During our initial meeting around 25 artists from a wide geographical spread, stretching from Shropshire to Gwynedd to Liverpool to Cheshire, were brought together at the Regional Print Centre in Yale College, Wrexham and each gave a presentation on their current practice.
The session was felt to be hugely uplifting and encouraging for all involved and the idea of collaborative exchange was put forward. It was decided that this exchange would take place over a period of around 5-6 months. Leading up to the Wrexham Print International which takes place April to June 09.
Each artist involved talked about their work and the ideas and concepts being explored. These presentations took around 10mins each and gave us an insight into many different ways of working.
I suggested that, having seen the range of work, we look at a very open theme to work with, and so "A Sense of Place" was suggested; a theme that could be very specific or quite open, personal or grand scale.
Artists were randomly selected to work with a partner. Email addresses were exchanged and the process had begun. People excitedly chatted about how they hope it will develop, ideas, meeting up again.
It is planned that each artist will work on a print based artwork up until January and then send it, by post or email to their partner for them to respond to and create a partner piece.
I'm not sure how the project will work, or indeed if it is workable. I hope the project will develop quite organically, some relationships will develop , some will fail, some will be the start of longer term collaborations. The completed work will be presented in some format, either as a publication, a presentation or a display at our Conference which will take place to coincide with the Print International Exhibition.
Steffan Jones-Hughes
