4.00.
This course is designed to introduce you to the joys of printmaking in our workshop here in Dunfermline. As you learn about various printmaking techniques we hope you will also come to appreciate the practical aspects of working with other members of our artist led organisation and feel comfortable working in this space.

Tutor: Colin Beaumont B.A. (Hons)
Cost: £160 (£10 discount for members)
The cost includes most materials, use of presses and tools, inks, cleaning fluids, and some paper.
Areas to be covered
1. Collographs. A form of collage on card or wood which is sealed then inked and printed either as a relief or intaglio print. Bring along your own selection of leaves, fabric, textured paper/wallpaper, tissue, crepe paper, string or thread. We will spend one day making the plate and one printing from it.
2. Monoprints. A “painterly” immediate print medium combining drawing, painting and printmaking producing unique images. Try out a variety of techniques
3. Drypoint etching on card. A simple and direct method of intaglio printmaking, where the surface of the Perspex is scratched into, to produce a burr which holds the ink. Can also be combined with monoprinting and collographs.
4. Relief printing on card. Requires only a scalpel or craft knife to cut the image into the card. Stripping off layers of the card can produce areas of tone and texture.

Printmaking Books

Some scans from a book that I recently had delivered to me by the Fife housebound library service. They come every 3 weeks and they also delivered another book which I had been trying to get hold of for the past 2 or 3 years. The edition had sold out. That was "Chine Colle" by Brian Shure which I am afraid was rather a disappointment and didn't tell me anything that I did'nt already know.......... bah. I mean it was not experimental in any way nor instructive. Basically you had printmaking onto a piece of lightweight paper the same size as your plate, and onto silk and how to make wheat paste. Oh and if using wheat paste you can pre-paste them, and then like stamps or envelope edges when you wet it it will stick to the paper - that actually could be quite useful if one were doing a large print with a large area of chine colle. i will have to see if that works in a similar way for rice paste which is what I use. I get it from Intaglio Printmakers in London. I empty it out into a glass jar so that I can see how much I am putting on my brush as if you use it from the tube you can tend to 'overuse' it and then become vulnerbale to having it slide as it goes through the press. Although if anything nowadays I am more inclined to under rather than over-paste !!.

Getting back to what I was saying about Brian's book - I suppose it's just that if I researched and authored a book on the uses of chine colle for printmakers - I would be endeavoring to offer a greater range of examples/ have it more up to date ( there was no mention of using inkjet at all, and this a book published in 2000) and for the publication to be inspiring.

Now both these books were brought to me by the mobile library on the same day and I would say that this book "Collagraph Printmaking" by Mary Ann Wenniger, originally published in 1981 was more useful and enlightening even though the photos were mainly in black and white. Very practical and instructive.
I mentioned this technique I read about in it which involved putting your plate into the freezer, to Jane Marshall when we were at the studio last week and here it is.

CLICK ON THE JPGS TO SEE THEM LARGER AND MAKE THEM READ-ABLE

Portugal Printmaking Postcard Project update

Portugal Printmaking Postcard Project update as mentioned in previous recent post


The image above is the contribution of Mirek Antoniewilz, a Polish artist. It's just interesting to be able to see what other artists have created and sent to this project. I sense that some artists are committed "mail artists" whilst others like myself and e.g. Raj Verdi (who I know of, through my involvement previously with the Printmakers Council) are printmakers who decided to participate. Sorry to say that my image on their is a bit "greyed out" i.e., it needs a bit more contrast !!......stuff like that really annoys me.
This is the link to Matriz's main website which is somewhat "Flash- tastic" and here's a link to the blog where they have posted the images until they get round to putting them on the main site.
Here's an image by Raj Verdi by the way.

Hot off the press..... at FDPW 24 March 2009 !!

I finally remembered to take my camera with me and took a few photos at the print workshop yesterday Tuesday the 24th March, 2009.

Present were Steve Ramtomski, Colin Beaumont, Rita Hayse and Jane Marshall.

Colin Beaumont

Here are a few of Colin's artworks including printmaking for those of you interested in taking the forthcoming course in Introduction to Printmaking, as featured in the previous post.











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Introduction to Printmaking (Course at FDPW)

There will be a course taking place at FDPW

Introductory Printmaking.


23 April to 21 May (Thursdays, 11 am to 4 pm )

It will be taught by Colin Beaumont.

Techniques covered include collagraph, monoprint, drypoint on perspex and card printing.


Please leave a comment here on this blog if you are interested in participating
or

email ainescannell@googlemail.com


A Collagraph is a print made from a collaged or textured board.

essentially a Collagraph "plate" (from which you make your print), is made from a cardboard base onto which are glued various materials e.g., fabric/textiles, papers including sandpaper, string, glue, and carborundum or sand. This is just an example of what can be included. There are a huge range of possibilities. It is also possible to 'scribe' into some of the surfaces on the plate. Layers of paper can be cut and torn away from the card base additionally. The card can also be incised with a scalpel blade to create very fine lines.
Once the plate has been sealed with a final varnish - it is 'inked up' to get ink into all of the crevices and indentations. Thereafter, it is 'wiped' in preparation for putting it through the etching press. Paper is soaked in a water tray and 'blotted' to remove most of the water. It is placed over the ready inked/wiped plate and run through the press under immense pressure.
The plate may also be relief inked i.e. have ink rolled onto the surface thereby giving 2 colours from one run through the press.

Here is an example of a collagraph plate and print.



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Here is a link to where you can see more of Wallah's artworks on Flickr. Check out the lower row of thumbnails which show close ups of sections of the collagraph plate. Thanks for sharing this Wallah - I hope that it helps people to understand the process.
I will add to this post over the next few days to help illustrate some of the techniques, that Colin will be introducing to course participants.

Introductory Leaflet for new Members (V1)

I am posting this copy of the introductory leaflet for prospective new members. You can download and print it out and thereby you will have the essential details