Milestones - Black Church Print Studio · Welcome to Milestones, an exhibition and publication...

Milestones

Mileston

esBLACK CHURCH PRINT STUDIO 1982 – 2007

BLACK CHURCH PRINT STUDIO 1982 – 2007

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Louise Allen Deborah Ando Joy Arden Jordi Arko Aïda Bangoura Dawn Barry Kate Betts Caroline Bouguereau Maggie Boyd Lucy Braddell Margaret BradishCecily Brennan Paul Brooks Geraldine Bruce Mary Burke Anya Burton Bob Byrne Caroline Byrne Catherine ByrneMichael Byrne Claire Carpenter Jonathan CassidyNiamh Clancy Michael Colman Linda Condon Barrie Cooke Liadin Cooke Michael Corcoran Gráinne Cuffe Siobhan Cuffe Brian Cullen Cora Cummins Pauline Cummins Gina Davey Janine Davidson Jan de Fouw Mary Delany Lynda Devenney John Devlin Alexandra Domaradzka Phoebe Donovan David Doran Gráinne Dowling Barbara Dunne Aoife Dwyer Declan Finn Dermot Finn Emma Finucane Brian Fitzgerald Mary Fitzgerald Jane Fitzsimons Niamh Flanagan Taffina Flood Monica Flynn Andrew Folan Annette Foley Michael Ford Mary Frazer Martin Gale

Jane Garland Arthur Gibney Joan Gleeson John Graham Noel Guilfoyle Naomi Hanrahan Nickie Hayden Michael Hegarty Catherine Hehir Jamie Helly Paula HenihanSt John Hennessy John Hern John Hewitt Pete Hogan Sara Horgan Sandy Hudson Patricia Hurl Margaret Irwin Karen Johnson Sandra Johnston Peter Jones Eithne Jordan Ann Kavanagh Catherine Kelly John Kelly David Kiely Frank Kiely Brian Kreydatus Lisa Langhey Elaine LeaderCatriona Leahy Maureen Levy Róisín Lewis Aidan Linehan Catherine Lynch Mairead Lynch Anthony Lyttle Theo MacNab Colin Martin Marie Louise Martin Michele Martin Brid McCartin Ann McDonald Fiona McDonald Patrick McElroy Christy McGinn David McGinnYvonne McGuinness Tom McGuirk Anne Marie McInerney Theresa McKenna Aileen McKeogh Margaret McLoughlin Greta McMahon Louise Meade John Meagher John Meany Breda Mooney

Tom MoorePat Moran Sarah Moylan Rose Mary Murray BlakePatricia NearySilvia Nevado Roca Ailbhe Ní Bhriain Liam Ó Broin Margaret O’BrienPádraig Ó CuimínEamonn O’Doherty Sarah O’Doherty Siobhan O’Donnell Catherine O’Dowd Gwen O’DowdMargaret O’HaganSeán Ó Murchú Sinéad O’Reilly Geraldine O’Reilly Colette O’Sullivan Michael O’Sullivan Louise Peat Alison Pilkington Peter Power Conor Regan Marc Reilly Jean Rooney Piia Rossi Thierry Rudin Pamela Ryan Maura Selfe Naomi Sex Vincent Sheridan Silje Skuterud Dorothy Smith Paki Smith Rob Smith Louise Somers Simon Spain Jacqueline Stanley Rose Stapleton Tracy Staunton Yvonne Sweeney Liz Smyth Michael Timmins Yvan Vansevenant Stephen Vaughan Stephen Webster Rachel Weir Oliver Whelan Charlie Whisker Conor Wickham Annraoi Wyer

Past & present membersBlack Church PrintStudio1982 – 2007

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4.Foreword Kate Betts 6.BlackChurch Print Studio chairpersons12.History of Black Church PrintStudio Sara Horgan 22.Born againand again Andrew Folan30.Milestones / Miles’s tones: A coincidence Brian Fay 38.Illustrations120.Biographies 138.Glossary ofterms Kate Betts 144.Artist index------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published in an edition of 500 by the Black Church Print Studio, 4 Temple Bar, Dublin 2to accompany the exhibition ‘Milestones’ at the Office of Public Works, 51 St Stephen’s Green,Dublin 21-22 November 2007

ISBN 978-0-9557248-0-0© Black Church Print Studio & the artistsFirst edition 2007

Front cover:Black Church Print Studio, Temple Bar – installing printing pressthrough the studio window on the second floor.

Hazel Burke, Black Church Print StudioSara Horgan, Andrew Folan & Brian FayRonan McCreaDavid McGinnAoife O'KellyKate Betts,Vincent Sheridan,Claire Carpenter & Janine DavidsonPeter Maybury StudioDrukkerij Rosbeek bvbinders name here (printer adds this)

Project Co-ordinatorEssays

Artwork photographyStudio photographyProofreadingEditors

Design & productionPrinting & reproductionBinding

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Welcome to Milestones, an exhibition and publication celebrating twenty-five years of the Black ChurchPrint Studio. Selected from the work of all our members, past and present, this show is diverse in medium,style and subject and as such I hope it gives a sense of the artistic terrain and the distance covered since a small, passionate group of artists opened the doors to a new kind of printmaking facility twenty-fiveyears ago.

Established in 1982, the Black Church provides facilities for and nurtures printmaking artists from all overIreland, and the world. We facilitate the very oldest of printmaking media right through to the most modern: woodblock, etching and lithography are housed cheek-by-jowl with the twentieth-century developments of photo-reprographics and screen-printing as well as the latest in computer aided designand digital printers. In short, the whole rich diversity of the printmaking genre is available; each separatemedium having its own unique expressive possibilities for the artist. The studio also provides an editioningservice for artists in other media, who can work with a master printmaker to realise works of art in an unfamiliar medium. We run an exhibitions programme, which includes regular international exchanges.Meanwhile through our education programme we aim to maintain and improve the printmaking skills-base in Ireland and to promote awareness and understanding of printmaking amongst the art worldand the public.

The ‘Milestones’ exhibition was selected by Brian Fay, artist and lecturer in Fine Art at the Dublin Institute of Technology together with Andrew Folan, print and digital artist and lecturer in Fine Art at the NationalCollege of Art and Design, Dublin. Both Brian Fay and Andrew Folan have also contributed thought-provoking essays to this publication, and I thank them both for their vital collaboration and support. We are very happy to also enjoy the ongoing support of the Arts Council of Ireland, without which theBlack Church Print Studio would no doubt be a very different organisation. Finally, I must acknowledge the work, dedication and passion of so many people, some paid but mostly voluntary, over the last quarterof a century. It is thanks to all this past, present and, we trust, future generosity that the Black Church PrintStudio is here to enjoy and build upon its twenty-fifth year of artistic endeavour.

Foreword

Kate Betts Chairperson

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Black Church Print Studio

Chairpersons

The Beginnings1980 – 1990The growth of printmaking in Ireland during this timewas concurrent with a flourishing growth in confidencein Irish Fine Art. Michael Byrne, Phoebe Donovan, Liam Ó Broin, Sara Horgan and Pádraig Ó Cuimín werethe small group of passionate individuals who, led bythe late John Kelly, set out to facilitate this growthby creating a new kind of printmaking studio; onewhich would include the oldest technology side by sidewith the newest. They were later joined by BarbaraDunne, Andrew Folan, Jan de Fouw, Ken Langan, Marie Louise Martin and Jacqueline Stanley. Initially without formally identified roles, and later employing a rotating chair system, each of these people played a key role in the establishment of the Black Church Print Studio; particularly Sara Horgan who also acted as Administrator. This gradual development of formal structures at theBlack Church reflects the true nature of a grass-rootsartists’ organisation.

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Jan de Fouw Hon NCADChairperson 1990 – 1996With the National College of Art and Design now awarding diplomas in printmaking, membership andambitions continued to grow at the Black Church.Emerging as a natural facilitator and motivator, able to sum up wide-ranging discussions, Jan de Fouw wasthe first formal Chairperson of what was by now anincorporated company.

The fire which destroyed the Studio in 1990 created the biggest challenge to date – that of keeping the spirit of the Studio alive when its building had been lost. Jan describes this as a time of ‘lots of energy awaitingdirection’. The Board of Directors pressed ahead with the planned exhibitions programme and started yetagain the difficult search for premises.

Black Church finally reopened for business at its new purpose-built Temple Bar premises in 1993. Designed by McCullough Mulvin Architects, the building won the Downes Medal awarded by the ArchitecturalAssociation of Ireland in 1996.

(for example of work by Jan de Fouw see page 48)

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BLACK CHURCH PRINT STUDIO CHAIRPERSONS

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Andrew FolanChairperson 1997 - 1999Describing the day-to-day life of working in a Temple Barstudio ‘like running a business in a theme park for boozing’, Andrew Folan nonetheless gave 16 years service to the Black Church, two of which were as Chair.During this time digital technologies were increasinglyused by artists world-wide, not least by Black Church’sown members. The Studio welcomed these developments with open arms and the Board showedsupport with the purchase of new equipment. Andrew’s own work reflects this ethos, having exhibitedconsistently during this time, his work is typified by thevery considered use of a wide range of techniques,embracing both the tradition and the cutting edge ofprintmaking.

