Up Close: An Exhibition of UK Printmaking at Devon Guild of Master Craftsmen

Exhibition: Up Close, an exhibition of UK Printmaking at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Bovey Tracey, Devon. March 12 – April 25 2011

It is unusual for the Devon Guild of Craftsmen to present a solely 2-D exhibition. The contemporary craft usually on show at their evocatively named Riverside Mill in Bovey Tracey covers 3-D, sculptural and textured work. Painting is not a major feature.

However, this spring the gallery walls will be covered with framed work - not paintings, but prints by 32 artists using a wide range of techniques - from the Mokuhanga woodblock printing of Brian Furneaux to Jo Bowen’s cyanotype (sun-exposed) plant prints.

All of the work in the gallery measures exactly the same size - a maximum dimension of 18 inches square, a stricture that has not prevented artists from presenting a varied selection of skills that showcase the breadth of printing in the UK at the moment. 

The abstraction of Sharon Bishop’s detailed screen prints of over-developed architectural make for an interesting juxtaposition with the humorous linocuts of Helen Snell who transposes traditional and modern motifs onto fabrics and wallpaper.

Elsewhere visitors will see monoprint, collograph and aquatint – methods where the flat surface is cut into, cut out or built up, to leave its impression on another surface.

This being a craft centre the tools of the trade for these and other varied mediums will be on show and visitors will be encouraged to try a variety of workshop activities that reveal more about the intriguing processes involved in etching, drypoint, lino-cut and screenprinting.