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PRESS RELEASES
Listed below in reverse chronological order:
September 5th 2008
Changing Swansea
We are now embarking on a year long project supported by the Arts Council of Wales which will involve printmakers from all over the city and beyond which we hope will be both challenging and interesting, responding in a personal way to ‘Changing Swansea...’ through the medium of printmaking. Support will be given to new printmakers to learn the basic skills through workshops and there will be a programme of visiting artists and masterclasses to support those already familiar with the techniques.
The project will culminate with an exhibition in the Arts Wing at the Grand Theatre in Swansea in August 2009. We hope to offer the following advantages to all those taking part:
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Subsidised classes for members
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Some free studio time
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Masterclasses
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Lecture programme
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Editioning days
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Opportunity to exhibit in the Changing Swansea exhibition
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Opportunity to be part of targeted marketing activity for the promotion and sale of the prints
Scope of the Project:
The project will track and record a ‘snapshot’ of Swansea over a 12 month period.
The city is undergoing a tremendous change in both the physical and social landscape. Printmaking is a particularly good medium for a project such as this. Some of the processes allow us to incorporate both new and archival material into the same image. Texts, photographs, drawings can easily be integrated into one print.
Print processes are particularly accessible to beginners. Our mobile presses go out to all sorts of venues with a big range of age groups. Being able to draw is not a pre-requisite so bring along friends and family to learn new skills.
We have an experienced group of artist/printmakers who regularly exhibit nationally and internationally. They meet on a monthly basis and provide the professional base for the project.
A selection of work produced through the project will be exhibited in the Arts Wing, Grand Theatre Swansea in August 2009 and will also appear on dedicated pages of our website and any other venues connected with groups involved.
Part of the project is also to market the prints in branded portfolios and provide a platform of publicity for the sale of the prints.
We are looking at three approaches to the project at the moment to start us off. Others will inevitably develop out of the workshops and as a result of our initial social evening (see below) when there will be an opportunity to bring your ideas to the project.
The Artist as recorder/documentor/chronicler
The landscape of Swansea is changing every day, some view points are disappearing while new ones are opening up. The city is trying to re-invent itself as a cosmopolitan city of culture and distance itself from its industrial past. This theme will attempt to connect this history to the present in interesting, thought provoking and personal ways.
The Artist as commentator
This theme will provide a vehicle for comment and statements about what is happening in Swansea today and will very much arise out of a personal, original perception and observation.
The Artist as visionary
What will the future for Swansea hold. What would we like to see ?
Come along to the social evening at the studio on Wednesday September 10th 6.00pm – 8.30 and find out about how you can join in this project.
Press Release 4th February 2008
Swansea Print Workshop's Annual Exhibition
Swansea Printmakers Expand Artistic Horizons
For the third year running the annual exhibition of work by artists associated with the Swansea Print Workshop is being held in the Arts Wing of the Grand Theatre, Swansea. The private view is on the evening of 19 February and the exhibition continues until 14 March. Artists' prints of all kinds will be on show and for sale, including etchings, photo-etchings, silkscreen prints, linocuts and woodblocks, and for the first time there will be a section devoted to drawings associated with printmaking.
The past year has been a momentous one for the printmaking workshop, with the development of artistic exchanges between the workshop and Pakistan, and plans being finalised for the working premises to expand into a large converted industrial building in Kings Lane as part of Swansea's 'Urban Village' development. Exhibitions were sent on tour last year including two exhibitions of Welsh prints to Pakistan and the workshop has become a centre for the exploration of new techniques. This activity was given a boost last year with the visit to Swansea of the internationally acclaimed printmaker Vinita Voogd who led masterclasses in Collagraph and Monoprinting techniques in the workshop. Vinita Voogd was born in India but now lives and works in California, the American state which leads the world in groundbreaking technical experiment in advanced printmaking methods.
