Printmaking at Nant

 A few places available if anyone else would like to come. Beginners welcome. Cost £20
at Nant, Near Newcastle Emlyn, Carms SA38 9JF

Nine Lives- The Exhibition - Art Matters at the White Lion Street gallery

Just a selection of the pieces now on show in Tenby.

The nine artists involved in this exhibition are from the Teifi Artists group and meet regularly to discuss work, network and exchange opportunities.

Tag members are  Andie Clay

Wendy Evans

Helen Gillam

Glenn Ibbitson

Carole King

Nigel Pugh

Peter Rossiter

Philippa Sibert

and Diane Walkey

Art Matters can be found at http://www.artmatters.org.uk/ 

See website for details of current exhibition and opening times.

Workshops- up coming fun

At Nant-----
Drypoint,Monotype Printmaking workshop 
Sat 22nd June
10.30 - 4pm
£20 + paper



Bookbinding
All sorts of books
Sun 30th June
10.30 -4pm
£15 + materials


Life Drawing- workshop day- untutored
Tues 30th July
10.30-4pm
£15

an introduction to graphic novels-
create your own comic strip
August 27th
£15
10.30-4pm

and At St Nicholas Village hall- near Fishguard
Reduction printing with Lino
Thurs 25th July
£20 
You will need your own set of tools for this course- beginners set available at £5 

please bring your own lunch to these courses- tea and coffee provided

Booking essential
either to loadedbrush@hotmail.com
or carole_king@btinternet.com

Spring Open Studios-bank holiday event

Anyone in the area is welcome to just turn up and visit............

We will be showing a wide variety of our work in different media- there will be recent work as well as a few bargains.

 Glenns website is www.smokingbrushfineart.com/

Caroles are www.carolekingart.co.uk/

and http://nantdesigns.co.uk/

Cash or cheque sales only.
SA38 9JF will take you close by.
Please email for a more accurate map

In residence- Nant y Coy

Back home after a week in Pembrokeshire, meeting new people, talking bees with beekeepers from the other side of the UK ( what a different story!) and taking time to work on a new project.
The rain kept off for a few days- long enough to walk and sketch from the surrounding landscape- fabulous views from the top of 'Maiden Castle' and picturesque farmhouses and barns tucked in the wooded valleys.

West Ford Farm

Poll Cairn and Maiden Castle

It seemed the ideal opportunity to experiment with linocut-something I had not done for some years- reasonably quick and easy to print.

Nant y Coy Arts have a different artist/craftmaker installed in their studio each week throughout the summer. There is easy parking, fabulous local walks and a great cafe for afterwards  at the same location. A gallery shows work by Margaret Merritt- not to be missed are her mixed media landscapes -a joy of light and colour.

On the Map

'A patchwork of little fields'

'On the Map ' opens in Hastings Museum and Art gallery this week with this piece of my work. Composed with fragments of original print and chine colle, each piece representing one field in one particular area near Tregaron. 

More information on previous blogs.

Preview : Friday 9th March at 6.45pm

PRINTFEST

Printfest 2011 at Ulverston, Cumbria

 30th April/ 1st May

Showing at “Printfest 2011”

Ulverston, Cumbria     April 29^th – May1st 2011

   Why travel over 260 miles to show prints in a town smaller than Llanelli? Well, for the same reasons Printfest attracted other participants from as far away as Brighton, Norfolk, Cornwall and London: Ulverston comes across as a ‘can do’ town. It is a busy market town with many independent shops; it was once famed only for providing one half of possibly the world’s most famous comedy duo; now it provides an opportunity to network with, and test one’s own work in the company of artists who dedicate their time to printmaking techniques. It soon became apparent to us that after 10 years of close aquaintance, this corner of Cumbria is populated by an educated public who know what they are looking at. Their interest in the technical aspects of printing came as a welcome surprise. There might just be the chance of a sale or two here…

   The interior of the Coronation Hall is guarded by Britannia and her entourage, with Edwardian ‘Putti’ watching on from the tops of the decorated pillars. Below them were arrayed 37 stands, with not a giclee or digital print in sight.

   As recently as the 1980’s, a print show would have been a largely black and white affair, with just the odd splash of dayglo colour on a screenprint. No longer, monochrome was very much a minority presence here. There were few intaglio images; relief prints [woodcuts in particular], and serigraphy were in the ascendant. There were no lithographs in evidence. Its materials are hard come by now after the stone-breaking purges, which took place in our art college gulags during the 1970’s.

   As regards subject matter, representational natural forms predominated. Birds in general [and crows in particular] nested in several stands. But of course there were those works which defy categorisation. The work of Anne Bridges is built from collaged print surfaces, rich and dense in their North Wales green-ness. Tessa Pearson builds mark upon mark through multiple screened layerings to form frenetic, floating hieroglyphics. Ian Williams carborundum prints are almost unfathomable; keyboards? Sports pitches? Or simplified versions of those wonderful Snowdonia slate fences? Who cares? These images are engaging in the extreme.

   Prints were mainly of domestic size, and the prices correspondingly affordable, as prints should be –even though many artists eschewed the financial potential of producing large print runs in favour of experimentation through single, unique works.

   As newcomers to the event, we found the number of visitors impressive. We were told that actually, footfall was down on last year, but sales had improved. Credit card facilities and free wrapping services obviously make the buying process easier. The event also provided a programme of demonstrations during the event, and workshops for community groups and schools are offered throughout the year. The website is well worth a look.

Did we enjoy the experience? Yes. Would we do it again? Most certainly.

www.printfest.org.uk

Carole King  Glenn ibbitson   May 2011