We are into the third day of the global print conference IMPACT 11 HONG KONG that for the first time is virtual. That has not stopped the team at HK Printworkshop and CFPR at UWE curating a full programme from printmakers around the world. The exhibition programme features over 60 exhibits including the cluster ebook: Legends and Legacy Between, that 12 members collaborated on. Flip the through the pages here: Legends and Legacy Between. Luby and Jonnie are also delivering papers.
| The following article appeared In iCity Tiger Making an IMPACT |
| School of Art students, staff and artists in residence came together to produce an ebook showcasing a wide range of printing techniques and the impact of working in isolation for virtual IMPACT 11, the International Printmaking Conference hosted by Hong Kong Open Printshop. |
IMPACT, International Multi-disciplinary Printmaking, Artists, Concepts and Techniques, is one of the largest printmaking conference in the world. It was launched in 1999 by the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England, and has since evolved into a global professional event for ‘graphic art lovers, scholars and printmakers’.
This year, the conference was scheduled to take place in Hong Kong, as IMPACT 11. However, due to the pandemic and travel restrictions, the face-to-face conference has been transformed into a virtual event focused on bringing together thought-provoking thesis presentations and seminars from art communities from around the world.
Postgraduate students, artists in residence, academic and technical staff from the Material Encounters Research Cluster, a research group based at the School of Art, came together to create the ebook, Legends and Legacy Between, as their electronic submission.
The publication was designed by MA graduate Lucy Parris and PHD student Jonnie Turpie, and represents a wide range of print techniques such as laser engraving, photographic processes, digital and traditional print media.
Collaborators are as follows:
MA alumna Taiba Akhtar
MA student Boyana Aleksova
Doctoral Studies student Soha AlZaid
Doctoral Studies student Sally Bailey
Associate Professor Interdisciplinary Practice Dr Catherine Baker
Doctoral Studies student Harriet Carter
Doctoral Studies student Lucia Cunningham
BA student Fae Kilburn
Doctoral Studies student Su Ng
MA alumna Lucy Parris
Senior Technician Ana Rutter
Senior Technician Justin Sanders
Doctoral Studies student Jonnie Turpie
To produce the ebook, 13 colleagues worked in isolation and submitted a core image, practice description and working preparatory images. Many of the texts not only reflect on the artworks, but on artist’s experience of lockdown and the isolation that is different to the face-to-face experience of working within the School of Art.
Much of the included work has a hand-made material quality and an abstract image from a lithography stone test was selected as the front cover. A video version of the ebook has been produced with an accompanying voice over.
Dr Catherine Baker said: “The isolating times, imposed by the Covid-19 restrictions, brought about new challenges for the researchers involved in the production of an Artists Book accepted for IMPACT 11 in Hong Kong. We had to think differently and come together as a group of individuals via online platforms using alternative methods of production. This proved to be a valuable collective experience that was expertly managed by cluster members alumna Lucy Parris and doctoral researcher Jonnie Turpie. The Legends and Legacy ebook has heralded a new strand for the Material Encounters Research Cluster, and we now plan to develop further books as resources for cluster members and external researchers.”
Material Encounters 