'Up close' - and printable at the Devon Guild

Up close - an exhibition of printmaking from across the UK
Saturday 12 March - Monday 25 April 2011

It is unusual for the Devon Guild to present a solely 2-D exhibition. The contemporary craft usually on show covers 3-D, sculptural and textured work and painting is not a major feature. But this spring the gallery walls are to be covered with framed work - not paintings, but prints by 32 artists all using a wide range of techniques, from ‘Mokuhanga’ woodblock printing (Brian Furneaux) to Jo Bowen’s cyanotype (sun-exposed) plant prints.

The exhibition will have the tools of the trade on show, workshops activities and information for visitors to find out more about some of the intriguing processes involved in etching, drypoint, lino-cut and screenprinting. ‘Up Close’ refers to the way the hand-made print is presented so we not only appreciate the process behind it - but also because all work in the gallery measures exactly the same size: a maximum dimension of 18 inches square!

Each artist has experimented within the prescribed size to produce exciting and widely varying works. They cover contemporary subjects such as Sharon Bishop’s detailed screen prints of over-developed architectural space. Like Sharon, Helen Snell also trained at the renowned print department at Bristol University and her humorous linocuts transpose traditional and modern onto fabrics and wallpaper. Wendy and the Wolf is a striking combination of contemporary graphics and fairytale theatricality (Emma Molony).

Other exhibitors, undaunted by the frame size, have used monoprint, collograph and aquatint - where the flat surface is cut into, cut out or built up - to leave its impression on another surface. Viewers are promised a collection that encompasses beauty, imagination and precision with a scope unfamiliar in our age of easy digital reproduction. This is where visitors can really get Up close to hand-made printmaking.

Open daily 10am-5.30pm. FREE

Work is for sale. For all artists go to http://www.crafts.org.uk.
(Image: Sharon Bishop, Concrete Jungle)

For more information visit http://www.crafts.org.uk/