In the Grand Theatre there will be works on show inspired by Vinita Voogd's visit, and others grounded in processes tried and tested over hundreds of years such as intaglio and block-printing. There are reduction linocuts utilising methods pioneered by Pablo Picasso, and prints making use of processes developed within the last decade. Sadly the workshop lost its studio manager last year when the redoubtable Sameera Khan moved with her husband to the United States, but since then the Arts Council of Wales has provided funding for a project officer, Bill Chambers, to document information and resources and to lead workshops in techniques such as photo-etching, photo silk screen printing and etching with copper sulphate. It used to be said that all the materials used by printmakers were either poisonous or explosive but this is no longer so and Swansea has become a centre for safer printmaking methods.
Some of Wales's best-known artists have discovered that the workshop as an ideal place in which to explore new expressive techniques and to expand their own range of expertise. Visitors to the Grand Theatre this month and next can gain some impression of the wide range of creative activities now being encouraged and achieved in this artistic centre - one of the most remarkable success stories in Welsh contemporary art.
For further information contact us
South Wales Evening Post
Thursday 27 September 2007
Artists bring foreign inspiration back home
Newly-inspired after a recent tour of Pakistan, members of Swansea Print Workshop show some of their wares at the Grand Theatre’s Arts Wing.
Around 20 printmakers from across Wales are involved in the exhibition, which grew out of an exchange programme after the Festival of Muslim Cultures UK in 2006.
The exhibition reflects the renewed vigour and enthusiasm for printmaking techniques among Welsh artists. It is a nod too to Welsh master printmakers like Ceri Richards, who is well remembered for his lithographs. Another accomplished printmaker was the landscape artist Bert Isaac, who died just over a year ago.
The culture of art in Pakistan has found its way into many of the works on show, though traditional Welsh and British themes are found too, such as landscape, man’s impact upon the natural world, and salute to the disappearing faces of Welsh life.
The group is marking a farewell of sorts, with their workshop manager Sameera Khan, who was the inspiration behind the Wales-Pakistan exchange, leaving the town to live in the US.
But the inter-cultural links remain, with plans for a residency programme for Welsh artists in Pakistan, and the possibility of an extension of the scheme into India.
Welsh Printmakers open in Swansea
Recently back from a tour of Pakistan, an exhibition of Contemporary Welsh Printmaking is to go on show from 26 September in the Arts Wing, Grand Theatre, Swansea. The show organised by Sameera Khan and Sarah Hopkins of Swansea Print Workshop includes 45 works in a variety of styles and techniques by 20 printmaking artists from all around Wales. It originated as an exchange exhibition which went to Pakistan as a reciprocal event after Swansea held its Festival of Muslim Cultures UK in 2006. A major element of this festival was the Contemporary Pakistani Printmakers exhibition which opened in Oriel Ceri Richards, and art lovers who visited this exhibition last year now have an opportunity to view their Welsh counterparts.
The exhibition reflects the new enthusiasm for printmaking among artists living in Wales, which has gained enormous strength from the recent development of printmaking workshops . Swansea Print Workshop (SPW) has now been operating for 10 years and has been so successful that there are plans to move to much larger premises in a converted industrial warehouse in King's Lane off the old High Street, which will be an important part of the 'cultural cluster' planned for Swansea's urban village development. A number of the Contemporary Welsh Printmakers are members of SPW, which has pioneered new printmaking techniques and encouraged the revival of older ones. Printmaking is an important economic resource for artists, offering them opportunities to produce much larger numbers of works for lower prices than those asked for individual paintings and sculptures. But each printmaking technique has a particular personality and history which adds to each artist's range of style and expressive power.
In the history of
Welsh art there have been a number of master printmakers including the
painter Ceri Richards who is particularly remembered for his
lithographs. Another accomplished printmaker was the landscape painter
Bert Isaac. Bert died just over a year ago and the exhibition pays
tribute to him with a print lent by his family.
