| In celebration of their 10th Anniversary, Cowprint are inviting visitors to Southampton’s God’s House Tower to explore the exciting diversity of modern printmaking at their upcoming exhibition ‘Cutting a Fine Line: The Art of Printmaking’.
Printmaking, as an artform, truly spans the ages – from humans using their hands to leave impressions on cave walls to contemporary artists embracing the interaction of ink, plate, paper, and press.
Within the exhibition you will find examples of relief methods, such as woodcut, wood engraving and linocut, intaglio methods such as etching, mezzotint, solar plate and collagraph, which offers the possibility of combining both intaglio and relief, and finally planographic methods such as monoprint and screenprint. Each printing process, of which there are many, offers its own set of distinct visual qualities, very different from a drawing, painting, or photography. A more detailed explanation of these techniques along with tools, materials and plates will also be on show and artists will be on hand to talk about their work and demonstrate the different techniques used.
The artists exhibiting are based in Southampton and the surrounding area, including the New Forest, Winchester and Gosport. Featured artists include Ashley Ailes, Sian Appleyard, Linda Bennett, Kay Brown, Amanda Burnie, Jo Cheer, Margot Eardley, Celia Ford, Barbara Hamilton, Zoe Hemsley, Eleanor Horne, Sue Howard, Tori McLean, Gillian Owen, Jo Price, Irene Smith, Mandy Smith, Angie Versey and Carole Westbrooke. There will also be a special tribute to long term Cowprint member and exhibitor Sheila Lockyer, who tragically passed away unexpectedly in December 2021.
All of the exhibitors are members of Cowprint, a vibrant and supportive printmakers group. From a germ of an idea by Jo Price, Cowprint’s (founder and chair until 2021), and Sarah Mander of Red Hot Press Print Studio, Cowprint has grown and developed over the last ten years. Under Jo’s leadership the group set out to offer members opportunities to share both knowledge and ideas and promote their printmaking.
Jo recalls “with just a handful of Red Hot Press members meeting to share their work with each other, we could never have imagined that the group would grow as it has. Ten years later, it’s flourishing with thirty members and a variety of great projects to look back on, some of which cross continents… long may this printmaking collaboration last.”
Founding member Irene Smith feels“very privileged to have been part of a creative printmaking group” and believes “the most important aspect of Cowprint for me is to be in touch with my fellow talented printmakers, having great times being creative together, organizing exhibitions and printmaking projects as well as our regular sketching sessions”.
Views shared by member Sian Appleyard who also noted “Many of us work alone in our own studios so having chance to meet others and share a passion for printmaking is a lovely bonus”.
The exhibition: ’Cutting a Fine Line: The Art of Printmaking’ will be held on Friday 29th April to Sunday 8th May (Fridays and Saturdays 10 am to 5 pm and Sundays 10 am to 4 pm) at God’s House Tower, Southampton. The timings for demonstrations of different printmaking techniques will be posted on social media.
Admission is free.
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