The wonderful Alice @im_printed (a much appreciated platform and showcase for printmakers and printmaking) runs regular print exchanges. I was incredibly excited to be part of her third exchange. How they work, Alice chooses 30 printmakers who show an interest in being part of an exchange, she then puts forward a subject and suggested size for the prints to be and...off we go. We have the freedom to interpret as we like and can look forward to receiving prints back from the other printmakers involved.
'Strength' was the subject for this exchange. As well as a dragonfly being seen as a symbol of victory, courage and strength in Japanese culture, my original dragonfly print was the first print I ever sold. It was bought as a gift for someone who had been going through a pretty rough patch and the lady who brought it thought that it would really cheer her friend up and provide her with the extra strength and courage she needed. This meant a lot to me and was a significant moment in my printmaking journey - it therefore felt like the perfect thing to celebrate on this exchange.
In order to make the edition of 30 more manageable, I exposed my original collagraph on to a screen and screen printed the edition.
It was fascinating to see how different all our prints were and was a really lovely thing to be part of. Getting your bundle of prints in the post was a real treat and many of which are now up on my wall of prints at home. It was a great way to get introduced to some amazing printmakers out there, all of which are also so supportive of each other. There can be lots of negative things said about social media, but something like this shows that if used in the right way, it can also be a really positive force.
To find out more follow @im_printed