Hishashi Momose, Blue Cross, 1999
Hishashi Momose, Blue Cross, 1999

In an essay commissioned to mark Edinburgh Printmakers 40th anniversary in 2007 art critic John Calcutt noted that 'Edinburgh Printmakers was known as The Printmakers Workshop. Although it has dispensed with the word workshop in its current title, it is in the idea of work that its essence lies. Edinburgh Printmakers works. It works to produce itself; it works to produce printmakers; it works to produce art; it works to produce change. And it all works.'

 

The word workshop derives from combining work - from the Old English weorc, worc for physical labour, toil, an action undertaken for manufacture or business -  and shop, from the Old English scoppa, abooth or shed for trade or work. When combined as 'workshop' it is gains the meaning of gathering together to learn, exchange skills and creatively approach a task. Thus 'Workshop' forms the title for this exhibition across Gallery 1 and 2, bringing together prints of all forms with archival material from Edinburgh Printmakers' collection.  Since being founded in 1967, EP's production has spanned artists printing their own works in the studio, commissioned collaborations between artists and master-printmakers, and prints published on behalf of other local arts organisations.

 

Focusing on the late-1970s onwards, the exhibition centres on three thematic threads: In Gallery 1, Bold Impressions, a selection of graphic, colourful and experimental work from the archive, accompanied by archival objects and historic exhibitions posters. The selection takes stock of the role and significance of Edinburgh Printmaker's print publishing and exhibition programme for both local and international artists. Gallery 1 concludes with 'Ditto,' a small cohort of artworks selected in pairs from the archive which share common concerns, from referencing historical print methods to sounding the inaudible.

 

In Gallery 2, Texting Voice presents a selection of work from the archive in which artists have used text or responded to fiction, poetry and prose, a notable thread within our archive across our holdings of prints and folios.

 

Edinburgh Printmakers is donating 30% of our income from print sales during the opening weekend of ‘Workshop’ to the Red Cross to help with humanitarian aid for people in crisis across the world. Any prints purchased from 6pm 8 April – 6pm 10 April will contribute to this cause.