EXHIBITIONS UPDATE
SPIKE PRINT STUDIO AT BERKELEY SQUARE HOTEL, BRISTOL ongoing
Spike Print Studio has taken over one floor at the Berkeley Square Hotel in Bristol. Artists currently on show include Chitra Parvathy Merchant, Rachel Bright, Ann Gover, Mary Rouncefield, Jane Ormes and Lee Kellgren. Our work is proving popular with the hotel guests and the prints are selling on a regular basis. This is part of an ongoing relationship with Berkeley Square Hotel who, as Bristol’s first Art Hotel, want to offer visitors a rich experience through visual surprises and unique artistic concepts. The current exhibition run for 3 months with the next one due in June. Details of the opening will be posted nearer the date.
SPIKE OPEN STUDIOS 1 – 4 May 2009
Spike Island opened its doors to the public again this bank holiday and had a record number of visitors passing through. Whilst the public Galleries are open all year round, Open Studios is the only time during the year when visitors can literally get behind the scenes and explore at their own pace. The public was able to meet the artists based here, see their work and participate in the programme of events and activities that took place over the weekend. Spike Print Studio exhibited members’ recent work and had a very busy and successful weekend. Original prints are a fantastic way of collecting and investing in art and we were pleased to see how well our work was received.
IMPACT 6 NEWS
Please visit the Impact page for a full and regular update. Impact 6 arrives in Bristol in September and Spike Print Studio is play a major part in this. We are hosting a UK Open Access Print Studio exhibition as well as other major activities including Hidden Impact and Continuous Print. We will be exhibiting the very best in Contemporary Print and are very pleased to announce that Alan Cristea Gallery is curating an exhibition with us.
In 2009, IMPACT 6 celebrates 10 years since the International inter-disciplinary print conference began in Bristol in 1999. Since then it has travelled the world – Finland, South Africa, Germany, Poland and Estonia and much has changed in the fine print world.Hosted by the Centre for Fine Print Research at UWE, Bristol, the IMPACT 6 conference aims to focus on the international diversity of the discipline, from its roots in industrial communication through traditional, fine art based processes, to the current cutting edge technology and theoretical debates.You can find more information regarding the conference www.impact.uwe.ac.uk
IMPRESS
Members Gail Mason, Chitra Parvathy Merchant, Ros Ford and Frea Buckler took part in IMPRESS Printmaking Festival, which was held in the Stroud area during March. This ambitious print event was very successful in bringing together established and emerging artists. Highlights included demonstrations and workshops, open to the public, led by masters in their field such as celebrated etcher, Norman Ackroyd, who set up a ‘field studio’on Stratford Park bandstand. A Symposium, lectures and guided tours of exhibitions all provided a stimulating and informative background to the Festival and emphasized the long and varied traditions of printmaking in the UK and Ireland and the many innovative contemporary techniques.