New course dates announced! 26 – 30 March 2012

New dates for the much loved 5 Day Introduction to Printed Textiles course.

We cannot recommend this course enough, it is the perfect way to step with ease into the world of fabric-based screen printing. The course suits anyone wanting to have some fun learning a new skill, developing an existing creative practice or with the plan to start a whole new career.

We’re not the only ones to think so either, past course participants seemed to enjoy it too:

“I found everything very useful… I wish it was longer!”

“It has inspired me to learn more and it was fun to experiment”

“finding out about the different dyes and inks you can print with was really informative”

Taught by leading artist and tutor Dawn Dupree, you will learn a variety of fabric print techniques. This will create a grounding from which you can pursue your work on an independent basis.

course cost: £275 (this price is drastically less than cost price thanks to funding LPT receives from Arts Council and Lambeth Arts).

course dates: 26 – 30 March 2012 (Monday to Friday)

If you would like to book one of the few places available, please contact a member of staff either by info@londonprintworks.com or 020 7738 7841.

New exhibition opening!

New Dates! Repeat Course: 20 – 24 March 2012 (Tuesday to Saturday)

Do not miss out on an opportunity to take part in our next Repeat Print course that is taking place on 20 – 24 March 2012.

lead for the third year by artist and designer Linda Florence after the resounding success of last years course (which you can see a few photos of here).

Here are what some of last years participants said about the course:

“The processes I learnt were really useful to me, and the facilities and tutor are excellent!”

“It was so useful learning to set up a design for repeat print”

Course participants will have the opportunity to learn how to create printed lengths of fabric both with the repeat bar and hardware equipped on LPT’s 6 metre tables and using the ‘thread’ repeat technique.

There are only six places on this informative and fun course, so make sure you don’t miss out!

The course costs £300 which includes tuition, technical support and print materials.  Download the information here or contact us at info@londonprintworks.com, 02077387841 for further information.

Guerrilla Gardening 2011: Lavender Bags

Since 2006 GuerrillaGardening.org have made lavender pillows harvested from their guerrilla grown lavender in South London. It’s this website’s key source of funding and all proceeds go towards guerrilla gardening. This year the volunteers who harvested the lavender included HRH the Duchess of Cornwall (a.k.a “Camilla The Guerrilla“). Our salvaged fabric is fine Italian cotton from Traid which were screen printed at London Printworks with this year’s design on one side and a detailed story of their creation on the reverse. They are all hand made in London by Lyla and the GuerrillaGardening.org Haberdashery Division including the talented Scottish Penguin. Every pillow is contains about 70g of lavender and is 17cm by 14cm – the biggest Guerrilla Gardening have ever made.

Help support the project into 2012 by buying one of these lovely lavender bags here for a mere £15.

The British Museum add Counter Feat to their collection

We are pleased to announce that the Department of Coins and Medals of the British Museum have added Art Notes to their collection, which will very soon be available to view through the online catalogue, visible to anyone who searches for it on the British Museum website.

Here is what the Curator of Modern Money on behalf of the British Museum had to say:

“The Department of Coins and Medals strives to collect objects and ephemera which relate to all aspects of monetary exchange, and the notes produced by the London Printworks Trust neatly reflect the link between art and finance. In this interpretation they are historically reminiscent of the George Cruikshank engraved notes and Bank Restriction skit notes of the early 1800s. Like these earlier notes, the notes produced by London Printworks are not only artistically interesting, but they strike a resonant chord in a time of financial uncertainty, and we are pleased to be able to include them in our own collection.”

 

Send to Print / Print to Send

Since the Impact 6 print conference in Bristol, London Printworks has been watching the popularity of 3d / rapid prototype printing grow to astonishing proportions. Research fellows at UWE were very aware of its potential, predicted that many designers would test the boundaries and materials of the printers as this new exhibition prepares to demonstrate.

Send to Print / Print to Send offers an impression of uses of 3D Printing in the design industry today. This timely exhibition shows work by designers and organisations who are developing the capabilities of this technology. In addition it will include examples of the increasingly important role 3D Printing plays in the design process, particularly during the complex prototyping stages.

Featuring pieces from the studios of both established and emerging designers, The Aram Gallery uses this exhibition as a way to examine how designers’ processes are developing to accommodate new technological advances. We offer our visitors an idea of what 3D Printing is, and how it is being contemporaneously used. This exhibition is not intended as an exhaustive overview, but a cross-disciplinary pick and mix of examples.

Send to Print / Print to Send will include works from the fields of architecture, industrial design, fashion, and product design.

Opens 13th January – 25th February 2012 at The Aram Gallery

image credits: Chloe McCormick, Ottoman

Block Party: contemporary craft inspired by the art of the tailor

The process of transforming the flat pattern block into three dimensional form is an enduring source of inspiration. The rich cultural heritage and evocative language of pattern cutting has stimulated a broad range of contemporary applications. Block Party showcases work by artists that apply the aesthetics and techniques of pattern cutting to their practice in innovative and unexpected ways.

Internationally renowned for her unique visual art practice fusing fashion, art and architecture, the Crafts Council invited curator Lucy Orta to select works which engage with pattern cutting on a variety of levels. Looking beyond the garment, Block Party showcases new work by 16 international and UK artists and makers that have embraced the interdisciplinary nature of this skill, and which poetically reveals the tradition, history, and skills of the pattern cutter and tailor in various contemporary media.

Included in the touring exhibition are friends of Printworks Yinka Shonibare and our 2007 Surface Bursary recipient Rhian Solomon‘s work, a film originally commissioned by the Wellcome Collection for their exhibition ‘Skin’ (shown above).

Block Party is currently exhibited at Smiths Row, Bury St. Edmunds until 10th March 2012.

The tour schedule, photographs and further information can be found here or on the Crafts Council website here