Bury Art Museum show 'Feared and Farcical Futures' opens Friday

Prospect Printmakers have responded to Bury Art Museum's theme 'Feared and Farcical Futures' with an exhibition of work around the Ring Balcony Exhibition space.

The Opening is on  Friday 27th January 5 - 8 pm (with work on display until 20th May 2017). All welcome! If you are in the Bury area, please do come along.

My finished work 'Darkness' (above) is on display and for sale, with other unframed work available in the browsers. I'm looking forward to seeing the full exhibition, which features sci-fi and dystopian themed prints, collagraphs and etchings, all available to buy.

'Darkness' was created using the reduction linocut process, in 3 stages, after an initial prototype. I've included below some reference shots taken on my phone, of the early stages.



Early prototype to test initial idea



First stage gradation



Variable edition - exploring different colour-ways

The edition is a variable edition of 3 and draws on ideas of catastrophe, the race to colonise space, and suggests an abandoned 'spent' planet. I've tried to reflect what I love about dark skies, imagining a future when they return to their vast, fundamental beauty.

 The opening event is part of Bury Art Museum's Friday Lates and 'Thank Art It's Friday' drawing events. See the events page for more information

20:20 Exhibition Touring during 2017

Throughout 2017, the Hot Bed Press organised 20:20 print exchange will be touring the UK, sharing the work of 508 artists from 39 print workshops, this year including prints from Hong Kong and Australia for the first time.

I submitted 2 print editions this year - a bit crazy I know! Images below. One was through Hot Bed Press in Salford, where I'm a member, and another through Prospect Studio in Rossendale, where I printed most often in 2016.

'Meandering' is a 2 plate linocut, based on a sketch for print that I did looking over the stunning Dovey Estuary in mid Wales, just outside Aberdovey / Aberdyfi and Machynllyth.

Above is 'Adjusting the Sails', another 2 plate linocut, this edition using a technique of scratching into lino to create tone, something I experimented with after seeing the Picasso linocuts at Lady Lever Gallery last year. The name of the print is based on a quote from a lovely card given to me by a former colleague: "We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails".

The entire collection can be viewed online, along with prints from previous years, on flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/hotbedpress/

Venues for the touring exhibition can be found at www.2020printexchange.com