Firsts

In July 2020, I took on my first studio, exactly a year to the day after becoming a member at London Print Studio. With their closure, I had to find another open access print studio home, which was rather impossible to do during a pandemic. I decided to take a massive leap and lease space of my own. Given I’d only been a printmaker for 12 months or so, this was either brave or foolhardy. Or perhaps a mix of both.

I contacted Worton Hall Studios, home to three of the biggest printmakers in the country, and where small studios can be leased, and with incredible luck, their smallest studio was available. Within a week, it was mine. It’s wonderful to be so close to this community, but I was also thrilled to be so close to film history – this used to be the Isleworth Film Studios, and plaques to my idols Welles, Hepburn and Bogart hang a few feet from my studio window.

With the new studio, I needed a printing press. At the Woolwich Print Fair the previous year, I spoke briefly to John Pears of Rollaco Presses. I called John to discuss his availability. He had just finished his backlog on the previous work day’s afternoon and was able to start building a press for me immediately. It was meant to be.