Tom McGuirkDetritus (Strangels), 1996etching, 4/30 75 x 53 cm

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Ken LanganChairperson 1996 – 1997Having already served on the Board for five years, Ken Langan’s history of commitment and creative contribution to the Studio were key in his being electedto the chair. But as an accountant by profession, Ken was initially somewhat reluctant to take on the role.Yet it was his particular expertise both as an accountant and as Assistant Director of the NationalCollege of Art and Design that was vital in this period.Ken established the finances of the Black Church; a vitalgrounding on which the organisation was able to standsteady and look to the future. He then launched a period of expansion at Black Church, attracting newmembers to both the Studio and the Board.

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Dr Tom McGuirkChairperson 2000 – 2003Tom McGuirk enjoyed his term as Chairperson and attributes this not only to his self-professed delegationskills, but also to the cooperation and selfless dedicationof the Board and Administrator at that time – Avril Percival. During Tom’s time as Chair, Black Church welcomed new graduates working in digital media and launched the website print.ie. The exhibitions programme was used as an agent to encourage experimentation, by setting themes such as ‘Challenging Conventions’ for members’ shows. This was an outward-looking time and an internationaldimension was introduced to the exhibitions programmewith shows in Paris and Stockholm. Plans were also put in place for an exchange exhibition with the New YorkSociety of Etchers.

At a time when other artist-focused organisations werefolding due to cutbacks in Arts Council funding, BlackChurch balanced the books and, in recognition of thisand other successes, received assurance of stable andsecure funding on an annual basis from the Arts Councilof Ireland.

Also at this time, health and safety issues in all industrieshad come to the foreground. Printmaking has historicallybeen highly toxic, and since Dürer’s day there has beenmuch anecdotal evidence of the poor health and short lives of printmakers. The Board ordered a health and safety audit of the building. As anticipated,improvements to the ventilation of the building were recommended which required a significant capitalinvestment.

Andrew FolanSurface Dwelling, 1986photo–etching and aquatint, A/P86 x 47 cm

Milestones

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Margaret McLouglin BA Fine Art, PrintmakingChairperson 2003 – 2006At the beginning of Margaret McLoughlin’s term asChairperson the Board undertook the two-fold challengeof raising the 55,000 required for the ventilation projectand installation of the system. The phenomenally successful ‘BOXiD’ exhibition raised a substantial amount.It was an ‘anonymous’ show, with the artist revealed onpurchase. Along with the support of the Arts Council andFriends of the Black Church, this secured the funds forthe ventilation project to proceed. Key in bringing theproject to successful completion was board memberand architect Ronan Phelan of Scott Tallon Walker, whogave generously of his time and expertise to ensure that Black Church installed a state-of-the-art ventilationsystem that would protect the health of printmakers foryears to come.

The artistic development of the Studio continued and tothis end equipment was bought and upgraded, whilethe introduction of the Black Church Graduate Awardattracted a flow of new talent.

Emphasis was also placed on continuing to raise theinternational profile of the Black Church; the exchangeexhibition with the New York Society of Etchers wentahead, as did an exchange with Danske Grafikere Husof Copenhagen, where Studio members’ work stood upwell in an international context.

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Kate Betts BA Hons Fine Art, PrintmakingChairperson 2006 – to dateThere has been much change at Black Church recently, with Administrator Avril Percival resigning afterseven years of committed service to study for a Mastersin Art History. Technician Michael Timmins also left afterseven years to take up a place at the world-renownedcentre for lithography, the Tamarind Institute in NewMexico and finally, Studio Technical Manager ColinMartin was enjoying such success in his own artisticcareer that he no longer needed to subsidise his artwith a ‘day job’, resigning after eight years. Amidst thisintense period of change, Kate Betts began her term as Chair and the Board set about recruiting a new staffteam.

To celebrate the Black Church’s twenty-fifth anniversary, the Board launched an ambitious and varied series of events bringing members’ work out ofthe traditional print venues and into a broader arena.The programme included two member shows in theOriginal Print Gallery; a collaboration with the Lab,Dublin; a site-specific show on Grattan Bridge and the‘Milestones’ exhibition which included work from thetwenty-five years of the Studio’s history.

In the spirit of fairness and transparency the currentBoard has committed to working with arts professionalsfrom outside the Studio whenever possible for the selection of Black Church exhibitions, as well as for thetwice-yearly selection of new members.

With the acceptance of video art into the mainstream,artists and the public are open, more than ever, to theconcept of multiples, and to the authenticity of workproduced in edition. Continuing its commitment to education, Black Church has responded to demand by running more printmaking courses for the public than ever before, while the Board has also begun toexploit the grass-roots style communication made possi-ble by the internet to promote its activities and in 2007launched the new ‘National Print Studio Network’ linking people, skills and facilities across Ireland.

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Kate Betts Toad that under cold stone Days and nights hasthirty-one, 2007screenprint and origami,Unlimited Edition25 x 10 x 22 cm

Margaret McLoughlinThe Road Through, 2006carborundum etching, 1/20 47 x 66 cm

Milestones

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History of

Black Church Print Studio

Sara Horgan

Black Church Print Studio first opened for business on 1 October 1982 but the very first committee meeting hadbeen two years before that on 1 January 1980, in mykitchen. The initial Board of Directors was appointed,Liam Ó Broin, Michael Byrne, Pádraig O Cuimín andPhoebe Donovan, who was backing a new enterprise atalmost 80 years of age, with myself, Sara Horgan asSecretary and John Kelly as the first rotating Chairman.

The only print studio in the country at that time wasGraphic Studio Dublin, established 20 years earlier.It was located in a rather dank basement in Upper Mount Street. Patrick Hickey was the Director for the first ten years, John Kelly for another ten and LeslieMacWeeney, whom I later succeeded, was Secretary.The Arts Council was aware of developments in Franceand the United States that were reviving the arcane world of printmaking, and in 1977, under theDirectorship of Colm Ó Briain, approached GraphicStudio Dublin with a suggestion of expansion. Apart fromthe cramped and oversubscribed conditions in UpperMount Street, this expansion was necessary because theNational College of Art and Design was undergoingmajor changes and was about to start awarding diplomasand later degrees in printmaking. Graphic Studio Dublin,as the only existing public printmaking facility inIreland, would shortly become inadequate.

The Arts Council’s suggestion was to establish a majornational print centre, in much improved premises, toinclude expanded printmaking facilities catering for the development of innovative and experimental work.The national print centre would also engage in activemarketing methods, offer an editioning service to artists, participate in exhibitions both nationally andinternationally and tour Studio exhibitions.

The search for premises began. Dublin City LibrarianDeirdre Ellis-King, who was a colleague of John Kelly’s,suggested we look at St Mary’s Chapel of Ease besideParnell Square, known as the Black Church for its particular dark stone called Dublin calp. The propertyhad huge potential and the City DevelopmentDepartment offered it to us for a peppercorn rent.We had conversion plans drawn up by Richard HurleyArchitects, to include the replacement of what seemed to be crumbling plaster on the walls.

Every organic growth has birth pangs and the membership of Graphic Studio Dublin was divided forand against this expansion, with members becomingmore and more disaffected. This led to a tumultuousperiod, which was resolved by a mass meeting in theUnited Arts Club in 1979, chaired by Professor GeorgeDawson, as a Patron of Graphic Studio Dublin.The majority decided to stay in Upper Mount Street and the group of dissenting members left to continuewith expansion plans, therefore splitting from GraphicStudio Dublin.

HISTORY OF BLACK CHURCH PRINT STUDIO

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Ms Laura Magahy, former MD ofTemple Bar Properties, Mr Leslie Waddington ofWaddington Galleries, London and Mr Jan de Fouw by thelarge format etching press atthe official launch of theBlack Church Print Studio.

We set ourselves up as a Company Limited byGuarantee under the name Black Church Print Studio.We submitted conversion plans for the Black Church tothe Arts Council, who agreed to give us £80,000, whichwas a lot of money at the time. However, as the Dublinsaying goes, ‘Three times around the Black Church andyou meet the devil’. As we had concerns about the plaster in the Black Church, we had it analysed andfound that it was a double layer of disintegratingasbestos. To remove it would add £40,500 to the cost,which we were unwilling to bear.

We started house-hunting again. One of the best options,which came through Pádraig O Cuimín, architect in CIE,was in the area that CIE was reserving for a transportcentre in Temple Bar. This was a magnificent ex-clothingfactory, too big for our needs.We approached the ArtsCouncil with the idea of them taking on the building andrunning it as a multiple tenancy of arts organisations –this was already happening in the London docklands andin Scotland. The factory eventually became the TempleBar Gallery and Studios, under brave Jenny Haughton.

We kept the name Black Church Print Studio in the firm hope of the eventual resolution of our housing situation but without working facilities we risked losing all momentum. However, within a short time werented a unit temporarily at Ardee House at the top of the Coombe. Loughlin Kealy, later Professor of Architecture in University College Dublin, advised us on the initial layout.We settled in, ordering and installingnew and second-hand equipment, and establishingworkshop practice.

