Once again there will be an opportunity to see some of the outstanding prints that have been produced by the pupils of celebrated local printmaker, Sarah Morris at Teignmouth Arts Action Group community centre (TAAG). Each week two enthusiastic groups explore the fascinating practice of relief printmaking using both wood and lino cuts.
Participants learn a method known as reduction block printing. This is a process complicated by the fact that what you cut away from the block is revealed when you print. This requires a good deal of forward planning! It is rather like approaching an image as a negative of what you want in the end. Then the palette of colours is planned and mixed and each one applied carefully in stages as sections are cut away. Sometimes textures are added by rubbing back the block with sandpaper, or creating marks using textured paper etc. The resulting marks have a ‘painterly’, organic quality that are usually lacking in mass produced relief prints. As each layer of ink is added and the colours overlay each other, the print gains an organic quality as the oil based high pigment inks build up a rich surface. Each print is unique with rich satisfying tones.
So why ‘The Wooden Spoon Press’? The whole process is very low tech, as the students do not use a mechanical press; but instead they just burnish the back of the paper with a wooden spoon to transfer the ink from the block onto the paper.
This process is accessible and satisfying for people of all degrees of skills and expertise. Complete beginners quickly go from strength to strength due to the positive and supportive atmosphere in the groups. Many have built up their skills over several years, and now produce work of a very high artistic quality.
So come along and see the very impressive results of all their hard work at the WOODEN SPOON PRESS Exhibition at TAAG from Saturday March 2ndto Friday March 8th, open daily from 10 – 5.
Sarah’s acclaimed work can be found at Devon Guild of Craftsmen at the Riverside Mill in Bovey Tracey, where her work is regularly on display.
