Members of the Safe as Houses project spent the day at Prospect Studio in Rawtenstall. .All the group who have experienced homelessness in the past, produced drawings which were then taken into engraving and collage. For most of the group this was their first taste of printing and hopefully they will be exhibiting their prints […]
Year 3 pupils from Plymouth Grove Primary School made their first trip out since the pandemic and enjoyed printing at the Whitworth. Working from the textiles of Walter Crane and William Morris, pupils engraved printing plates with nails. These were inked with water based inks and printed on a small portable press. Some rich tonal […]
Artist Karen Vine ran an experimental printmaking day at Prospect Studio. Printmakers were introduced to the technique of etched lino. The technique which uses resists and caustic soda produces some excellent results. It is an expressive medium which lends itself to landscape images. If anyone is interested we intend to run another session in the […]
Year 11 pupils from Outwood Academy spent the day working with Alan Birch , producing a range of relief prints, collographs and engravings to enhance their GCSE coursework. ideas from their coursework were used to transform into prints. The pupils applied themselves to the task in hand and produced some excellent prints
Year 4 pupils from St John Bosco Primary School explored the textile collection at The Whitworth with Alan. They produced sheets of sketches from which they produced some excellent relief prints. The vibrant colours of the water based inks, rolled over textured wallpapers , enhanced the quality of the prints. “Your workshop was great and […]
Year 6 pupils from East Manchester came to The Whitworth to work with Alan Birch. pupils worked from shapes found in the textile pieces in the gallery. Using textured wallpapers they produced some interesting and creative prints. The sessions gave pupils an insight into life at Manchester University.
Artists at the studio have been busy over the last few months producing new prints. Here are a selection of some of them. Etchings and aquatints, linocuts, collographs and mono prints have been printed . For more information contact alan through the website.
Members of the Handmade group worked with Alan Birch at the Whitworth creating relief prints and surface prints using plants and organic matter . The plants, some brought into the studio and a few from the garden were placed on inked plates then covered with paper and run through the press. The pressure left impressions […]
Printmaker Stuart Brocklehurst spent the weekend at Prospect , working with a group of artists on mezzotint plates. The small copper plates were rocked by Stuart to create a heavily indented plate. Artists then spent the weekend burnishing the plates, producing a series of proofs . Towards the end of the weekend artists printed their […]
Artists have been busy at Prospect over the last couple of months, producing a range of works. Many artists have been selected for exhibitions, sold works and progressed to Masters courses. If you wish to get a taste of printing, contact Alan through the website. Below are works by Karen Vine, Sheila Blair, Pete Cave, […]
Artists from Hebden Bridge, spent a productive weekend at Prospect Studio, exploring the medium of collograph. Acrylic gels, wallpaper, gesso and tile grout were used to create heavily incised plates. These were inked in a variety of ways to create rich prints. A brilliant weekend saw over 30 plates printed . Excellent results.
Families spent an enjoyable afternoon printing relief prints using wallpaper. Artists drew inspiration from their tour around the Mill, drawing shapes ranging from the machinery and objects used in the creation of fabrics. Visitors from Canada and Burnley left the museum with a range of images, all patterned, rich and colourful.
Age Friendly Printing Alan Birch spent 2 creative afternoons working with the Handmade group at The Whitworth. The group which meets on Friday afternoons explored lino printing and engraving . The Jigsaw lino prints drew inspiration from works in the Whitworth and the engravings were based on the surrealist concept ” The Exquisite Corpse “. […]
Members of George House Trust visited the Whitworth to spend the afternoon printing with Alan Birch. Using the wallpaper exhibition as as inspiration, artists combined shapes and patterns generated from relief wallpaper with collaged images from magazines to create mixed media pieces. The prints were highly personal and made for level discussions about the content.
Members of the Hand made group, who meet regularly at The Whitworth , worked with printmaker Alan Birch to create prints based on the the wallpapers from the Open House exhibition. The exhibition which features wallpapers from the last 50 years, shows how wallpaper can trigger memories and feelings. Artists brought in wallpapers from home […]