All Things Considered

Paul Bommer
by Simon Lewin on April 8th, 2013

Printmaker and illustrator Paul Bommer has an exhibition in Norwich from Friday 12th to Sunday 14th April 2013.

'Sack & Sugar' is a selling exhibition of Paul's limited edition prints and Delft tiles.

Paul is a graduate of the National College of Art & Design in Dublin. Working until quite recently in the East End of London, Paul has now relocated to the wilds of the north Norfolk coast seeking space and new inspiration.

Paul's work is informed by an irreverent humour and a love of character, history and a rich sense of time and place, captured with a deft line. He is currently focussing on limited edition screen prints and decorated ceramics which include limited edition tiles and private fireplace commissions.

If you're unable to visit the exhibition at Yallops Gallery, 59 St. Augustine's Street, Norwich NR3 3BG, we're pleased to offer a selection of Paul's prints over at our online gallery.

Songs of Innocence and Experience
by Simon Lewin on April 7th, 2013

In haste, yesterday we managed to catch what must be the last few days of an inspiring exhibition at the Ingleby Gallery in Edinburgh.

From the Ingleby Gallery website...

"This exhibition of work by Alfred Wallis (1855-1942), Forrest Bess (1911-1977), and Frank Walter (1926-2009) presents three unique and uncompromising figures from the story of 20th century art.

Each worked in isolation, outside the conformity of their respective societies: in Cornwall in the 1920’s; Texas in the ‘50’s and Antigua in the ‘70′s, but only two of the three (Wallis reluctantly and Bess enthusiastically) have been absorbed into the written and recorded histories of the last hundred years.

The work of the third, Frank Walter, is being presented here for the first time."

Officially I think the show was going to end on 31st March but the Ingleby Gallery website is indicating that it runs until 14th April 2013. Highly recommended.

Silt
by Simon Lewin on April 4th, 2013

 In The Old Ways, Robert Macfarlane continues to write about his experience of walking and observing as he passes through landscapes - some dramatic and some more mundane. 

For Silt, one of the most striking chapters of his brilliant recent book, bestselling travel writer Robert Macfarlane walked the Broomway, the notorious 'deadliest path in Britain'.

He was accompanied on this journey along along the Essex offshore path (which has claimed the lives of more than sixty people over the centuries) by his friend and accomplished photographer David Quentin.

Penguin Books are publishing a special e-book edition of Silt which will feature all of David's photographs from the journey, all taken on 35mm black and white film using a Leica rangefinder.

Until April 13th 2013 the photographs are exhibited in London at 4 Windmill Street, accompanied by a specially commissioned sound piece by musicians Jimmy Cripps and Rico Borza, and sound designer Jesse T. Rybolt. Find out more

You'll find lots of Robert Macfarlane related content published by our friends Caught By The River.

Bernard Cheese
by Angie Lewin on April 2nd, 2013

We had the pleasure of printmaker Chloe Cheese’s company recently. She was staying with us in Edinburgh, working on images for our forthcoming St. Jude’s In The City exhibition at The Scottish Gallery in July.

A short time after her return south we were saddened to hear from Chloe that her father, the painter and printmaker Bernard Cheese, had passed away.

I was very lucky to be taught by Bernard throughout my three years at Central St. Martin’s in the 1980s. He inspired me in all aspects of printmaking, especially linocut, lithography and the inclusion of collage in my work and was particularly encouraging in the run up to my final show.

Married to Sheila Robinson, Bernard Cheese lived in Great Bardfield in the 1950s, exhibiting regularly in local exhibitions with neighbours Edward Bawden, John Aldridge, Michael Rothenstein and Marianne Straub.

The images below are courtesy of The Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden who hold many of Bernard’s prints in their archives.

And here’s an obituary from The Guardian.

Chloe Cheese will be one of the ten printmakers taking part in our St. Jude's In The City exhibition in Edinburgh in July.

Sheila Robinson
by Angie Lewin on March 11th, 2013

We had the pleasure of printmaker Chloe Cheese's company last week - she was staying with us whilst working on a print for our St. Jude's In The City exhibition in Edinburgh in July.

The week before we'd received of Chloe's mother Sheila Robinson's illustrated book of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

This was never published in her lifetime but The Centre for Children's Book Studies at Anglia Ruskin University have worked with the Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden (who hold the original artwork in their archives) to publish the book for the first time, instigated by Professor Martin Salisbury with additional design and retouching by Brian Webb of Webb & Webb Design.

The illustrations - with skilfully varied weight of line and texture - are just beautiful. Where she has applied colour it is in a simple printmakerly way and the delicate script text and drawings are combined to fit a landscape format. The dust jacket is lined with spreads from her original sketchbooks. It's a beautiful piece of print.