The Welsh prints were received with enthusiasm when they were shown in Pakistan and there was admiration for the variety of adventurous techniques. Pakistan is going through great traumas, political and social, and not surprisingly this was reflected in the Pakistani prints with an emphasis on social comment. The Welsh prints are different in mood, often affectionately and sometimes lyrically engaged with the natural and the man-made world, with an occasional salute to a rapidly vanishing Wales (as in Valerie Ganz's 'Dawn Departure', an etching of mining life).
The SWP has been fortunate during the past three years to have had the expertise of Sameera Khan in her role as workshop manager. She has been the inspiration behind the Welsh-Pakistani exchanges. Through her work two artists in residence came to Wales from Pakistan a year ago and her contacts enabled a number of Welsh artists to visit Pakistan earlier this year. It is hoped there will be regular exchanges in the future. Sadly Sameera is now leaving Wales for the United States to join her husband there but it is hoped they may both return to Swansea at some point in the future.
In the past it has been difficult for Welsh artists to project their work beyond the confines of Wales, and the Pakistan exchanges have provided a valuable window to a wider world. There are plans now for a residency programme for Welsh artists in Pakistan with the possibility of an extension into India. If the SPW move to King's Lane becomes a reality there will be opportunities for even wider-ranging exchanges with accommodation for visiting artists provided in the new premises.
From April 5th 2007
’51.34 North 1.46 West’ An Exhibition of prints from Wales
Exhibition: Swansea Printmakers
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Nomad Gallery Islamabad Pakistan
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The Alhambra, Lahore, Pakistan
An exhibition of contemporary printmaking by members of Swansea Print Workshop
This exhibition showcases the work of artist members of Swansea Print Workshop, which was set up in 1998 by a group of artists to provide a centre of excellence for professional printmaking and drawing in South West Wales. All the artists are currently based in South Wales and many of the prints reflect aspects of life in the Swansea area. The artists taking part celebrate a wide range of styles, techniques and subject matter. Traditional techniques including etchings, screenprint, cyanotype, lino and wood blocks are represented alongside more contemporary methods such as collagraph, digital and transfer prints.
This exhibition is the first international show specifically for members of the Swansea Print Workshop. It is part of a growing network of international links being made by staff and member artists to encourage artistic exchanges between people from different nations and cultures. It is taking place at the same time as an exhibition by contemporary Welsh printmakers in Islamabad and Lahore.
In 2006 and 2007, Swansea Print Workshop was host to exhibitions of work from Pakistani printmakers and invited two Pakistani artists to take up Artist’s Residencies in South Wales, where they worked with schools and community groups to develop cross-cultural artwork. In 2008, the Print Workshop intends to send Welsh artists to carry out Artist Residencies in Northern Pakistan.
Artists taking part:
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Judith Stroud
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Ruth Parmiter
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Sarah Hopkins
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Rose Davies
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Zena James
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Jackie Ford
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Elissa Evans
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Sheila Clark
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Alan Figg
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Carys Roberts
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Lynne Bebb
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Leila Bebb
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Kara Semans
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Veronica Gibson
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Robert Macdonald
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Rhian Jarman
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Alan Williams
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Sameera Khan
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Aleem dad Khan
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Ayesha Farooq
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Lorna Packer
Notes to editors:
Swansea Print
Workshop provides a forum for established and would-be printmakers to
meet and exchange ideas and to share a platform of exhibition
opportunities, while the large drawing studio allows artists to explore
the strong links between drawing and printmaking. It provides regular
courses and master classes in printmaking techniques for all ability
levels and Open Access sessions for experienced printmakers to use the
facilities and pursue their own work in a professional environment.
There are also two weekly Life Drawing Groups attracting artists from
various disciplines.
South Wales Evening Post
Friday 2 March 2007
City artists’ Asian show
Artists from Swansea will see their work on show in Pakistan’s answer to the National Gallery, this month.
The show is part of an ongoing relationship between Swansea Print Workshop and Pakistani printmakers that was struck up for the Festival of Muslim Cultures 2006.
The scheme saw printmakers from Pakistan bring their skills to the city, sharing them with local artists.
This next phase of the exchange will see 45 pieces of work from Welsh artists unveiled at the VM Gallery in Karachi before travelling to Lahore and Islamabad.
