Our Story
The genesis of Aberystwyth Printmakers began in the mid 1970s when the then Lecturer in Graphic Art Alistair Crawford and graphics technician Brian Hindmarch set up print workshops at Aberystwyth University. Printmaking was introduced to the curriculum at that time. Professor Alistair Crawford began organising occasional exhibitions of prints by staff and students of what was then the Visual Art Department of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (now the School of Art at Aberystwyth University). Host institutions included the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1979 and, the following year, the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
By 1985, this ad hoc arrangement was formalised with the inauguration of Aberystwyth Printmakers. Its founding members were Alistair Crawford, Jenny Fell, Neil Holland, Robert Meyrick, and Sarah Richards. They exhibited around Wales and beyond, for example at the Consort Gallery of Imperial College, London in 1985 and 1989, and at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in 1990. But the original Aberystwyth Printmakers was the preserve of staff as well as present and former students of the Visual Art Department. Its facilities and the exhibiting opportunities it provided were not available to the wider community. Back then, community studios and workshops were available at the Barn Centre, a one-time foundry on Alexandra Road, and open-access print facilities were offered by the Association of Artists and Designers in Wales at their gallery and workshop in Corporation Street, Aberystwyth, where Keith Birkinshaw of the Department of Anæsthetics at Bronglais Hospital was a stalwart at the press.
However, there would soon to be other imperatives for staff of the Visual Art Department as their student numbers grew and, over the Christmas vacation of 1993, they relocated to the former Edward Davies Memorial Chemical Laboratories on the Buarth, then to become the School of Art. While Aberystwyth Printmakers fell into abeyance, other local artist groups such as Fforma and Aberystwyth Picturemakers held the mantle until 2004 when Stuart Evans, Judy Macklin and a small group of enthusiastic printmakers held meetings at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. The close involvement of Tamarind-trained Lecturer in Fine Art Paul Croft RE ensured a continued association with printmaking at Aberystwyth University’s School of Art. They would soon ‘rekindle the flames’ of Aberystwyth Printmakers as a focus for print practice in the area.
And so Aberystwyth Printmakers, as we know it today, was given a new lease of life. This time it was to be a community resource offering well-equipped open-access workshops. The aim was to bring together like-minded creative individuals of all ages and abilities who share a passion for printmaking in all its forms: emerging and established artists as well as students and graduates. As Aberystwyth Printmakers membership grew, its print workshops moved from the rear of Gorwelion Day Hospital on Llanbadarn Road, to the former Aberystwyth Gas Company showrooms on Park Avenue, to Old College on the seafront, and most recently to Brogerddan on the IBERS campus at nearby Penrhyncoch.
Yet the benefits of Aberystwyth Printmakers membership have been far greater than access to professional equipment, tools and materials to create prints independently. Members join a community where professional artists work alongside individuals without an art training. There are opportunities to share ideas and support each other. Beginners can access the knowledge and skills of experienced printmakers, while professionals hone existing skills and have their minds exposed to new possibilities.
Today, Aberystwyth Printmakers offers its members a lively programme of demonstrations, workshops and presentations, many delivered by internationally-recognised visiting artists, with international exchanges of print portfolios, exhibitions, fairs, collaborative projects, website, social media, and a Print Collectors’ Club, Aberystwyth Printmakers now quite literally brings the world to Aberystwyth, and takes Aberystwyth to the world—to Australia, China, New Zealand, and Australia as its members draw on their national and international relationships with other print workshops, artists, educators, gallerists and curators.
Shared workshops at Aberystwyth Printmakers, together with regular social gatherings, networking events and ‘show and tell’ discussions, allow its members to offer constructive feedback and technical advice, share ideas and encourage, inspire and support each other. Its monthly Printing Club for non members who are looking for a pathway into printmaking is a worthy example of its civic mission.
As the old adage goes, from little acorns mighty oak trees grow. Aberystwyth Printmakers is now well poised to establish Aberystwyth as a coastal art community to rival those far-flung colonies at Blakeney, Kirkcudbright, Staithes, Walberswick, Lamorna, Newlyn and St Ives! What Aberystwyth Printmakers has accomplished in twenty years, without public funding, demonstrates what can be achieved by the pooling of resources and harnessing of the passion, commitment and expertise of its members to enrich print practice internationally and make a positive contribution to our community.
Professor Robert Meyrick
Aberystwyth, January 2024