Printmaker Chloe Cheese says of the book…

"The beautiful pen and ink drawings and delicate text of this book fascinated me when I was a child and drew me into the enchanted world of the fairy tale.



Although she hoped for publication at the time, she was still a young woman and I think other things, such as working on The Festival of Britain, marrying and having children, took over her life so that this book was put to one side.



The princesses in the boats rowing across the lake in particular is an image that fired my imagination and inspired me to emulate my mother to become an illustrator myself. Looking at this illustration now I admire the lightness of touch and the use of light and shade. The picture still takes me to the edge of the lake and into the story."

Copies can be ordered direct from Anglia Ruskin University. You might also like to visit the Fry Art Gallery website to see more of Sheila Robinson's work.

Barbara Jones
by Simon Lewin on February 24th, 2013

Regulars will know we're long time fans of Barbara Jones' work.

Born in 1912, Barbara Jones studied at the R.C.A. and was a pioneer in the field of popular culture, demonstrated by the book ‘The Unsophisticated Arts’ - published in 1951 and described by Peter Blake as “a treasure trove of information about popular art”.

In 2009, Ruth Artmonsky published a book on Jones’ work - “A Snapper Up Of Unconsidered Trifles” which we recommend.

We were very lucky to source a copy of the poster for her 'Black Eyes & Lemonade' exhibition in 1951 and a copy of the catalogue for the exhibition - we've put a few pages of that online.

Our friends at Quad Royal share our passion for Barbara Jones' work as you'll see here and here.

We have a few of Jones' original drawings and sketchbooks which we'll share before too long.

We've been prompted to post this for two reasons.

Until 9th March 2013 there's an exhibition of British murals and decorative painting in London organised by Liss Fine Art which features the magnificent 6' x 12' piece Out in the Hall (below).

The exhibition brings together many of the important murals and decorative cycles undertaken in Britain between 1910 and 1970. Not featured in the exhibition is our gouache piece 'Shelf and Mirror' (below) which we believe was a working drawing for a mural for the ocean liner SS Orsova.

We're also pleased to hear that The Museum of British Folklore are working on a collaborative exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery which will look at Jones' unique curatorial approach to her Black Eyes and Lemonade exhibition. More news on that soon.

Ravilious Submarine
by Angie Lewin on February 13th, 2013

I'm really looking forward to seeing James Russell's new book, published by the Mainstone Press, about Eric Ravilious' Submarine series of lithographs. Created during the winter of 1940-41, these prints capture the cramped conditions inside a naval submarine during wartime.

Above all this series of ten prints are brilliant examples of how auto-lithography faithfully reproduces - and even enhances - the qualities of drawn line and texture. They're not mere reproductions of watercolour drawings. Ravilious' skill as a printmaker is evident - especially in the images with the striking use of bright yellow and blue with graphite grey.

So far I've only seen these images - I can't wait to see the book in the flesh. Will report back soon.

In the meantime, find out more about the book from James Russell's blog and the Mainstone Press website.

Burns Miscellany
by Angie Lewin on January 26th, 2013

Jonny Hannah's 'Burns Miscellany' landed on our doormat today with spontaneous drawings printed onto vibrant coloured pages. Timorous Sassanachs that we are, we didn't indulge in traditional the haggis fare last night but are big fans of Tunnocks of all varieties - including Mark Hearld's collage, exhibited at Godfrey & Watt in 2011 (see last image).

You can see more of Jonny's printmaking over at St. Jude's Prints.

Lionheart
by Simon Lewin on January 25th, 2013

It's always great to see how our fabrics are used. Although it's printed on an upholstery weight linen, Luke Edward Hall couldn't resist tailoring this shirt from Ed Kluz's Lionheart fabric for Patrick Wolf to wear on his tour last year.

We'll soon be adding a 3rd colourway of Lionheart - sign up for our St. Jude's fabric newsletter for details. And who knows, we might even look at printing this on a lighter weight cloth.

Find out more about Luke Edward Hall and visit Ed Kluz's blog.

Beachcomber
by Angie Lewin on January 20th, 2013

I've recently been looking through past work in plan chests and folders and came across a number of prints that I produced when I started printmaking again in earnest in the 1990s.

'Beachcomber' is a very early wood engraving and really shows the influence of Monica Poole's work. I've suspected that the subject matter in my prints has always been slow to evolve as I draw and redraw objects, trying to capture variations in the insignificant. And what might help explain the 'clutter' in my studio is that I still have the same stones, driftwood and rope that feature in this print - all collected in the Orkneys in the early 1990s.