Black Church Print Studio finally opened in October1982 with a positive ethos: entry was by invitation orportfolio. At least a token payment for all services rendered was given; one print from every edition was to be donated to the Studio. There was an encouragingstudio atmosphere and an open welcome. Learners’access was by a strict progression from beginner, toworking under supervision and to possibly evolving intoa full member and key holder. Experienced printmakersjoined, Gráinne Cuffe was the first, followed by JackieStanley.We offered beginner printmaking courses inJanuary 1983 and by that September we ran an intensiveweek to attract artists.We had an excellent line-up:Cecily Brennan, Eithne Jordan, James McCreary, AileenMcKeogh, Theo McNab, Michael O’Sullivan, Rob Smithand Oliver Whelan. By late 1983, Andrew Folan hadreplaced Liam Ó Broin as a Director on the Board andbrought his darkroom experience to the Studio.

That same year Graphic Studio Dublin left their UpperMount Street premises and moved to Green Street East.They also opened a Print Gallery in the PowerscourtTown House on South William Street. Nevertheless,the Arts Council was still pressing for the idea of anational print centre and together both studios looked at a number of alternative buildings for sale.

In 1984 the first Black Church Print Studio exhibition was held in the Triskel Art Centre in Cork. The first inDublin was over Ray’s Restaurant on Crow Street, whichtravelled to Longford. Our artistic profile was beginningto increase, Gráinne Cuffe was awarded a scholarship to the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico and the ArtsCouncil organised VIP representatives to visit from printsocieties and museums in Cleveland and Sweden.The first Studio scholarship was awarded to ChristyMcGinn.We published Ireland’s first commissioned fineart lithograph, Barrie Cooke’s Megaceros Hibernicus(Great Irish Elk), and later we printed a cover illustrationby Barrie for a John Montague poetry collection.

HISTORY OF BLACK CHURCH PRINT STUDIO

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The crowd gathers and awaits Mr Leslie Waddington, the officialspeaker at the launch of theOriginal Print Gallery and theBlack Church Print Studio.

In 1985 the Arts Council, under the new Directorship ofAdrian Munnelly, announced that they had agreed withDublin Corporation to share the cost of the asbestosremoval in the Black Church and suggested that the twostudios regroup. It was too late.We found ourselves in an enforced marriage of the two Studios, which entailedshared Arts Council budget applications. This systemwas to be eventually annulled in 1989, ten years after the split.

Nonetheless, our members were making their mark inStudio and other exhibitions, Gráinne Dowling won aSalmon poetry magazine award, Andy Folan won theDouglas Hyde Gold Medal for Print at the Oireachtas,Marie Louise Martin won a Print Award at the RHA, as I did in the last Bradford Biennale.We became muchmore ambitious in 1986 when John Kelly suggested westage a First Irish Miniprint exhibition. It was held at theHendriks Gallery on St Stephen’s Green, with 326 printson show. This exhibition was sponsored by We Frame Itand short-listed for a Sunday Tribune Arts Award.

Links continued with Graphic Studio Dublin over the following years. Still on a joint Arts Council budget,Marie Louise Martin and I were asked to view the site of what was to become the Graphic Studio Dublin’s newgallery off Cope Street. In 1987, to coincide with a celebration of Irish women artists in the National Galleryand the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Graphic StudioDublin gallery at Powerscourt mounted an exhibition ofIrish women printmakers: Maria Simmonds Gooding,Alice Hanratty, Jenny Lane, Mary Farl Powers, AnneMadden and me.

The Douglas Hyde Gallery organised educational toursto the Studio and Art History students visited from theNational College of Art and Design. The second IrishMiniprint exhibition followed, administered by MaryBryans and jointly sponsored by the Rohan Group and We Frame It. Held in the RHA Gallery in 1987 andincluding 541 entries from 22 countries, it was numerically bigger than Living Art, Oireachtas and Rosc exhibitions combined. The show toured Kilkenny,Limerick and Cork and brought in excellent sales andpublicity for print and for the Studio. The first BritishMiniprint exhibition followed, organised by Peter Ford,the winner of the First Prize at our exhibition.

After Michael Byrne’s death in 1988, John Kelly,Dan Treston (Michael’s life partner), and I set up an exhibition in the Davis Gallery and announced theMichael Byrne Scholarship for Printmakers, the first ofwhich was awarded to Michael Corcoran. After Dan died,I handed over this scholarship to the Arts Council toadminister.

By September of 1990, our Committee was BarbaraDunne, Andy Folan, Jan de Fouw, Marie Louise Martin,Jackie Stanley and me. A total of 79 artists had used ourStudio.We had organised a total of 22 Studio exhibitionsand had a further 8 in the pipeline.We were starting to prepare the European Large Format Printmaking exhibition.We were also lining up a Studio exhibition inThe Hague for the next year and another in the RiverrunGallery Dublin. The ILAC Library had asked for a smallexhibition and Jan de Fouw was organising a Studio calendar to benefit the Rape Crisis Centre.We were innegotiations with our landlord about moving the screen-print area into a second unit at a reduced rate. Then wehad a break-in by kids (judging by the footprints) whogot the petty cash box. The window was reset with freshiron bars, but a week later they got in again. This time,not finding the petty cash, they set fire to the Studio.The ensuing fire was compounded by explosions of inksand solvents and much was lost by fire or water damage,including the Studio’s records.

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Everyone rallied around, our members, friends and several members of Graphic Studio Dublin.We dismantled presses, shifting what could be salvaged,and gave Graphic Studio Dublin the ball-grainer we hadgot from the Ordnance Survey. Members claimed backwhat was left of their work and gear. Everything was putinto storage. It was back to the kitchen table for Boardmeetings, with the charred filing cabinet in the livingroom. A formal meeting for all the Studio members followed at the Artists Association of Ireland office inLiberty Hall, chaired by Jan de Fouw. The members voted overwhelmingly for the Studio to continue,encouraged by our insurance loss adjuster’s hard work,which provided the seed money to carry on. Our show at Riverrun Gallery Dublin became a Phoenix Exhibitionto publicise our crisis and we took a collection in a fireman’s helmet.

Andy undertook to administer the European LargeFormat Printmaking exhibition in the Guinness Hopstoreand negotiated printing facilities for Studio members inthe National College of Art and Design for the summer.I set up viewings of yet more premises from an armchairafter a car crash. After some false starts with other premises, such as Marrowbone Lane, Cornmarket andBroadstone, I was finally able to enter negotiations withTemple Bar Properties Ltd and we were accepted asclients by them on the evening of the Large FormatPrintmaking exhibition opening. We held a viewing inthe RHA Gallery for Studio members, of McCulloughMulvin’s architectural proposal for the new studio beside their scheme for Temple Bar Gallery and Studios.We had come full circle.

Once the Temple Bar Properties Ltd submission arrivedat a financial package and planning permission for apurpose-built studio and gallery, I resigned, burnt outand thanks to an aunt’s legacy left for Samarkand, andlater Timbuctoo.

The aspiration of a national print centre never materi-alised, but the aims of regular and travelling exhibitions,active marketing, editioning, galleries, screen-printingand darkroom, were all achieved over time.

Through our Studio shows, we made print and the Studio better known in both national and internationalcontexts and more particularly, in generating the twoIrish Miniprint and Large Format Printmaking exhibitionswe surpassed our original aims. Also, we wholeheartedlyplayed a part in advising the growing network of printstudios in Ireland.

All that time and effort spent in house-hunting was validated by the eventual resolution, a new purpose-builtprintmaking studio right in the middle of Temple Bar:and the legacy continues.

Sara Horgan, Director and Administratorof the Black Church PrintStudio (1980 - 1992).

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Mr Leslie Waddington (left)and Mr Jan de Fouw, formerChairman, standing near theRelief Press at the officiallaunch of the Black ChurchPrint Studio.

(below)Black Church Print Studio,Ardee Street (after theStudio fire in 1990).

(opposite)Contact sheet of photographs taken during the installation of printmaking equipment intothe new Studio premises in 4 Temple Bar in 1993.

Born

again

and

again

Andrew Folan The curious process of intaglio printing is practisedtoday at the Black Church Print Studio, in the same manner as it has been for centuries throughout Europe.Its invention stems from a fortuitous discovery in fifteenth-century Germany when armourers sought tokeep records of their heraldic designs. They discoveredthey could print basic images by filling the engravedlines with ink and pressing paper on to them. Theseearly graphics served as guides to the restoration ofsuits of armour, as well as forming an archive of designsfor future clients. Stemming from the success of theseimages, engraving and subsequently other forms ofintaglio were adopted as printing methods in their ownright. Although woodcut printing preceded this practice,intaglio printing was revolutionary in the distribution ofimage and text. Since its primitive origins as a recordingmethod, the constant need for image and information setin place a process of refinement in the quest for greaterquality and speed of print production. Curiously, as thecommercial world shed old methods for new, artists rescued printing machines, fostered the processes andre-employed them in their less time dependent creativeimaging. The term printmaking was coined to distinguishthe use of print for purely artistic purposes.

