All Things Considered

Julia McKenzie – Open House
Posted by Simon Lewin

Julia McKenzie will be taking part in the 2012 Dulwich Festival Artists' Open House programme on 12th/13th and 19th/20th May.

More than 200 artists in over 150 locations across Dulwich and surrounding areas are opening their homes and studios as part of the Dulwich Festival.

Julia will be including these three box works alongside other one-off pieces and limited edition prints.

Find out more about the event from the Dulwich Festival website or visit Julia's website and Facebook page.

Posted by Simon Lewin on May 9th, 2012

Ed Kluz – Theatre Britannica
Posted by Simon Lewin

Work commitments means that we're very reluctantly able to be in London tonight for the opening of Ed Kluz's Theatre Britannica exhibition hosted by Ben Pentreath and Bridie Hall.

The exhibition features drawings, collages and other works by Ed who is fascinated by the objects of our cultural heritage. He seeks out the eccentric, the lost and the overlooked. Follies, curiosities, vanished buildings and folk lore inspire artworks which explore themes of renewal and reinvention.

Ben and Bridie have very kindly let us display Ed's fabrics for St. Jude's in one of their Rugby Street windows. I have to say we're delighted with how Painswick is looking in situ.

Theatre Britannica runs until 26th May 2012 at Ben Pentreath, 17 Rugby Street, London WC1N 3QT.

Here are some of the works exhibited. From top to bottom: a window display featuring Ed's Painswick fabric, Old London After Canaletto, Dundee Arch, Gothick Cottage, A Norwich Prospect and The Dunmore Pineapple.

Posted by Simon Lewin on May 9th, 2012

Paul Bommer – an exhibition in London
Posted by Simon Lewin

Paul Bommer is busy preparing for his next London exhibition, 'Umbra Sumus (We Are But Shadows)' which runs from April 27-29 inclusively in Spitalfields.

As part of this exhibition, Paul has created over 120 faux Delftware tiles, taking their cue from the Spitalfields area, or from the daily blog Spitalfields Life - sometimes directly, sometimes a little obliquely.

Find out more about Paul's work.

Posted by Simon Lewin on April 18th, 2012

The Yellow Cup
Posted by Angie Lewin

Later this week I'll be exhibiting a new screen print in Ledbury, Herefordshire as part of the St. Jude's At Tinsmiths exhibition.

The Yellow Cup includes an antique shop find featuring a strangely humorous engraved image of a donkey wreaking revenge on his cruel dandyish master which I combined with a number of elements to form this still life in my Highland studio.

Initially available from Tinsmiths, I'll have further copies of the edition available later in April. Sign up to my e-mail newsletter if you'd like details.

The exhibition also features work from Ed Kluz, Emily Sutton, Christopher Brown and Mark Hearld.

The opening event is on Friday 30th March 2012 between 7pm and 9pm but the exhibition then runs until 29th April 2012. Full details

Posted by Angie Lewin on March 27th, 2012

Mark Hearld linocuts
Posted by Simon Lewin

As part of our forthcoming St Jude's at Tinsmiths exhibition in Ledbury, Mark Hearld has collaborated with Tilley's Letterpress to produce editions of four linocut prints - Squirrel, Blackbird, Little Owl and Flowers.

The prints will be available from the exhibition with opens on Friday 30th March between 7pm and 9pm. Come along to see work by Ed Kluz, Angie Lewin, Emily Sutton, Mark Heard and Christopher Brown. More

And in May we'll be in London for our next St. Jude's In The City exhibition. For an invitation to the opening event, sign up to our e-mail newsletter.

Posted by Simon Lewin on March 25th, 2012

St. Jude’s at Tinsmiths
Posted by Simon Lewin

At the end of March we'll be returning to Ledbury for an exhibition of originals, prints and textiles hosted by our friends at Tinsmiths.

The exhibition opens on Friday 30th March between 7-9pm and runs until 28th April 2012.

