A two-day event at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff will celebrate print culture with hand-on experiences, talks, workshops and exbitions.
A creative collaboration between Print Wagon and The Printhaus will see the Printed Festival launch in Cardiff from 10-11 June.
A series of focused talks and Q&A sessions will feature none other than independent label makers Yuk Fun and prolific ink illustrator Richey Beckett, who has created artwork for Metallica, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Grateful Dead and Foo Fighters, no less!
Hay-on-Wye based illustrator and printmaker Aidan Saunders is dubbed the ‘Del Boy’ of print by Design Week and entertains and educates audiences on the magic of printmaking practices, honed while travelling the UK and parts of Europe, freshly pressing linocuts and performing impromptu print workshops from his Print Wagon.
The two-day event at Chapter Arts Centre in Canton, supported by The Ashley Family Foundation, will showcase a makers’ trail of print artists’ stalls and opportunities for attendees to explore or roll up their sleeves and try a host of have-a-go activities, from risograph to screen printing and everything in between.
Festival goers will also get to preview the specially curated ‘Art in the Bar’ exhibition. This will showcase print work from workshops held at some of Cardiff’s community hubs including South Riverside Community Development Centre, Grange Pavilion and Railway Gardens.
Aidan displays his work and sells printmaking equipment from his shop, ‘Prints of Hay’ and runs a bi-weekly community print workshop called ‘Hay Castle Print Club.’
He said: “We’re always thinking of new ways to share and celebrate print with the community, so we’ve put our heads together to create our biggest venture yet.”
Printed Festival will celebrate South Wales’ thriving print culture by creating a new forum for artists, organisations and educators. It’s designed to forge new links across the community, for sharing resources and opportunities and connecting education with industry.
Tom Whitehead, printmaker and co-founder of The Printhaus, explains: “Print lends itself to accessibility – you don’t have to be able to draw to make a print or even be particularly creative. This is why it’s the perfect art form to share with people of mixed abilities, children and even your ‘mamgu.’”
For a full festival programme, go to: www.printedfestival.com or www.theprinthaus.org
The festival is supported by The Ashley Family Foundation & Chapter Arts Centre.