Historically printmaking has developed alongside painting and sculpture, while maintaining a distinctivequality. From its beginnings as a reproductive process,through its vital role in politics and society, to morerecent formal and conceptual concerns, printmaking has secured its position within the fine arts. Allied tographic communication and publishing, it keeps pacewith the latest developments in the printing world(although usually one step behind). The continuallyexpanding range of methods is daunting, and keepingup with new technologies, while maintaining traditionalones, presents an ever-increasing challenge,particularly in the management of print workshops like the Black Church.

BORN AGAIN AND AGAIN

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Throughout 500 years printmaking has maintained anexclusive role in the dissemination and marketing ofimages, mostly by established artists. The Pop Art movement of the 1960s gave a new credence to the perception of printmaking. Artists such as Warhol,Rauschenberg and Hamilton employed photo-print techniques in reaction to Abstract Expressionism, whiledevoted to their own specific populist agendas. Utilisingthe most up-to-speed methods and materials print was at the forefront of what was then considered new technology. It was also recognised as the most democratic art form and was employed in social andpolitical causes throughout eastern Europe in particular.Some artists chose to realise their images exclusivelythrough print and this interest encouraged the introduction of specialist print courses in collegesthroughout Europe and America.

Printmaking is taught at the National College of Art andDesign (NCAD), for example, as a specialist subjectequal in potential to any other discipline. Students therehave had the option of taking print to degree level sincethe mid 1970s. Print is taught as a fine art subject despiteits somewhat craft-like methodology.Without doubt acertain amount of craft and skill are required if one is toachieve success in its delivery. To do anything beyonddabble in print requires a specific temperament. Print isso intrinsically linked to modes of drawing, painting andphotography that of course boundaries overlap.What iscertain, however, is that print requires a controlled andsystematic approach. Inherent is the need for a certainamount of pre-planning or at least an appreciation of themutability that results from the progressive application of process. Master printer Aldo Crommelynck,describing Picasso’s love of intaglio printing, stated:‘… working with Picasso, there wasno technical failure; it was the easiestthing to do.When he was dissatisfiedwith a plate, he would take it andscrape large areas, it didn’t botherhim. I offered to help, but he neveraccepted. It was known to the peoplearound him that when he dedicatedhimself to printmaking, especiallyintaglio, he was in a good mood – hedidn’t mind seeing visitors.When hewas in a painting sequence, he didn’twant to see anybody. Drawing on theetching plate was a very casualprocess for him.’ Picasso was working towardsan ultimate conclusion – repeatedly altering the plate insearch of the desired effect. The printing plate provideda challenge for him. His physical manipulation of the surface and his desire to utilise the full range of possibilities was very much part of his creative process.While the desire of most artists is usually to force a conclusion, provision should be made also for the notionof the artist as explorer engaged in the open-endedjourney of transformative production.

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The act of breaking the creative process into discretestages introduces a circuitous path and opens the potential for unexpected diversion. For many the journeywill be more interesting than the destination. Print isunique in the fine arts in its ability to retain a record ofthe development and evolution of an image throughprinted states. This is a valuable quality enabling theartist to systematically refine a work. The resultingsequence may also be a creative exercise in itself.The mechanically reproductive nature of printingenables the serial evolution of image and concept, andthe subsequent recording of this in printed form. In atentative fashion, this quality takes print beyond the confines of static rendering and places it alongsidedynamic time based media such as animation, film andvideo. A sequence of prints is, thus, a sequence of framescontaining alterations and additions in smooth lineartransition. This has been demonstrated to great effect by treating the plate as a palimpsest – systematicallyerasing and reworking the surface, while recording eachtransition. The resulting series is, thus, readily lockedinto a sequence with every print having a readily identifiable location. This chain of events forms a codewith many biological parallels. A less defined approach,open to discovery and interpretation as distinct fromcontrol and structure, is highly engaging and rewardingfor some. There will always be a percentage of artistswho welcome the ‘happy accident’ when a mistakeproves fortuitous. This is not at all unusual in suchprocess dependent production and where the manifestation of an image is so many steps removedfrom the hand of the artist. George Baselitz once said of intaglio printing: ‘Working on zinc or copper plates demands a certainconcentration, a certain isolation,almost a singularity. One is a strangeman when one scratches these metalplates and it sometimes scares me’.

For print artists the 1980s were particularly scary! While the bold character of woodcut and the emotiveenergy required to make drypoints shared values central to Neo-expressionism, print lacked thedynamism and physicality of the enormous paintingsproduced at that time. Print was not included in theblockbuster exhibitions, which heralded a ‘new spirit in painting’. An equivalent regeneration did not occur in print. Susan Tallman, hightlighted the problem in herpublication ‘The Contemporary Print’. Print was considered neither fish nor fowl. ‘Partly handmade and partly automated, partlypopulist and partly elitist, the originalprint has struck many as either afussy little craft or as posters withpretensions.’ Many artists failed to see the worthof so much complex process. Indirect methodology oftenrequiring a synthesis of separate components provedproblematic for some. Those who took time to masterprint were often seen to do so at the expense of the mainthrust of their concerns. Printmaking, which requirestechnical expertise, sophisticated equipment andmechanical printing presses, was executed in sharedworkshops rather than private studios. Produced in relatively small format and with an emphasis on producing commercially viable editions, it was thoughtof as ancillary to mainstream art activity.

In 1991 European artists addressed this perceived failing, producing large-format prints specifically for anexhibition at the Guinness Hop Store, Dublin. The show,‘European Large Format Printmaking’, organised by theBlack Church Print Studio, resulted in the production ofprints in which large format was a central proposition.The exhibits, which spanned a broad range of processes,sought to overcome the limitations of printing by hand ininnovative, novel and ultimately creative methods.

BORN AGAIN AND AGAIN

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The remainder of the decade brought many changes inattitudes to printmaking. Initially access to computersand their widespread acceptance in the visual arts gaveprint a new relevance. Digitally created artworks had,up to recently, only one tangible form – that of print.The revolution in digital technology has marked a watershed in the practice of printmaking. Layer basedimage composition through PhotoShop, for example,uses a language already familiar to printmakers andgives them an advantage with this leading technology.Print artists can now excel in sophisticated productionswithout ever getting their hands inky! For many this transition has been automatic and welcome, for others itis not even worthy of consideration.

So why do artists still choose the more traditional methods of printing when contemporary methods arecheaper, more refined and more expedient? One answer is that printing by hand affords a greaterindividualisation of mark and style. Another attraction isthe nature of the process, which at times may seem mystical and even ritualistic in method and effect.For many artists, engagement with the tactile qualities of image production fulfils a deeply rooted need.For them the absence of surface and tactile qualities indigital synthesis is soulless, while traditional intaglio, forexample, has an almost alchemical resonance. Tactilevalues are inherent in intaglio and may become manifestas central concerns in the symbiotic relationshipbetween ideas and process.Working with intaglio plates,marks are incised, layers built up and a printed imagedelivered in a distinctly process based manner.The resulting product bears a resemblance to sculpturalcasting. The printing press forces paper into the hollowsof the plate, making what is effectively a cast from thedetail. The paper is stripped from the plate pulling inkfrom the finest mark. The indentations of the image areembossed as a light physical relief on to the paper.This formal ‘inkscape’ is unique to intaglio printing.It may be viewed independently of the image it formsand is one of the key attractions (and of course pitfalls)of the process. The deliberateness of the mark, its

authority and surface quality become manifestly independent of the content. The plate’s latent image –barely visible in its uniformity of copper colour and shallow depth – may only be realised through the application of ink and subsequent printing onto paper.The intaglio plate is a receptacle, a form of memorybank, capable of recalling on demand.

An ‘original’ intaglio print is not a simulation, replica,or reproduction. The original print, as unique or as amultiple, evades definition. Its genesis from the non-image matrix of the printing plate lends it a singularity.It is not a copy of the plate that gives rise to it. Born fromthe surface of the plate the first proof print is always arevelation. Seen for the first time in positive, reversedfrom its conceived state and standing in a light bas-reliefit is truly something new. Even in its multiple form,it somehow retains originality. It is thus an emanation capable of being born again and again.

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Andrew Folan is a printand digital artist andlecturer in Fine Art atthe National College ofArt and Design, Dublin.

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Coincidences happen. The American author Paul Auster,famous for his use of chance, states: ‘There arecoincidences and it is impossible toknow what to make of them.’1 My coincidence occurred when I was asked to be involvedin the selection of this show – I had just been listening toMiles Davis’s 1958 album Milestones.While this record is sometimes overshadowed by his later more famouscollection Kind of Blue (1959), Milestones is known for itscontrasting styles, range of technique and the bringingtogether of artists, in his case a sextet, who offered aspecial and unique mix. I hope it is no coincidence that these elements are also present in the ‘Milestones’exhibition.

In selecting a showcase of work there are many methodsone could use. Choose chronologically, selecting representative pieces from each year. Choose one pieceby every studio member. Look at different print methodsand exhibit those. Impose specific thematic threads.What we tried to do was simply look at the work submitted and choose what we felt was the strongest.Perhaps this allowed coincidence to answer some of thequestions we had asked ourselves.

