Returning to Colonnade House this Autumn, Sussex Printmakers will be taking off both gallery spaces to show off the best in printmaking.
Sussex Printmakers is a small but friendly printmaking studio based at Colonnade House which offers a diverse range of stimulating, artist-led courses and open access studio sessions.
INK is an exhibition which celebrates printmaking. The group consists of artists who use ink, paper or press to create their work thought different methods with relief and intaligo printing.
Their Fourth exhibition at the gallery will see recent works from a wide range of artists.
Alix Mercer-Rees
‘I am intrigued with the colours, patterns and texture found in nature and marks generated by living things and inanimate objects. The rhythm and flow of my work constantly reacts to what’s unfolding in front of me, each day brings different experiences and results into the landscape of my work. ‘
Ed Watts
Ed is a photographer, print maker and picture framer from Worthing. He takes his inspiration from the natural world and all things dinosaur!
Hattie Lockhart-Smith
Being relatively new to the world of printing I am constantly discovering exciting possibilities about this very versatile medium.
I currently work mainly with collagraph, lino print and dry point etching being inspired by my local surroundings, current affairs, pattern and colour.
Julia White
I trained in printmaking, predominantly etching, along with having young children this gave me the opportunity to explore the countryside around me. I started foraging for plants to study which became an obsession and brought me closer to nature, collecting both plants and memories form the Sussex Downs.
Martha Harris
I love playing with colour pattern and stitch – my work crosses textile and fine art practice.
Printmaking gives me an eclectic voice and I strive to maintain an experimental approach.
But of course there’s nothing like a bit of humour to inject some liveliness into the prints.
Melissa Birch
Melissa Birch studied at Oxford University and Chelsea College of Art during the 1990’s. Her stylised prints are hand-carved in lino and burnished onto Japanese paper. She seeks out pleasing structural forms amongst the gardens or wild hedgerows of the South Downs, and then transforms them using colour and line.
Nora Young
For INK 2019 I have been made lino cut prints with graphite to create texture.
These images continue threads followed over the last two years in a variety of work. They are based on a quote from a poem by Margaret Atwood.
‘… we row
out past the last protecting
sandbar, towards the salty
open sea, the dogs’-head gate,
and after that, oblivion.’
Peon Boyle
Peon Boyle is a Sussex based Artist, living and working by the coast, who uses printmaking as their medium.
Her new series of ceramic pots, extend her botanical prints into a new media. “I like the delicacy of the imprints of the plants, the subtlety of how I apply the glaze make the impression come to life. It is the trace of presence that I want.” Peon used plants she picked by the road side. Her work depicted the beauty within the common weeds that grows in the gaps of the pavement which people discarded them. It tells the importance within the insignificant, and emphasise the beauty within ordinary.
Rosemary Jones
I came to art as a mature student at Northbrook College, where I learned about linocutting and was also inspired by artists such as Eric Ravilious and his linocutting friend Edward Bawden.
I love the sea, the sky and landscape of the South Downs, and it has been a natural focus of my work. I also depict subjects such as flowers, having worked as a gardener for twenty years.
All my prints are original handmade linocuts, made with real ink, on real paper, on a real press, by me. Each print is unique because it is entirely made by hand.
Sarah Sepe
Beach Series of Work
The beach has long been an inspiration to artists, especially for those of us fortunate enough to live by the sea. For INK November 2019, I am showing a series of original linocut prints and paper cuts from lino cuts. All are based on a similar simple sea side design, showing sky, water, beach and foreshore where the mood and colours are dependent on the prevailing weather and time of day.
The pieces are either one off individual artworks or form part of a small edition of similar hand-printed works where variations in colour and finish are evidence of the handmade nature of the work.
My studio is at The West End Gallery & Studios in Rowlands Road, where I can be found most days working, and where there is an ongoing exhibition of my work.
Shona Macdonald
Shona Macdonald is an artist and maker based in Worthing, Sussex. While simultaneously working across a variety of media, her latest collection of Collagraph prints takes the crow as inspiration, exploring its character and presence through texture and pose. The prints themselves form part of a greater body of work to be exhibited later in the year, incorporating poetry, painting, ceramic and charcoal pieces.
Shona trained in Fine Art at Chelsea and Middlesex University and has worked as a freelance artist in the commercial sector, returning to her own Fine Art practice in recent years.
Her work is often concerned with rhythms of decay and renewal, drawing inspiration from the natural world and finding synergy with human experience.
Sue Hawksworth
I am interested in the effect of changing light on the landscape. The colour and transparency of light is itself changed by the time of year, time of day, and the amount of moisture in the air. I observe these effects in the landscape and make work from my sketches. I work in several media. Recently I have been concentrating on making work using monoprints in a painterly manner, based on sketches made on the chalk cliffs in Sussex.
Susan Davies
I Studied a Textile Design degree at Art College and have always been interested in all methods of printmaking.
After taking a long period living abroad I have returned to lino and collagraph printing, often combining the two methods.
I use line, ink drawings and sketches as my initial starting point and find that collagraph in particular captures this spontaneity and inky linear effect. I then use these ideas to make collagraph plates from mountboard and carve lino blocks. These are then inked up and passed through my little press.
My inspiration comes from my young son, our mixed heritage, nature and our many travels.
I work from my studio in Horsham, West Sussex and produce original, limited edition prints and cards.
Vanessa Breen
Vanessa’s inspiration for her artwork comes from nature and the hidden beauty of urban decay. Working in various media, she enhances layers to create a rich depth of colour and texture.
Vanessa is a local artist and co-founder of art company Creative Waves.
Vicky Gomez
“I am a Spanish artist based in UK. I’ve been always passionate about art.
During my academic life I have experimented with a lot of techniques, also digital art.
Since last year I am focus improving my printmaking knowledge and mixed with different techniques.”
Wayne Longhurst
Over the past 7 years I have strived to create realistic looking lino cut prints at my home studio. By using the reduction method, my latest series of animal prints are my most realistic to date. With each new piece I challenge myself, either using new techniques, restricting the colour palette or reducing or increasing the number of layers in the printing process. Come take a look at my latest prints! It’ll be great to see you there!
Yves Preston
Yves Preston is a local artist with a background in fine art and Interior design, whose current work explores the contrast between traditional figurative lino printing and abstract art, creating a striking balance between the structured form and consistency of lino printing with the unpredictability and fluidity of Ink.
Find out more about Sussex Printmakers on Instagram here and Facebook here.
Open Tuesday – Sunday // 10.00 – 17.00