Previous Exhibition ‘The Art of The Printmaker’ 16 Feb to 2 April 2023

A new exhibition at the Bingley Gallery showcases the work of printmakers from our region. Artist’s prints are a hugely important branch of the fine art world, though many people are confused between the hand-worked forms and the mass-produced prints which pass through a photographic process. The latter may be produced in carefully controlled limited numbers, but they lack the individuality, variability and scarcity of the traditional techniques that make them so appealing.

Many great artists including Durer, Rembrandt, Hokusai, Matisse, Picasso and Warhol produced prints, not merely as a means of increasing output, but because it provided a different expression of their creativity.

A multitude of processes add to the final effect: Sometimes bold blocks of colour, sometimes subtleties of tone through the use of acid etching or the fine, scratched in detail of needlepoint etching. As one of the exhibitors, Paul Hudson said of his work “Screen prints are a delight in the way one can manipulate screen images and colour from one print to another if so wished. They are to me the bolder statements which shout out from the wall, whereas etchings whisper their tales and you may need to listen a little more carefully”.

Don’t miss our Launch on Wednesday 15 February 7-9pm

Janine Denby    Collography

Janine Denby trained in Graphic Arts at Leeds Metropolitan University and obtained a MA from Bradford University. She currently divides her time between teaching, running print workshops and printmaking in her studio in Halifax.

Janine has developed her own unique style of multi-coloured collography printing; overlaying numerous print blocks to produce highly textured, vividly coloured works celebrating the world around her. On-site drawings, paintings and photographs are used as the source material which are then transferred onto the initial print block using a variety of paintable textures including grout, pva glue, plaster and acrylic mediums. Blocks may be repeatedly test printed and re-worked, absorbing her experiences and feelings along with the paint.  Over the past 30 years Janine’s work has focussed on the city at night depicting the dramatic interplay of light on architectural forms and reflections flickering elusively on wet ground. – an exciting time when the luminous pockets of intense light contrast dramatically with the dark shadows to create transient ‘stage sets’ in which figures play out their personal roles and daytime reality is replaced by a sense of magic and the unknown.

Mike Moor Drypoint

Born on a Derbyshire farm, Mike’s artistic training came initially from Grimsby, then Cheltenham School or Art before undertaking an MA in Painting and Printmaking at The University of Leeds.  He has exhibited widely, undertaken commissions for as unusual subjects as wine bottle labels and a gothic horror book, contributed to the Erotic Review and was artist in residence at Cliffe Castle, Keighley. He now lives in Riddlesden, where his garden shed is a favoured workspace.

His main technique is drypoint etching, which he ‘enjoys for its visceral, tactile quality…. the sheer graft and resistance of the metal point cutting into the aluminium. Perhaps due to his farming experience animals feature frequently as subject matter, but he isn’t afraid to tackle deeper studies of the human condition. Another ingredient seems to be the influence of some of the great engravers of the past and many of his works have a classical style.

June Russell     Etching, Aquatint & drypoint

June is a fine art printmaker based in Bradford, who works from her studio at South Square in Thotnton, where she experiments with a wide range of print methods. ‘Although I have a very broad interest in landscape, it is the city and its environs that is the major focus of my work, and even my rural landscapes usually feature the marks of habitation’. In recent years, as a member of Inkers Printmaking Group, June has been involved in responses to urban and industrial museum collections, most recently Bradford Industrial Museum, and Bradford Textile Archive.

Alison Deegan    Etched Linoprint

Alison worked on this small collection of bird lino prints through 2022. Traditionally, the surface of the lino is carved with a variety of tools to remove the areas where the ink is not wanted on the print. The results are bold and unambiguous, the ink is either absent or present.

However, old style hessian-backed linoleum, which is made from solidified linseed oil and other particles can also be etched. Caustic soda applied to the linoleum breaks down the proteins in the oil and eats into the surface. Once the etch is deep enough to escape inking with a roller the process can be halted, and any residues can be washed away.

Alison draws her designs onto the lino in melted wax using a tjanting, a tool used in batik dyeing. The wax resists the caustic soda leaving the lino beneath it unetched. By stopping the etch whilst it is still quite shallow some of the small particles in the lino still pick up the ink and transfer it to the paper. The overall result is more spontaneous, single colour prints have more nuance and texture and subtle transitions can be achieved where two or more colours are layered.   

Ian Brooks

Ian’s work is rooted in landscape, capturing the sense of place, distinct to specific locations. During lockdown he focussed on images of the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, visited whilst undertaking oceanographic research for his academic research in climate science at the University of Leeds. Other images in this exhibition feature the moors around his home in Haworth – the result of sketches made during regular walks on the moors, often revisited in different lights and seasons.

Ian works primarily with the traditional etching techniques of sugar lift and spit-bite aquatint, The image is built up in layers of tightly-controlled drawing, and more abstract, loose, semi-random marks which mimic the textures of the landscape and maintain the energy of sketches made on location. The images are acid etched on copper plates, and hand printed in the artist’s home studio on fine-art printmaking papers.