Different selectors would no doubt bring their own concerns, interests and influences to the table and, ofcourse, arrive at different outcomes. No selection is infallible; it is always just a snapshot in time. In this case a snapshot trying to record 25 years of artistic production.When you assemble over 40 artists withdiverse practices it might be coincidence that lets uslook for connections, shared interests and subject matter. Independent pieces made at different times canseem to run into each other, creating counterpoints anddialogue. Obviously none of this could be intended bythe artists, but it does create a context for us to reflectand respond to these relationships. Conceivably, it allowsus to see how certain themes have changed and evolved;or remained unanswered questions that still needengagement. Themes include visual responses to literature, landscape and space, process-led work, selfand identity, the extraordinary in the everyday and art as social/political engagement.

MILESTONES / MILES’S TONES: A COINCIDENCE

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Milestones /

Miles’s tones:

A coincidence

Brian Fay

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The identification of these headings is not intended to be a definitive listing. Rather it is one of many possiblereadings that we as viewers can make. It is not intendedto limit the potential responses to the artists’ work, orindeed to define the core of their practices, but to offer a framework to discuss the works on show.

The continuing influence of Irish and European literatureas a source for visual artworks can be seen from EamonnO’Doherty’s 1982 etchings Ulysses – Cyclops/Citizen andBloom in Nightown to Frank Kiely’s recent colourfulscreenprint Voyage to Houyhnhnms 2007, drawn fromJonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Jan de Fouw’s detailedetching Amergin Hawk was created in response to andreproduced in a recent poetry collection. As well as literature being a source for content the book as anobject has proved a rich vein for artists to pursue.In Marie Louise Martin’s recent piece Book of Days –September, we see a series of seven prints, developedfrom diaries and sketchbooks, threaded together referencing a book’s narrative and journey.We alsoreceive a sense of Martin’s artistic journey with the much earlier double portrait etching Maud & Lottie,highlighting her interest in early Florentine Renaissanceart. In Paula Henihan’s digital print My Life, we see thebook used as a ground for an appropriated scientificimage of a head and a tree, creating a dialogue betweenuniversal empirical sources and our own personal subjective histories. A different dialogue appears inCaroline Byrne’s Procession, a linocut on japanese paper.With great delicacy Byrne explores the natural worldand its presence in an urban landscape. Byrne’s use of animal imagery is also shared with Jane Garland.Garland’s composite screenprint Unspeakable Pursuitsdraws from literary traditions of using animals asmetaphors for understanding human society. Here thefox is emblematic of nature being excluded from ourcontrolled human order. Similarly in the etchings ofVincent Sheridan, Motion II and Evening Dance,swarming birds are employed to mirror human groupdynamics and social behaviour. The frantic motion of the birds is juxtaposed against the calmness of the landscape they travel over.

Landscape and the depiction of space play a significantand diverse role in many of the pieces presented here.In Cora Cummins’ subtle etching Factory Mountain,landscape and location act as anchors for issues ofrefuge, a wishing to be elsewhere and the commodification of leisure time. The finely renderedetchings Tent and Hammock by Colin Martin depictfamiliar settings and scenes of recreation and leisurewhere wider narrative themes – beyond what are shown– are implied. Barbara Dunne’s sensitively balancedetching Yellow Flower, The Touch, Blue Feather Triptych is emblematic of her interest in space as an expandedvista, a site for transformation and nurture. JoanGleeson’s two etchings Moon Shadow and the recentInto the Depths skillfully show her ongoing interest inman’s imprint on nature. Jacqueline Stanley’s elegantlystructured etching and aquatint The Palm House andMorning Glory show the shift in her focus to landscapework during this earlier period of her practice. KateBetts inventive use of a Turner landscape highlights herconcern with dialogically opposed systems of thought.Hope III – Sky after Turner, a composite etching, presentsan expanse of cloud comprising playing cards individually altered by Betts. Michael Timmins’monochrome print Mesh Landscape depicts another typeof pictorial space. One that is constructed through anintricate build up of delicate lines over broad stark solidareas. Anthony Lyttle’s etchings Enclosure I and Dot IIalso deal with elements of landscape, specifically itscontainment, division and transitional states. Equally inStephen Vaughan’s work there is an interest in derivingmarks and systems from architectural forms. Juggernaut,an etching and screenprint contrasts organic forms withgeometric shapes alluding to the imposition of man inthe natural world. Transitional states might also be,by coincidence, referred to in Paki Smith’s etchingWildman Burns the City. In his biographical piece for this catalogue Smith mentions the studio fire in 1990.Perhaps, one might suppose, an image that could haveinspired this piece.

Milestones

However it is the construction of buildings and theimposed order on our environment that inform PiiaRossi’s Paper Houses. These three-dimensional monoprints constructed to depict familiar, yet anonymous places, are made to relate to each other,allowing us to imagine a utopian or dystopian world theycould occupy. Her exploration of the three-dimensionalproperties of print is also investigated in the work ofAndrew Folan. Folan’s practice has constantly soughtinnovative forms for print, combining new technologywith traditional techniques. His investigation is seen inthe range of work here from the three-dimensional ParcelConstrained by its Image, Surface Dwelling to Love Heart3. He allows collaboration in architecture, medicine andscience to inform his own practice. Likewise FionaMcDonald draws on her background in chemistry toinfluence and define much of the outcomes in her print work. Scientific-like investigations into alternativemethods of etching plates produces extraordinaryresults, as seen in Merging Waterlines and Untitled –Grey/White.

Alison Pilkington evidences the centrality of process inEven, an etched-lino print. Pilkington has specialised in this particular print form as it acts as an appropriatemedium to retain the painterly qualities within her interdisciplinary practice. In Mary Fitzgerald’sEmbedded Blue we can see her interest in the propertiesand potential of drawing. There is also a sophisticatedquestioning of the production of meaning, initiallythrough the placement of elements within a composition,then the further placing of the artwork in the publicarena. Strong associations with drawing can also befound in Aïda Bangoura’s It Doesn’t Count and It Doesn’tCount 1. A range of dynamic handmade marks are used,describing systems of time, fragments of writing,numbers suggesting calendars combine to give a senseof presence and disappearance. The use of supposedanalytical imagery is also seen in the delicate anddreamlike etchings Untitled and Butterfly Net by ElaineLeader. Leader draws on a wide variety of sources,including botanical illustration and maps to populate her work. Each element contributes to her overall

questioning of a sense of self in a changing world.Self and identity is also examined by other artists in thisexhibition. Catherine Lynch’s vivid Untitled IV silkscreenon cotton showing multiple figures against a patternedbackground refers to the choices that women make inrelation to their domestic and work life. Louise Peat’sscreenprint Deep Song shows a naked faceless femalefigure obscured against a black background, suggestingmoments of change and flux both physical and psychological. Similarly in Rob Smith’s energetic ToCatch a Cat we see a representative work from a practicethat was concerned with an inner search for meaning.

Poet Patrick Kavanagh’s dictum to make the ordinaryextraordinary unites a diverse range of work. AoifeDwyer’s screenprint 25 Years details the residual marksof insignificant things, a subtle form of commemoration.Sara Horgan’s etching Love Letter 7 employs an ambiguity at the actual centre of her intriguing print.Framed by a Greek male/female pattern, is the imagedenoting a heart or a pelvis? Is this a physical residue ofan emotional experience? Catherine Kelly’s strikingscreenprints Mother & Child and Teresa reflect her experience and knowledge of her subjects and sur-roundings. This is comparable in intention to GráinneDowling’s sensitive aquatint Resting, demonstrating askillful response to her circumstances and environment.Margaret O’Brien’s wide ranging exploration of everyday objects and activities transformed by areplacement of their actual function is seen in her fourscreenprints Woman’s work IV, Dirty Trash II, Precious andRubbish. Triptych, an etching by Silvia Nevado Roco,picks up on the playful qualities in O’Brien’s work.She transforms an ordinary chair into a more joyousobject than perhaps originally intended. Sinéad O’Reillyin her finely rendered etching The Daydream alsoalludes to the everyday with an air of the unusual.Naomi Sex’s two atmospheric etchings Pick up Truck andOverhanging Wire present scenes of the mundane, wheresomething of significance may have occurred.

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Engagement with the social and political is also a strongundercurrent. Perhaps most explicitly so in AnnraoiWyer’s provocative screenprint Viper, juxtaposing a dictionary definition of a viper, a picture of the viper and an image of – the then centre of a political storm –Oliver North. Dermot Finn’s etching That Men CannotLearn acknowledges preceding political printmakerssuch as Goya and Hogarth while drawing on contemporary media and street art giving his message a contemporary relevance. Equally in Margaret Irwin’setching Sweet Flower of Youth current images of warfareare arranged around a poppy motif – a symbol synonymous with the First World War. Janine Davidson in her four etchings from the Little Devils series decontextualises motifs and iconography associated withdifferent cultures allowing us to reinterpret their originalmeaning and create our own. Diverse cultures, andnotions of the stranger provide a backdrop to EmmaFinucane’s striking digital print Disappearing Other.Finucane engages in the debate of the role of the artist in society and how that position is defined and mediatedin a significant way.

