Open Studios: 28th - 30th November:

Come along and see the workshop and get a glimpse of the new projects.

Private View Friday 28th November: 6 – 8pm
Open 29th and 30th November: 11am - 5pm

Peter J Evans: Feedbacker:

Exhibition at Workplace Gallery . Pete's new series of lithos will be on show along with other new works. The show runs until 20th December.

Computer Dies!!

It happens apparently!

Available Now!! "Love Hate" handmade book

Co-published with Runout Press. "Love Hate" brings together 10 active artists to create a small editioned fine art book. Each artist was challenged to create imagery based on the theme of love & hate.

Visit the "Love Hate" book page to see all the pages and photos of the binding > CLICK.

Andrew Wilson:

With proofing completed on the final two lithos, Andrew was able to see the fruits of his labour. Seven lithos will be editioned in total. A few proofs have been donated to the Newcastle University annual Fine Art postcard auction, to help raise money for next years degree show. the auction takes place on Dec 4th in the Hatton Gallery.

Anne Vibeke Mou:

With the approval of all three of her prints, Anne becomes the new "Plan Chest" artist at the Globe Gallery. Images of these prints will be added to the website once the editions are complete. Although they are available for pre-purchase at £200 each or £550 for all three - contact us for details.

NewcastleGateshead Art Fair:

11.09.08 - 14.09.08:- NewcastleGateshead Art Fair at the Sage Gateshead: Many thanks to all those people who came along and visited our stand. Thanks also to Nigel Easter for his muscle and help with the hang; to Anne Vibeke Mou for transportation; Mikhak & Sarah for helping out over the weekend; and Nick for the vinyl.

Graham Firth:

More information on Graham and images of his lithographs are now available to view on his artist page CLICK. They are currently available at pre-publish prices, we anticipate that the editions will be available in December.

Julian Davies - Smoke & Mirrors

22.08.08 - 06.09.08: Royal Glasgow Institute Kelly Gallery,118 Douglas Street, Glasgow G2 4ET Monday - Friday 10.30am - 5pm, Saturday 10.30am - 1pm

New Artist: Andrew Wilson:

Andrew was awarded a publishing prize at this years Newcastle University degree show (see news archive 30.05.08). He has begun drawing on stones for a series of lithographs.

Anne Vibeke Mou:

With her second stone well under way, we tried adding an additional element to the first proof. A post proof palatable prize was called for at the end of the session. The proofs are on the line to her right.

Graham Firth:

After a little more proofing of three of Graham's lithos, he ventured back up to Newcastle to see and sign them off. A little rain never bothers a Yorkshire man.

Anne Vibeke Mou:

Anne inspects the initial proofs and will begin drawing on a new stone next week.

Peter J Evans:

Over the past month we have been working on a series of prints, it's still early days for the project but today we made it over the hump by having completed making the key plates.

Prize: Peter McGlynn:

We're pretty pleased that Pete's print "Two Points" won first prize in The Peoples Show 2008, at the University Gallery, until Sept 12th, sponsored by Cravens. Click or on the image for a large version of The Journal article.

Anne Vibeke Mou:

The coffee has been flowing and the pencils kept sharp, drawing is almost complete. Here's a photo of Anne having a little break and viewing her stone from a height.

Laura & Rachel Lancaster:

Since their visit to the workshop last month, proofing has continued amongst other projects.

New artist: Anne Vibeke Mou:

After successfully printing Anne's drawing for the Allenhead's book "Draw a Line, Follow It", she agreed to come along to the workshop to collaborate on some larger works, this time drawing directly on to stone. So far she is loving the stone's surface, enjoying the company and copious amounts of coffee.

The oven & the etching press:

It's been on the old list of things to do for the past 3 years and now it is a reality. Many thanks to Daniel Jagger for helping transform the Takach packing crate into a make shift oven, with a trusty staple gun (or two), a jigsaw, a pile of old photoplates and a two ring electic hotplate. It works, heats up to 100 deg c + and holds heat. It will be used for fusing toner, drying shellac and drying photopolymer plates.





Since purchasing the little etching press in January it has sat idle at the back of the storage area, but today it was given a good run out by Mikhak, many thanks for the intaglio skills. This will aid in extending the range of processes and possibilities for artists in the workshop.

Graham Firth:

"Salad Fingers' dad": Friday was a relaxing start to Graham's visit, we headed over to Allenheads for the opening of the 'Draw A Line, Follow It' exhibition. On Saturday morning the work began with the transferring of the images on to the stones and ball grained plates, followed by counter-etching to tweaking the images. A break for the obligatory Sunday roast dinner and a few pints of real ale. A soggy Sunday night on the campsite resulted in newsprint proofs being soaked, but the car made it out of the field - give or take the 6 inch tracks and an annoyed warden. Monday has been secondary plate day, lots of iron oxide lines and gumming out.

