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.