Keep On Rolling #06

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It’s a nice time in the magazine-making cycle, with copies of Issue 19 landing on people’s doorsteps and our hard work is being enjoyed by our readers, be them long-term subscribers or those who’ve just found out about the mag and have wanted to try it out.

I’m excited for our October publication. Issue 20 feels like a bit of an anniversary edition for us and with that in mind, we’re spending a little longer planning it, thinking of new features, bringing more voices into the mix and more.

We also plan to incorporate our print challenge in the pages in the magazine from Issue 20 – we’re about to launch this on Instagram soon (check our feed over the weekend) – we are asking people to help us celebrate reaching 20 issues with a positive, inspiring piece of print, made in one colour. We’re at lots of print fairs after Issue 20 launches, and we’re keen to celebrate it with you, so we’ll be using the winning artwork (plus a couple of others) to do some live printing and share the positivity and good vibes…

So, from next week, I’ll be heads down with our writer Vinca, making the next issue the best it can be – reaching out to makers, helping them tell their stories and I’ll even be doing a bit of writing myself for this one (heavily edited before you lot see it – ha).

Keep well and keep on rolling.

John Coe

Founder of Pressing Matters magazine

Bold & Bright Botanics

A recently completed four-year-long project, Julie North’s botanical alphabet is a joy to behold. The two-layer reduction linocuts are a vibrant celebration of leaf forms, branches and petals. Each letter is depicted by two plants whose names begin with the given letter (using the Latin and English common names) with the background colours chosen to connect with one or both of the plants in the image. A limited edition artist’s book is on the horizon – a collaboration with a local artisan printer – which will bring together the full set in all its glory.

Celebration of Print, Illustration & Publishing

Anyone who knows People Of Print will be aware of how consistently great their projects and products are. From their massively informative website to their almost legendary Print Isn’t Dead pin badges, they are a huge influence on the printmaking scene, so you can be sure that their upcoming Art & Book Fair will be top drawer too. Their first live market, based in Brighton at the end of July, promises to be full of independent makers and designers covering the worlds of print, illustration and publishing. Find out more and book your spot here.

You Gotta Roll With It...

You can use a garden roller to make your home landscape look nicer OR you can use a garden roller to make an imagined landscape of your own creation. Trevor Pollard has been doing the latter since pre-lockdown days, creating wonderfully evocative relief prints using this unique approach to build up layers and atmosphere with every roll. Watch his short film here and be inspired to put your own garden tools to artistic use.

York Printmakers Fair

Now in its fifth year, the York Printmakers Autumn Fair is a well-established event in the city’s creative calendar. With hundreds of original prints on show and free entry, this is a show not to be missed. York Printmakers is a thriving, diverse group of enthusiastic artists working independently, who come together to support and challenge each other by sharing opportunities, ideas and processes.

Press + Play Festival of Print

Phoenix Art Space, Brighton are pleased to announce their second annual event – a five-week celebration of the finest in contemporary and traditional printmaking, including screenprinting, linocut, lithography, risograph, letterpress and more. There’ll be a group exhibition from 12 November to 18 December 2022 with associated workshops, talks, demos and a table top print fair. Find out more here.

Spectacular Oscillations

If you know anything about me, you'll know that I'm a massive magazine fan. One early influence on the creation of Pressing Matters was a letterpress focused issue of Random Spectacular, published by the brilliant St Judes, so I'm pleased to see their new edition 'Oscillations' ships out at the end of July. With articles taking in art, music, architecture, poetry, travel, photography and artwork by such luminaries as Tom Hammick, Jonathan Gibbs, Mark Hearld and Angie Lewin to name a few, I'm excited for my copy to drop at the end of the month.

Printmaking at Thomas Rotheram College

The Fine Art, Graphics and Photography students at Thomas Rotherham College are taught the basics skills of intaglio, lino and screenprinting, darkroom and cyanotype at the start of their courses. Once they have got to grips with the techniques, they are able to use them in experimental and exciting ways. Their end of year exhibition showcases the very best of each student's work from their two years, resulting in an amazing transformation of their classroom to an inspiring gallery space. Take a few moments to watch their space transform and see the impact that printmaking has had on their works and their learning.

Inky inspiration and exploits..

Good friend of the mag, Armina Ghazaryan, is brilliant graphic designer, letterpress practitioner and photographer (see cover of Issue 8 for proof). She’s recently released a collection of wood type textures (taken from the back of wood type printing blocks) for us all to bring a bit of printmaking loveliness to our designs.

It’s great to hear that our latest edition, Issue 19, has made it’s way to plenty of people’s doorsteps. I love seeing photos of people with their mags, a cup of tea, having some well-deserved ‘me-time’ reading our articles and soaking in some inspiration (if not sun rays).

Working under the name Neasden Control Centre, Stephen Smith makes the most wonderful marks in his graphic works. I’m finding his confident use of the drawn line and wonky collage approach to his compositions a big influence on my own prints and drawings at the moment.

Sheffield Print Fair is one of many print shows we hope to be at later this year, after the release of Issue 20. With a wide array of print styles and techniques on sale at the fair, there will be loads to check out and demos aplenty to try your hand at making your own print.

Buy our latest edition - Issue 19

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