New Artist: Graham Firth:

It's a pleasure to have Graham come along to the workshop and make some lithos with me, as he was my first litho teacher way back in 1992 when I was a student on a Foundation course at Doncaster College. Prior to his arrival Graham has been working on some images on transfer paper. he'll be documenting his time here for a research paper on the transfer paper technique.

New Artists pages:

Both Darren Banks and Erika Adams artists pages have now been added to the website, click.

ACA Book - Draw A Line, Follow It:

Over the past few weeks it has been full on book printing and binding in the shop. The is for ACA book accompanies the exhibition Draw A Line, Follow It (Facebook event page) which opening on the 4th July at the Allenheads Contemporary Arts Shop in Allenheads. The book is hand printed on a direct hand litho press, hand torn and hand bound with linen thread - it features a lithograph from each of the seven exhibiting artists; Richard Rigg, Alex Charrington, Ginny Reed, Nick Kennedy, Tuesday Nesbitt, Anne Vibeke Mou and Rachael Clewlow. There are 70 books with 5 workshop/printers proofs (one of which will be available in next years anniversary draw).





For the print nerds out there, here are some stats for the project to reach the goal of 75 books. 12.5 hours printing, 2354 individual tears (20.5 hours), 504 registration punch holes, 924 binding holes with 70m linen thread (8 hours binding) & 900 individual book pages.

Erika Adams:

Returning to Newcastle after her residency at the Frans Masereel Centrum in Belgium, Erika signs her completed editions. More information and images of the works soon.

Laura & Rachel Lancaster: Day 3

Some more proofing, lots of tea & coffee and some very tired people, with a potential 21 prints on the cards.

Laura & Rachel Lancaster: Day 2

More drawing while the initial proofing commences. Rachel takes care of the music and much of the tea & coffee making. We said goodbye to Bobby.

New Artists: Laura & Rachel Lancaster: Day 1

Drawing begins - it's a tag team event. Both Laura & Rachel are represented by Workplace Gallery, click one each of their names to view more of their work.

Editioning begins for Erika Adams' prints

The aim is to have them completed for her return from Belgium in a few weeks time.

Publishing Prize:

Prior to the opening of this years Newcastle University fine art degree show, Varnish - Hole Editions is delighted have awarded a publishing prize to Andrew Wilson. Andrew is invited to collaborate on a series of lithographs at a mutually agreeable time over the coming months, we look forward to working with him. Congratulations to all this years students.

3rd Anniversary Draw:

The draw was an entertaining event, people began to arrive at around 6pm for drinks, nibbles and to buy tickets. It didn't take long for the shop to fill up, but the intimate size did encourage people to interact. The weather was good to us, the mornings rain gave way to a warm dry evening allowing the spread of the ticket holders to the outdoors.

Internet ticket sales were suspended at 6pm and final sales rounded up at 7pm in order to get the duplicates ready for the draw. At around 7.30pm the draw began and 9 prizes were given away. Disappointingly for those who turned out for the draw, nobody present won a prize. The prize winners have been posted on the web page as well as the film of the draw taking place. Click to go to the webpage.

Many thanks to all those who participated and supported this event.

Erika Adams:

Leaves the UK for Belgium.

Erika Adams:

Signs the approvals for her three lithographs; Alcoyne, Skein & Provenience.

Erika Adams:

Working hard on a drawing, after having met her first Nigel.

Forthcoming:

7pm - 11pm: The Late Shows, come along and visit the workshop during this city wide event.

Also: New Artist arriving: Erika Adams, Tamarind Master Printer, of Eating Dog Press and also Visiting Faculty at the School at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Massachusetts, U.S.A. will be coming to Hole Editions to collaborate on a number of projects. Erika will initially be here for around a week, before heading off over to Belgium to attend a residency at the Frans Masereel Centrum.

Extra prizes added:

Two additional prizes have been added for the 3rd Anniversary Draw, a Paul Gallagher lithograph and Jamie Warde-Aldam has donated an impression of "The Bedroom of Mr Van Ghost" which appeared in the Oct 2007 issue of The Hotspur.

3rd Anniversary Draw:

To celebrate it's 3rd Birthday Hole Editions is holding a draw. Up for grab are £2000 worth of prizes. Click the tickets for more information and for purchase information.