Sarah Hopkins and Sameera Khan, both from Swansea Print Workshop, put the ambitious plan in motion and both will head out to Pakistan at the end of the March.
Sarah said; “We have the opportunity to show on the world stage that Wales has a great cultural contribution to make in this medium.”
One artist from the group, Robert MacDonald, from Brecon, has also been invited to represent Contemporary Welsh Printmakers and travel to Pakistan to launch a residency programme.
Wales Leads the Way to a Better Understanding.
Early event in the UK Festival of Muslim Culture opens in Swansea
An exhibition of work by contemporary Pakistani printmakers opens at Oriel Ceri Richards in Swansea’s Taliesin Arts Centre on 14th January 2006. The exhibition, one of the very first events taking place in the UK wide Festival of Muslim Cultures, will be opened by Andrew Davies AM, Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Economic Development.
Contemporary Pakistani Printmakers runs from 14th January until 4th February 2006. The exhibition, which is supported by a tri-lingual catalogue in English, Welsh and Urdu, will then tour to The Vale of Glamorgan and Lancaster.
The exhibition forms part of a wider programme of activities planned for 2006, including an artists in residence scheme and series of workshops.
The Festival of Muslim Culture is a year-long celebration of arts, humanities, education and discourse that seeks to foster an improved understanding and appreciation for Muslim cultures. Major events and exhibitions have been organised across the United Kingdom in which moderate Muslim voices can be heard, and negative stereotypes challenged. The project was conceived in 2002 and its patron appointed, HRH Prince of Wales. A vast programme of events has been developing since then, inspired by the belief that the arts can play a role in changing society for the better by enabling people to enter into the experiences of others.
Under the Festival banner, Swansea Print Workshop has established a powerful and unique partnership with printmakers from Pakistan, who have been invited to share their work with communities across the country. Alongside this, organisers have planned a dynamic programme of activities, which will introduce new cultural dimensions into the lives of young people, their teachers, community groups and professional artists in South Wales, thus having a profound and lasting impact on those involved.
The Festival of Muslim Cultures Print Project is divided into two parts; part one, is based in the UK and part two in Pakistan, which will follow once funding has been secured.
As well as the aforementioned exhibition, the Swansea based project will host two artists in residence from Pakistan at Swansea Print Workshop for a period of 12 weeks. The artists, alongside a specially appointed outreach team, will lead a diverse programme of printmaking workshops for school children and older students, plus a lecture programme, master-class opportunities and workshops for community groups based on the theme of Image, Symbol and Text.
A selection of prints created throughout the programme will feature in a summer exhibition also at Oriel Ceri Richards, Swansea to coincide with the National Eisteddfod of Wales, prior to an exhibition tour of Pakistan, subject to funding.
The project in Pakistan will mirror the UK programme thereby opening up further opportunities for artist exchange, workshops and exhibitions.
The projected has been applauded by local politicians. Cllr David Phillips, a city-centre councillor welcomed the initiative. Cllr Phillips, who is also the Leader of the Labour Group on the city council, said, “It is Swansea’s rich cultural diversity that makes living here such a pleasure and we should celebrate that at every opportunity. I am very pleased that Swansea is yet again leading the way. This initiative by Swansea Print Workshop and Taliesin Arts Centre is most timely and welcome”. He continued, “I represent a large multi-ethnic ward, with a significant Muslim population … If we are to create successful vibrant communities, we have an obligation to oppose negative stereotyping. And one of the ways to do that is to improve our understanding, appreciation and tolerance of each others cultures – and contemporary culture is as important as the ‘traditional’.”
The Festival of Muslim Cultures is a celebration of the rich cultural and artistic expressions of Muslim peoples: advancing understanding, promoting respect and facilitating interconnectedness.
