Call For Work : Background Part 1

Why did Green Door decide to host a print exchange?

As a small start-up (some may say upstart!) studio striving to establish a reputation in the wider world of printmaking we have been envious of the obvious sense of community between individual practitioners and studios in other countries: in particular the USA, Australia and New Zealand. This is in marked contrast with our perception of the printmaking network here in the UK. It is hard to say whether this can be attributed to old-fashioned British reserve or, more likely, that we are all still reeling from the withdrawal of printmaking from the majority of our educational establishments and the consequent marginalisation of printmaking as a distinct art form to the point where it is frequently categorised as a craft </rant>.

Thankfully, however, there are green shoots of recovery with many excellent artists selecting printmaking as their primary medium and many centres of excellence around the UK. To name only two events in passing, we have the Northern Print Biennale which is spearheading NewcastleGateshead’s ambition to establish itself as Print City and, of course, the prestigious bi-annual IMPACT Print Conference which is hosted this year by the Centre for Fine Print Research, University of the West of England, Bristol.

So, we thought, what better way to promote our art than to organise our own mini-print exchange. What we did not realise at the time is that we are probably the first studio in the UK to host an open international exchange of this kind. If that is so then we are proud to be first. It has certainly captured the imagination of many printmakers in the US who regard it as ‘wicked’ that the UK has at last arrived on the scene.

All we need to do now is succeed!