Spike Island opened its doors to the public during the May Bank holiday weekend at the end of April.  The event had fierce competition from a late Easter and  3 bank holidays  including a Royal Wedding which merged into a long holiday for some!  However, the event had a good footfall and the building buzzed with activity, energy and excitement.  Spike Print Studio held an auction to raise funds for equipment,  hosted an exhibition by UWE MA student Theo Wood and showcased its members’ work. We also ran Print for a Pound workshops where members of the public could turn up and print a small original print for just £1!  The event was very popular and we will see if we can do extra ones next year.

We are extremely grateful to Norman Ackroyd for donating 4 original  prints created in our studios during his recent demo.   There was fierce bidding for his work and we sadly let the prints leave the studio.

The following has been written  by Theo Wood about her experience of curating HOME for her MA studies.  Spike Print Studio supports students on the UWE MA Multidisciplinary Print Degree through a concessionary membership and free student inductions.  We  invite a final year student to curate an exhibition at our studios. Theo has also added her thoughts about the auction where she was a keen bidder!

HOME
Thanks to Spike Print Studio I was given the opportunity to curate a small show exploring the concept of HOME as part of my MA professional practice. Putting on a show of other people’s work is a whole new activity and I have learnt that it requires a certain amount of organisational skill as well as the decisive decision making required to ‘edit’ your show into a coherent piece. It’s not easy! Challenging yes – even down to drying white gloves with a hairdryer the morning before the Private View, and an experience I would like to repeat – probably in a collaboration.

The auction
Spike Print Studio’s first print auction took place in the screen printing studio. Auctions are brisk affairs – lots appeared and were bid for with the Norman Ackroyd and Emma Stibbon prints being the ‘stars’ of the show.
Opening the bidding on a item could mean you bought it – there were real bargains. The auctioneer gently nudged up prices when bidding was brisk so that the studio earned over £2,000 for new equipment.

Posted by Irena Czapska Studio Manager 16/05/2011