16 February 2019

‘Brutalist Printmaking with Temple Prints’

When I was made redundant, I knew that a major change had to be made to my working life. I thought photography would definitely play a part, somehow, and thought writing would also feature. It didn’t quite work out that way.

As a member of the Barbican, I was alerted to a linocut workshop there and was intrigued. Never having picked up a linocut tool in my life, I didn't know what to expect, but the experience – from listening to the wonderful tutor Jamie Temple talk about v-gouges to inking up my first print (^) – was a blast. More importantly, a fog had lifted – THIS is what I wanted to do. There is the cliché of actors and the smell of the greasepaint – I was now, like all printmakers, high on the smell of linseed oil.

Knowing that Jamie worked at East London Printmakers, I decided to embark on my first proper printmaking course there. And so it began.