In my role as selector I would like to thank the BlackChurch Print Studio for inviting me to be involved in thisproject. I would particularly like to thank Hazel Burke forall her help and patience and my fellow selector AndrewFolan. I hope we have caught a sense of the quality,diversity and endeavour that emerged from the Studioover the past 25 years.

It is said that Miles Davis’s Milestones provided a platform of experimentation and technical virtuosity forhis future work. Looking at this exhibition I believe thatthe next 25 years are in very good hands. And that is nocoincidence.

1. Auster, Paul, Interview, The Art of Hunger, p 290, Faber and Faber,London, 1997

Milestones

Brian Fay is an artist and lecturer in Fine Artat the Dublin Institute ofTechnology, Dublin.

39Aïda BangouraIt Doesn’t Count, 2007silkscreen, 1/1 70 x 100 cm

Kate BettsHope III (sky after Turner), 2003etching à la poupée, composite, unique104 x 247 cm

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Caroline ByrneProcession, 2005lino cut on japanese paper,monoprint 63 x 400 cm

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Cora CumminsFactory Mountain, 2003etching, A/P71 x 100 cm

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Janine DavidsonLittle Devils I, 2002etching, 2/7 30 x 30 cm

Janine DavidsonLittle Devils IV, 2002etching, 2/7 30 x 30 cm

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Jan de FouwAmergin Hawk, 2000copper etching, 5/1238 x 33 cm

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Gráinne DowlingResting, 1989aquatint & soft ground, 3/5 13 x 13 cm

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Barbara DunneYellow Flower, The Touch,Blue Feather Triptych, 2001etching, 8/10, 8/10 & 1/1022 x 30 cm ea

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Aoife Dwyer25 years, 2003screenprint, 2/3100 x 70 cm

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Dermot Finnthat men cannot learn…,2006/07etching, 1/11 36 x 60 cm

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Emma FinucaneDisappearing Other, 2005digital image on photorag, 2/3 65.5 x 48.25 cm

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Mary FitzgeraldEmbedded Blue, 2003 etching, drypoint & carborundum, 8/1075 x 102 cm

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Andrew FolanParcel constrained by its image,2001stack of 65 intaglio prints,unique7 x 12 x 18 cm

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Jane GarlandUnspeakable Persuits, 2003screenprint, 2/10 56 x 69 cm

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Joan GleesonMoonshadow, 1984etching & roll up, A/P75 x 53 cm

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Paula HenihanMy Life, 2006digital print, 1/1030 x 38 cm

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Sara HorganLove Letter 7, 1987lino etch & tissue lamination, 3/3 92 x 72 cm

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Margaret IrwinSweet Flower of Youth, 1995etching, 6/25 71 x 54 cm

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Catherine KellyMother & Child, 1995acrylic screenprint onprinted paper, 1/3 245 x 133 cm

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Frank KielyVoyage to Houyhnhnms, 2007screenprint, V/P45 x 100 cm

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Elaine LeaderButterfly Net, 2006etching, 11/20 40 x 35 cm

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Catherine LynchUntitled IV, 1998silkscreen on cloth 60 x 60 cm

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Anthony LyttleDot II, 2006etching aquatint/copper, 3/15 60 x 65 cm

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Colin MartinHammock, 2006etching, 7/50 62 x 80 cm

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Marie Louise MartinBook of Days –September, 2007etching, embossing &chine collé, 3/560 x 320 cm

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Fiona McDonaldMerging Waterlines, 1999aluminium electro-etch, A/P76 x 34 cm

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Silvia Nevado RocoTriptych, 1999etching, 1/556 x 150 cm

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Margaret O’BrienDirty Trash II, 2001silkscreen on aluminium, 1/1 65 x 96 cm

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Eamonn O’DohertyBloom in Nightown, 1982lithograph, 1/25 76 x 57 cm

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Sinéad O’ReillyThe daydream, 2006etching, 5/10 35 x 25 cm

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Louise PeatDeep Song, 1996screenprint, 7/8 76 x 56.5 cm

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Alison PilkingtonEven, 1998etched lino, 6/6 57 x 62.5 cm

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Piia RossiPaper Houses, 2007monoprint11.5 x 4.5 x 3 cm & 10 x 4 x 2.5 cm

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Naomi SexOverhanging Wire, 2006etching, A/P19 x 25.5 cm

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Vincent SheridanMotion II, 2004etching, 9/4064 x 76 cm

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Paki SmithWildman Burns the City , 1996etching & carborundum, 20/5038 x 52 cmImage courtesy of the Office of Public Works

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Rob SmithTo catch a cat, 1983etching, A/P53 x 76 cm

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Jacqueline StanleyMorning Glory, 1990etching & aquatint, 4/3076 x 57 cm

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Mick TimminsMesh Landscape, 2002carborundum & etching, 6/10 75.5 x 76 cm

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Stephen VaughanJuggernaut, 2003etching, carborundum & screenprint, 17/2054 x 74 cm

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Annraoi WyerViper, 1989screenprint, 3/6 76 x 57 cm

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Biographies B-------------------------------------------

Aïda BangouraBorn in Paris, Aïda Bangoura moved to Ireland in 1995 andtook a Painting and Printmaking degree at the Institute ofTechnology, Sligo. After graduating in 2001 she returned toFrance for a period of time before coming back to Ireland in 2006. She currently lives and works in Dublin and joinedthe Black Church Print Studio in April 2007. Bangoura is afine art printmaker, a painter and an installation artist.Screen-printing is her preferred print medium. Time playsan important role in her work; she seeks the experience ofabsence and presence, appearance and disappearance over time. She plays with spatial and emotional tensionusing text, numbers, erratic lines, forms, colour and composition. In 2005 she was awarded First Prize, Laureate,in Resolution 9, Paris.

Selected solo exhibitions include Resolution 9, Paris (2006);‘Despite my Confusion’, Market House Gallery, Monaghan(2003) and Galerie de Tableau, Marseilles (2002). Bangourahas also participated in a number of group exhibitions inboth Ireland and France. Collections include the Institute ofTechnology, Sligo and private collections in Ireland,England and France.

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Kate BettsBorn in Liverpool, Kate Betts completed a BA honoursdegree in Fine Art at the University of Northumbria,Newcastle in 1995. Upon graduation Betts was awarded amembership bursary at the Northern Print Studio in NorthShields. She has been a member of the Black Church PrintStudio since moving to Dublin in 1998. She joined the BlackChurch Print Studio’s Board of Directors in 2005, andbecame Chairperson in 2006. Betts works mainly in intaglioprintmaking. She is interested in the polarisation of opinion(such as the evolution versus creation debate), and in modesof thought which rely on diametric opposition, and in theirinherent tension (such as right brain/left brain function, andright and wrong).

She has exhibited widely, having had previous solo exhibitions at the Original Print Gallery, Dublin; theBelltable Arts Centre, Limerick and at the National ConcertHall, Dublin. She has also exhibited in Paris, Dublin,Copenhagen, London and New York. Kate’s work is represented in public and private collections, includingNorthern Rock, Office of Public Works and AIB.

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Caroline ByrneBorn in Waterford, Caroline Byrne moved to Dublin in herearly years. She attended the College of Marketing andDesign from 1988 to 1990 and the College of Technologyfrom 1990 to 1991, where she graduated after three yearswith a Diploma in Graphic Reproduction Technology. Shethen pursued a career in design and illustration in Dublinand later in San Francisco, where she was first introduced tothe art of book design and limited edition books. In 2000she travelled to Scotland where she completed a Masters inIllustration at the Edinburgh College of Art in 2002. Pursuingthis course through traditional and contemporary printmedia she created a series of artists’ books. Byrne joinedthe Black Church Print Studio in 2004 and continues to create both original prints and limited edition artists’ books.She works primarily in the relief printmaking methods ofwoodcut and linocut. Her creative practice explores the natural world and its diversity, which can be found withinthe urban landscape.

Byrne has exhibited at group shows in both Scotland andIreland. Solo exhibitions include Halliwells House Museum,Selkirk, Scotland (2004); South Tipperary Arts Centre,Clonmel, Co. Tipperary (2005) and No. 72 John’s Street,Kilkenny (2007). Her work is held in private and public collections including the National Irish Visual Arts Library(NIVAL) at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.

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Cora CumminsBorn in Co. Carlow, Cora Cummins studied Fine Art at theCollege of Marketing and Design, Dublin from 1991 to 1995,specialising in etching. In 2003 she completed a MA in FineArt from the National College of Design, Dublin. In 2002 she was accepted on the work programme studio residencyat the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. She joined the Black Church Print studio in 1995, serving as a Director of the Board from 1999 to 2006. Cummins work can bedescribed as an ongoing exploration of the subject of landscape and location, encompassing issues of refuge,resistance, identity and memory. Under the title ‘WorkroomElsewhere’ – an independent collaborative art initiative withfellow artist Alison Pilkington, Cummins has been involvedin exhibitions, projects and publications, such as The Fold.She has received funding awards from the Arts Council ofIreland (2000, 1999) and Carlow County Council (2000).

