Printfest 2008 - bigger and better than ever

11:41am Saturday 26th April 2008

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EARLIER this year, I was allowed into the inner sanctum of Printfest to take part in the contemporary-thinking organisation's selection process.

In fact, I was honoured to be invited and be involved in choosing Printfest's first Printmaker of the Year Award, which will play a major role of the Printfest 2008 show, running at Ulverston's Coronation Hall, from May 2-4.

Taking part was a fascinating and enjoyable process which, via countless websites, opened my eyes to the work of many printmakers I hadn't seen before.

After much deliberation and debate, Norfolk-based printmaker Angie Lewin was chosen from a shortlist already drawn up by Anne Desmet, editor of Printmaking Today, and her deputy Mike Sims.

There is so much talent in the print world that it was a tough call to decide on the award, especially for Anne and Mike who did the groundwork for the final line-up.

"We focused on newcomers and established artists, all of whom combine expert printmaking skills with highly diverse yet accessible and engaging subject matter," explains Anne.

To give you a little background on Angie Lewin, she studied BA (Hons) Fine Art Printmaking at Central St Martins College of Art and Design between 1983 and 1986, followed by a year's part-time postgraduate printmaking at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. She has worked in a range of printmaking techniques, including lithography, silkscreen and etching.

More recently she has concentrated on lino, woodcut and wood engraving.

Angie is also well known for her textile designs and a range of greetings cards, based on her prints, which are stocked throughout the UK.

Angie will be the featured artist at the Coro show with a dedicated display space for her work (pictured), which alone is well worth seeing, not to mention the host of other gifted printmakers exhibiting.

New festival director Tina Balmer told me that Printfest was delighted to have Angie as their first Printmaker of the Year.

"Her work is contemporary and technically brilliant but shows a wonderful debt to artists of the past, like Eric Ravilious.

"We have a wonderful range of artists coming to Printfest this year and, with 36 printmakers attending, this will be the biggest Printfest ever."

Tina has taken over as director from Ronkey Bullard, who has more time now to create her own prints and will be exhibiting at Printfest for the first time in many years.

The list of exhibitors also includes Simon Ripley, who makes monoprints from a studio in Devon and will be attending Printfest 2008 as The Printmaker's Printmaker.