The festival will place the United Kingdom at the cultural centre of the Muslim World. Over 120 cultural, educational and youth organisations are now participating in a 15-month long celebration which will bring Muslim cultures into the mainstream of British life. Through programmes of Muslim art, architecture, poetry, fashion, film, literature, music, gardens, performance, design, food, discourse and thought, designed to appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds, the Festival is promoting a balanced understanding of the diversity and humanity of the Muslim world.
The background for this series of events is the profound and damaging lack of understanding of Muslim cultures in the West. That vacuum is being filled almost exclusively by negative media reporting of current conflicts in the Muslim world, breeding a climate of fear and hostility towards Muslims. One of the consequences is that young Muslims in the West are being increasingly alienated from the societies in which they live. The Festival of Muslim Cultures, a celebration that places contemporary and traditional Muslim Cultures centre stage in the UK, is a non-political and non-sectarian event that involves some of the country’s major cultural institutions and, as importantly, aims to include as many as possible of Britain’s Muslims, with their non-Muslim peers, in diverse cultural celebrations.
10TH OCTOBER 2004
PRINT AUCTION 2004
Swansea Print Workshop is holding their second Fine Art Print Auction at the GlynnVivian Art Gallery on November 20th 2004. The auctioneer will be Osi Rhys Osmond, and the event will begin at 1.30pm. There will be an opportunity to view the prints before the auction as there will be two previews, one at Swansea Print Workshop on Friday 19th at 7.00pm and the other on Saturday November 20th at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery at 11.00am
In 2001, Swansea Print Workshop arranged a successful auction of prints at the Glynn Vivian Gallery. The proceeds from that auction were used to complete the refurbishment of our studios at 19A Clarence Street. The auction aroused considerable interest, and certainly raised the profile of printmaking and the activities of the Workshop in the area.
We would like to build on the successes of 2001, and we have brought together for our 2004 auction a collection of original fine art prints made by both national and international printmakers. The sale of these prints will contribute to setting up Swansea Print Workshop’s “Young Printmaker of the Year” scheme, to encourage younger artists to become printmakers. In collaboration with the Josef Herman Art Foundation Cymru, five of Herman’s lithographs will also be auctioned: proceeds from the sale of the Herman prints will raise funds for the Foundation.
We very much hope that this print auction and its links with Swansea Print Workshop will help to promote Fine Art Printmaking in South Wales to the benefit of all participants.
Especially when the october wind
TWELVE ORIGINAL PRINTS
To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the death of Dylan Thomas, twelve printmakers from Swansea Print Workshop collaborated on an Arts Council of Wales funded project called ‘Especially when the October wind’ Twelve Original Prints.
The prints were produced based on Dylan Thomas’s poem ‘Especially when the October wind’ which has a special significance for Swansea. These prints form a limited edition boxed set (each one signed by Aeronwy Thomas), a touring exhibition and are available to view online at www.dylanthomasprints.com
Having started in Swansea and exclusively featuring printmakers living and working in the Swansea area, the project is now truly reaching the international community. Following a preview show at the Welsh Assembly’s Wales Week in the Theatre du Residence Palace, Brussels, the exhibition was launched by Aeronwy Thomas, Dylan Thomas’s daughter in May of this year at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea. Further exhibitions followed throughout Wales, including the National Eisteddfod in Meifod in August 2003 and The National Library of Wales in January 2004.
The set of prints was also selected by the Welsh Assembly Government to be on show in their newly opened offices in The Chrysler Building, New York, USA. The prints will remain on display for one year and were featured as part of the St Davids day celebrations in New York City in March 2004.
The set of prints that were presented to David Woolley, for the City and County of Swansea at the launch in May 2003 are now on display in the Dylan Thomas Centre’s restaurant where they will remain for permanent viewing to the public.
The website (www.dylanthomasprints.com ) allows people all over the world to view the prints, read about the project, its artists and the printmaking techniques used. It provides details of how to purchase one of the limited edition boxed sets. It has also been translated entirely into Welsh adding to the growing presence of the Welsh language on the web and emphasising Swansea Print Workshop’s commitment to the language and the local community.
Swansea
Print Workshop is a not for profit
company limited by guarantee
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