Solo exhibitions include The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon(2007); the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin (2004, 2002,2000); Portlaoise Arts Festival (2001) and Toradh Gallery,Co. Meath (2001). She is also a regular exhibitor at the RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin (2006, 2003, 2000) andnumerous other group exhibitions throughout Ireland.Public collections include the Office of Public Works, AXAInsurance, Dublin Institute of Technology, Northern Bank,National Council for Vocational Awards, Bausch & Lombeand AIB.

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Janine Davidson Born in Belfast, Janine Davidson graduated from the NationalCollege of Art and Design, Dublin with a BA honours degreein Fine Art Printmaking in 1997 and subsequently with aHigher Diploma in Community Arts in 2003. Davidsonjoined the Black Church Print Studio in 2001 and its Board

of Directors in 2006. She is currently part of the Artists Panel (2007/2008) at the Irish Museum of Modern Art,Dublin.While her personal work is based in traditional printmaking, she consistently seeks to incorporate newmedia which enhance and inform her practice. The mainimpetus behind her work is to create an accessible visuallanguage that reflects societal and cultural concerns.Her work de-contextualises motifs associated with differentcultures, offering the potential to reinterpret their originalmeaning and create elements of intrigue, which were otherwise absent. Davidson’s new work explores the habitual, the everyday routine and our subsequent attemptto break from these grounding elements. She has participated in residencies in Johannesburg and Nice.

Her work has been exhibited internationally in New York,Sweden, South Africa, France and here in Ireland. Recentgroup exhibitions include ‘Order & Chaos’ at the Lab,Dublin; Íontas, Sligo and the RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin.She is currently working towards an exhibition with theartists collective Jeco Sword, of which she is a foundingmember, to be exhibited in the Lab, Dublin in 2008.

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Jan de FouwBorn in The Hague, Netherlands, Jan de Fouw was trained asa graphic designer at the Royal College of Art, The Hague.He worked as a trainee designer for KLM (Royal DutchAirlines) from 1947 to 1949. After his Dutch army militaryservice (1949 – 1951), he travelled throughout Europe.He settled in Dublin in 1951 and started to work as a free-lance designer with a Bauhaus background. He initiallyjoined Graphic Studio Dublin in 1964 and was instrumentalin setting up the Black Church Print Studio in 1982. Hisprinted works are mainly copperplate colour etchings ofmedium format, which reflect man’s relationship with natureand the elements. Poetry sometimes accompanies theimagery, as in the book Amergin, published in 2000 byWolfhound Press, Dublin. More recently he has been experimenting with bronze sculpture focusing on similarconcerns. From 1952 to 1996 he worked as free-lancedesign director of the bi-monthly magazine Ireland of theWelcomes. He is a three-time award winner from theInternational Regional Magazine Association, USA. He wasawarded Honoris Causa Associateship of the NationalCollege of Art and Design, Dublin in 1991. He has lecturedat the College of Marketing and Design, Dublin and theInstitute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire.

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He has participated in countless group shows both nationally and internationally, including exhibitions inMilwaukee, Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto, Sydney, Beijing,Hang Zhou and here in Dublin. He is a regular exhibitor at the RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin.

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Gráinne DowlingBorn in Dublin, Gráinne Dowling spent much of her childhood living in England. She returned to Ireland in 1960and in 1963 entered the College of Art, Kildare Street (nowthe National College of Art and Design), graduating in 1968with a Diploma in Painting. In 1968 she received a scholarship to study printmaking in the Folkeswang Schulefur Gestaltung in Essen-Werden, Germany, where she studied etching and lithography for two years. Dowlingjoined the Black Church Print Studio in 1986. She currentlyteaches printmaking in the National Print Museum, Dublinand drawing studies in the National Gallery of Ireland,Dublin. Etching is her specialised area of printmaking, andthe subject matter and inspiration for her work has alwaysbeen a reaction to her own circumstances and physical location. She is a winner of a Taylor Award, Arnotts PortraitAward, Íontas Drawing Award, Book Cover Prize for SalmonPoetry, and a contributor to The Great Book of Ireland.

Dowling is a regular exhibitor at the RHA Annual Exhibition,Dublin; Íontas, Sligo; Claremorris Open, Mayo; Éigse,Carlow;Watercolour Society of Ireland, Dublin and numerous Black Church Print Studio exhibitions.Residencies include Annaghmakerrig (2000, 1996, 1993,1992, 1991), Heinrich Boll House, Achill (1998, 1993) andKiltimagh, Co. Mayo (1999). Public collections include the Haverty Trust, The Labour Party and the Office of Public Works.

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Barbara E. Dunne From Kilkenny, Barbara Dunne has been living in Dublinsince 1983. She was awarded a Diploma in Fine ArtPrintmaking at the Crawford College of Art, Cork in 1981.She is currently a tutor in Fine Art Print at the SeniorCollege, Ballyfermot, Dublin and the National College of Artand Design. She joined the Black Church Print Studio in1983, where she served on the Board of Directors for 13years from 1985. Dunne is both a printmaker (specialising inetching) and a painter. Her work is inspired by a ‘vast vista’,a place of expanse, a place of discovery, a place of light –

a place where light is ever present, never absent. Containedwithin the light is the wonderment of the silent colours,revealing themselves, transient, transforming, nurturing and bathing all that is within the vista. And so it is and so itcontinues to reveal a unique incredible beauty of ‘strengthin simplicity’. ‘In the skin of our fingers we can see the trailof the wind, it shows us where the wind blew when ourancestors were created.’

Her work has been exhibited regularly in the TaispeántasEalaíne An Oireachtas, Dublin; RHA, Independent Artists,Dublin; Impressions, Galway; Original Print Gallery, Dublin;Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, and in the USA and Europe. Dunnewas a prize-winner at the Irish/International mini print exhibition at the Hendricks Gallery, Dublin in 1986. Publiccollections include the Arts Council of Ireland, Office ofPublic Works, Bank of Nova Scotia, Great Southern Hotels,Air Rianta, AIB, Office of An Taoiseach and the ButlerGallery, Kilkenny. Publications include Contemporary Printof the World, Kyoto Arts Centre Japan.

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Aoife DwyerBorn in Dublin, Aoife Dwyer spent some time living inBrighton, England, where she studied screenprint at nightunder the tutelage of Terence Gravett at the BrightonPolytechnic College of Art. In 1993 Dwyer began studying atthe National College of Art and Design, Dublin, graduatingin 1998 with a BA honours degree in Fine Art. She became amember of the Black Church Print Studio that same year andsubsequently became a Director of the Board in 2005. Since1998 she has been teaching fine art print with the City ofDublin VEC and is currently working with Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council as part of their Artist in Schoolprogramme.Working with photography, screenprint and etching, Dwyer is interested in drawing attention toeveryday domestic objects, spaces and surfaces, where the stories and emotions of life accumulate. She workstowards giving a sense of importance to the overlooked and evokes a sense of stillness, time passing and absence in her work.

Solo exhibitions include ‘Wild’, National Concert Hall Dublin (2004) and ‘Link to the Future’, Aer Rianta ArtsFestival (1999). She has also participated in many selectedgroup exhibitions, including Taispeántas Ealaíne AnOireachtas (2003, 2002); RHA Annual Exhibition (2003,2000); Éigse, Carlow (2001); Íontas Sligo (2000) and BlackChurch Print Studio exhibitions. In 1998 she was short-listed

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for the CAP Foundation award and won an ESB bursary.Her work is represented in many private and public collections, including the Office of Public Works, RTE,Guinness Irl., Dublin Bus, PMPA Insurance and CampbellBewley Group.

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Dermot FinnBorn in Dublin, Dermot Finn studied Fine Art, specialising in print at the National College of Art and Design, Dublingraduating in 2005. Since then he has experimented inmany techniques, from painting on found materials andstreet art to digital and traditional printmaking. He joinedthe Black Church Print Studio in 2006. Finn has been teaching art at Pine Forest Art Centre for the past few yearsand is currently a member of City Art Squad, where he hasworked with a wide range of community groups. In 2007 hereturned to the National College of Art and Design and iscurrently studying a postgraduate Diploma in Art Education.Finn lists influences such as Goya, Hogarth and Callot,amongst other artists, whose work deals with social or political issues.War, death and human neglect have captured the artist’s imagination over the last number ofyears and all of his work has focused on these themes.

He has had one solo exhibition to date, ‘all my old socks’,128 Rathmines Road, Dublin (2004). Since 2001 he has participated in various group exhibitions in Ireland andmost recently at the 25th Dunlavin Festival,Wicklow (2007);the Original Print Gallery, Dublin (2006); the Back LoftGallery, Dublin (2006) and the Dublin Fringe Festival (2006).