Tinsmiths have commissioned this rather fine set of letterpress printed beermats to mark the occasion. Limited to just 150 sets, 100 are available for purchase online now with proceeds donated to the mental health charity, MIND.

For further information about the exhibition nearer the time, sign up for our e-mail newsletter.

The beermats have been created by (top to bottom) Angie Lewin, Ed Kluz, Emily Sutton and Mark Hearld.

Posted by Simon Lewin on March 10th, 2012

Drawing At The Museum
Posted by Angie Lewin

Choosing just one bird to inspire a print for the recent Ghosts of Gone Birds exhibition from the long list of sadly extinct exotic species was difficult. I chose the Double-banded Argus whose sole relic is a single feather at the Natural History Museum in Tring. It's now thought that this bird may never have existed at all, the unique feather being a mutation of that of a living species of argus.

This, to me, made the feather seem more precious and poignant so on a cold, frosty morning I travelled up from London to the museum to make some preparatory sketches for my wood engraving Drawing at the Museum. As I drew at a desk by the window surrounded by rows of cabinets of preserved birds, I was struck by the contrast with the lively blackbirds hopping from branch to branch in the winter trees in the grounds outside.

Posted by Angie Lewin on February 3rd, 2012

Rob Ryan’s Valentine’s print
Posted by Simon Lewin

We're pleased to announce the availability of Rob Ryan's 2012 Valentine's print.

The text on this two colour screen print reads...

"All of the thoughts that I have held inside me ever since I was very small, silly fancies, grandiose ideas and embarrassing and happy and silly dreams that were always just mine and mine alone.

Could I share with you, and you alone, everything that lives inside my heart and my head that I have never shared with anyone but myself all of the years I have lived so far until now."

Purchase a copy of this limited edition print.

Posted by Simon Lewin on January 29th, 2012

The Curwen Studio
Posted by Angie Lewin

Although most of my prints are linocuts and wood engraving which I draw, cut and print on my own press in the studio, certain images might develop which are better suited to lithography and screen printing.

An example would be Festival Mug (below) which has areas of shading and tone that would be hard to achieve with relief printing methods.

This is one of the prints that I've had the pleasure of working on at The Curwen Studio in Cambridgeshire. Founded in 1958 the studio has now worked with artists including John Piper, Edward Bawden, Graham Sutherland, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Michael Rothenstein and Paula Rego.

Yesterday BBC Radio 4 broadcast a programme about Stanley Jones (master lithographer of the Curwen Studio) that captured the special quality of this highly-regarded print studio.

Artist Susan Aldworth - whilst working on her own prints - interviewed Stanley, revealing his longstanding devotion to lithography and also perfectly describing the inspiring, challenging relationship between artist and skilled printer. It's making me impatient to be back there!

You can listen to the programme over at the BBC Radio 4 website.

Posted by Angie Lewin on January 18th, 2012

Ben Bryden
Posted by Simon Lewin

Now living in New York, saxophonist and composer Ben Bryden is back in Scotland for an appearance in Edinburgh on Saturday night.

Ben has collaborated with poet Rab Wilson on 1957 Flying Scot, a book and CD set celebrating Glasgow's great heritage of building high quality racing and touring bicycles. The eponymous marque was once the dream and aspiration of many working class boys in Scotland. They were incredibly expensive, exotic and desirable objects in their day.

Rab's sonnets feature both in the book and read on one of the CDs. The second CD features music inspired by the work, composed and performed by Ben.

The book and CD set is illustrated throughout by Hugh Bryden and published by his Roncadora Press.

On Saturday 7th January 2012, Rab and Ben will launch the edition from 7pm at Ronde Cycle Café, 66-68 Hamilton Place, Edinburgh, EH3 5AZ.

Whilst in New York, Ben also collaborates with fellow tenor saxophonist Steven Delannoye on the Bright Noise project.

An EP of new material has just been released, with an illustrated sleeve by our mutual friend Jonny Hannah. Full details via Ben's website.

Posted by Simon Lewin on January 6th, 2012