July Newsletter

Friday, 07 August 2020

SLAUGHTERHAUS Summer 2020

Hi Visitor,

Monotype & Digital Print, Charlie Hawskfield, What Can I do with Monotype Course with Ellie Watson

What a roller coaster few months. How has this locked-down, locked-in, stay-at-home period affected your art? It’s certainly meant that none of us have had the joy of visiting a gallery or a museum or, for us, hosting the great exhibitions we had planned over this period. And, for those readers who are artists, how has this enforced isolation affected your own output? Have you struggled to make work or has it flowered, allowing you perhaps to once again see a world in a grain of sand? Here at SLAUGHTERHAUS, after the initial shock of the closure of ‘Life as we know it’, we’ve bounded back with a bang.

STUDIO OPEN AGAIN

We re-opened the studio for members and key-holders under social distancing and hygiene rules: two persons are allowed to use the equipment at any one time and we’ve actioned pretty scrupulous clean-up procedures. It’s great working in so much space- though not sustainable in the long run we are enjoying it at the moment!

HAUSPRINT

The big news is HAUSPRINT: our pioneering series of very well received on-line courses, all on Zoom.

These courses have a lot going for them: they’re taught by some of our most experienced teachers, they’re short (one hour or two and a half hours each); there’s no need to find your way down to the studio; and, they’re massively affordable.

Eleanor Watson (whose work we reviewed a few months ago) initiated things with a trio of courses on monotype printmaking. Ellie’s experience of her courses is that they delivered what she called “company in the privacy of home”: people had the easy relaxation and space of working from home but with the advantage of the tutor’s guidance along with the pleasure of sharing work and learning from others. She felt that the remoteness of Zoom in no way compromised the levels of engagement and discussions about the work. And perhaps even increased it.

Linocut printed 3 ways, 3 papers, Jen Akburst, Relief Printing by Hand Printing with Rob White

Printmaker Rob White followed Ellie with his enthusiastically received course that focused on Relief Printmaking by Hand. He is of course the master of the wooden spoon and the course explored different papers and ways of modifying the inks to achieve the best results working with a wooden spoon!

Indeed, there was so much good work produced that we are posting it on Instagram-look out for the work there and later on our website.

And if you are interested, do have a look below to check out some of the new courses we’ve programmed going forwards. We have new courses and some repeats, so that if you didn't catch them first time around you can now. Their appeal spans printmakers ever alert to new ways and new techniques and to beginners who want to dip a toe into the water. Our courses with Sarah below are great for complete beginners and would be perfect for teenagers too.

Colour Monotype, Mary Anne Sutherland, What Can I do with Monotype Course with Ellie Watson

Potato Printmaking

Tutor: Sarah Gursoy-Heuser

Thursday 9 July, 11-1pm

Raid your veg basket or the drawer of your fridge to find the perfect materials for potato printmaking. Led by artist printmaker Sarah Gursoy - Heuser this fun course will help you make images out of the simplest materials. Explore shape, pattern, repetition and colour to build up complex marks and work on a large scale.

4 Way Relief Pattern

Friday 10 & 17 July 2020, 2.00-4.30pm

Tutor: Sarah Gursoy-Heuser

Find out what you need to do in order to make a repeat lino pattern. Learn how to design your block, and print it in repeat. Sarah Gursoy Heuser is an experienced artist printmaker who trained originally as a textile designer- perfect!

Printing without Thinking: Drawing techniques in Monotype

Thursday 23 July 2020, 2.00-4.30pm

Tutor: Michelle Avison

Working with your monotype materials, switch off your brain and practice drawing without thinking in a series of drawing exercises led by artist Michelle Avison.

Keep an eye on the website as we are adding new classes all the time.

EXHIBITIONS

We had planned a series of exhibitions right through the Spring and Summer before the abrupt lockdown. This hasn't dampened things though. We’ve featured the work of the artists with a monthly Instagram takeover - have a look back at our posts if you have missed those. These exhibitions haven’t been cancelled; merely delayed, and we'll let you know when we get our exhibition programme up and running again.

JOIN UP NOW

We’re fortunate that despite the hiatus of a closed studio, almost all of our members have continued to support us. Thank you for doing this and keeping us going! But we’re still very much in search of new members, and artists coming in to print and our now online courses are crucial to our survival.

Please let your friends know about our courses, we would love to reach out to more people and get them into the joys of printmaking- and every new course attendee helps support us to get through the next uncertain 6-12 months. It has become even more obvious at this time that people need creativity as an outlet and stimulus in their lives, and we can see the importance of what we offer to our printmaking community. The next 6 months will be critical to the studio- and we hope you will help us get the word out and support us by telling everyone you know how great it is down in Stockwell, SW9.

If you have thought about joining in, and are at all unsure, may we warmly welcome you. Give us a call and we’ll schedule a private (socially distanced or Zoom enabled) introduction to the studio, and answer any questions you have about printmaking, our courses and what you could do here. We’d love to have you join our family of printmakers.

With very best wishes.

Michelle and the SLAUGHTERHAUS team.

Print Studio

July Newsletter

Friday, 07 August 2020

SLAUGHTERHAUS Summer 2020