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Emma Finucane Emma Finucane was born in Dublin and lives in Bray, Co.Wicklow. She graduated from the National College of Artand Design, Dublin with a BA honours degree in Fine ArtPrint in 1997 and an MA in Fine Art in 2006. She joined theBlack Church Print Studio in 1997 and works in the area of screenprint, digital imaging and video. Finucane’s workinvestigates the way we communicate with others and ultimately how it determines the quality of our lives.She is also interested in the role of the artist in society andis currently involved in the ‘Open Window Project’ in St

James’s Hospital, Dublin and a research project entitled ‘The role of the artist in learning communities’ in NCAD.Over the past year she coordinated and participated in aresearch project in association with NCAD and Pfizer Irelandentitled ‘Portraits of Pain’. In 1998 she won the DakotaPrintmaking Award and she has received funding awardsfrom the Arts Council of Ireland, Bray Town Council andWicklow County Council. In 2006 she received a Phase One Research and Development Grant from CREATE; anInternational Utopian Art Prize, Germany and a WicklowCounty Council Artist in Residence Award with St FergalsBoxing Club, Bray. In 2007 Finucane was invited to take partin Voice Our Concern, Amnesty in Schools Programme andBallyhaise Unframed, Co. Cavan.

Finucane regularly exhibits nationally and internationallyand has had three solo exhibitions to date. Her work wasselected for the Claremorris Open (2005); Perspective(2005); OBG, Belfast and most recently as part of the BlackChurch Print Studio twenty-fifth anniversary programme.Finucane was selected to create four site-specific digitalimages which were displayed in windows on the GrattanBridge Kiosks. Public collections include AIB, DublinInstitute of Technology and University College Dublin.

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Mary A. Fitzgerald Born and currently based in Dublin, Fitzgerald studied FineArt at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technologyand the National College of Art and Design, where she completed her Masters of Fine Art in 2004. She is a recipientof both Visual Arts and Professional Development Awardsfrom the Arts Council of Ireland. In 2005 her work wasshown as part of the 5th International Biennale de Gravurein Liege, Belgium. Fitzgerald was invited to show works atthe 175th Royal Hibernian Academy Exhibition in 2005, andis part of the current Artists Panel at IMMA. In 2003 Fitzgeraldcompleted a major public art project entitled ‘The HomeProject’, commissioned by Breaking Ground and BallymunRegeneration. She has been a key member of Black ChurchPrint Studio since 1995 and has also acted as PrintCoordinator. She has lectured at both NCAD and DLIADT.

She exhibits both nationally and internationally and herwork is included in private and public collections, includingBank of Ireland, AIB, University College Dublin, Office ofPublic Works, Bank de Paris, AXA Insurance and MicrosoftIrl. Solo exhibitions include ‘A longer Walk Home’, LemonStreet Gallery, Dublin (2007); ‘Drawn’, Original Print Gallery,Dublin (2004); ‘Showcase’, Lemon Street Gallery,

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Dublin (2006); Postgraduate Show, The Digital Hub, Dublin(2004) and ‘Works On Paper’, Galleuiet, Grafikens Hus,Stockholm (2002). Recent selected exhibitions include theRHA Annual Exhibition; ‘Attraction’, Talbot Gallery, Dublin;‘Drawing is a verb, Drawing is a noun’, The Stone Gallery,Dublin; ‘Hung, Drawn and Quartered’ and ‘Tender’, OriginalPrint Gallery; Portrait Ireland, Newtown Barry House and‘Contemporary Irish Printmakers’, The Gallery of GraphicArt, New York.

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Andrew FolanSince graduating from the Slade School of Fine Art, Londonin 1981, Andrew Folan has practised in print, photographyand sculpture. Recent works have combined digital processes with print in multi-layered composites. He is anactive collaborator in scientific, medical and architecturalprojects and participated in the ‘Digital Surface’ presentedat Tate Britain (2003). Essentially a conceptual artist,Folan has more recently explored concerns of a social,psychological and scientific nature.While he is essentiallyconcerned with issue-based reasoning, aspects of process(particularly photography and print) are often delivered in a formalist and labour intensive manner.

He has exhibited widely throughout Europe. His solo exhibition of printed sculptures ‘Arterial Ink’ toured to anumber of venues in Ireland, as well as London, Paris andStockholm (1991-2001). More recently his solo exhibition ofdigital lambda chromes ‘Stray Light’ was shown at theAshford Gallery, Dublin in 2002. He participated in thegroup exhibition ‘Dead Bodies’ at the Centre CulturelIrlandais, Paris in 2003. In 2006 he completed a sculpturalinstallation ‘The Fleet Morph’ at the Mater Hospital Dublin.His work features in the collections of the Arts Council ofIreland, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Central Bank ofIreland and Trinity College, Dublin.

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Jane Garland Born in Dublin, Jane Garland studied Printmaking at theNational College of Art and Design, Dublin and the SladeSchool of Fine Art, London. She is a member of the BlackChurch Print Studio since 1995, and works mainly in the

area of screen-print. Garland has created a series of printsbased on her interest in the literary and visual traditions ofusing animals as metaphors for human society. Aesop’sfables have been a strong influence on her work. In thesefables a fox is depicted as being continually at odds withprevailing human efforts to control and exploit the environment and to exclude all who do not fit into the socialplan. In Garland’s work she uses the metaphor of the fox trying to gain unauthorised access in the context of contemporary Ireland.

Her work has been selected for several group shows inIreland, including, Íontas, Sligo; RHA Annual exhibitions;Taispeántas Ealaíne An Oireachtas and the Irish Exhibitionof Living Art. She has also been selected for many exhibitions in Britain, including group shows at theBarbican, the Mall Galleries, the Curwen Gallery, the RoyalFestival Hall and the Bradford International Print Exhibition.

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Joan Gleeson Born in Co. Mayo, Joan Gleeson completed a teacher train-ing course in Carysfort College of Education, Blackrock; artteachers’ certificate courses in the National College of Artand Design, Dublin from 1968 to 1976 and subsequently aBA degree in University College Dublin from 1970 to 1973.She joined the Black Church Print Studio in the early days in1983. Gleeson specialises in the area of etching, sometimescombining a variety of techniques including carborundum,embossed paper, chine collé and photo etching, to convey a sense of unfolding possibilities within an image. She hasalways been fascinated by nature, and the impact of the elements on natural phenomena. Gleeson now lives inClontarf, the coastal region around Howth and Dollymount,which provides an ever-renewing source of inspiration andinvestigation. Imprint of man on nature as well as naturalphenomena on man, are part of this investigation.

Gleeson has exhibited widely nationally and internationally.Solo exhibitions include Lambay House Howth Gallery,Dublin; Cintra Studio Exhibition, Kinsealy; National ConcertHall Terrace Exhibition, Dublin; Limerick County Golf Club,GPA House, Limerick and Red Stables Arts Centre, Dublin.She is also a regular exhibitor at the RHA AnnualExhibitions; Claremorris Open, Mayo and Íontas, Sligo.Public collections include AIB, Office of Public Works,Gresham Hotel Group, INTO Headquarters, Jury’s HotelGroup, Muckross House, Mater Private Hospital, Nova ScotiaBank and St Luke’s Hospital.

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Paula HenihanBorn in Galway, Paula Henihan studied Fine Art at theGalway Institute of Technology and completed a Masters inPrintmaking at Camberwell College of Art, London. She nowlives and works in Dublin. Henihan became a member of the Black Church Print Studio in 2006 and creates concept-based works in mixed media prints. Using mainly screen-print, digital print and collograph, she explores ideas of universal origins and personal history as subject matter forvisual and theoretical investigation. Her work plays with themedium of print in an innovative manner and attempts topush the possibilities of print past the two-dimensionalframed paper piece.

Selected solo exhibitions include ‘The Big Round’ atWestport Customs House (2006); ‘Corplár’, Ballina ArtsCentre (2005) and ‘Peripheral Consciousness’, GalwayFisheries Tower (2004). Henihan has exhibited in numerousgroup exhibitions in Ireland and abroad, including ‘Withinand Without’ at the Original Print Gallery, Dublin; ‘The FirstBook of Ideas’ at the Art Scene Warehouse in Shanghai,China; ‘Arrivals’ at the Solander Gallery in Wellington,New Zealand and ‘Originals’ at the Mall Galleries in London.Most recently Henihan curated and exhibited in‘Inheritance/Impermanence’, a three-person exhibition atthe Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar in 2007. Public collections include Limerick City Gallery; Dundarave PrintGallery,Vancouver; Irish Government Buildings; theNational College of Art and Design and the NationalUniversity of Ireland, Galway. Henihan was awarded a scholarship to study at postgraduate level in London by theArts and Humanities Research Council, UK and her workwas chosen for a purchase prize at ‘Impressions ‘06’ at theGalway Arts Centre.

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Sara HorganBorn in Dublin, Sara Horgan was educated in Montreal,Switzerland, Paris, The Hague, Dublin and École des BeauxArts, Tours, France. In 1980 she graduated with a degree inFine Art from the National College of Art and Design,Dublin, where she specialised in the area of printmaking.In the same year, having served as Secretary to GraphicStudio Dublin for over seven years, Horgan was very

instrumental in establishing the Black Church Print Studioand was the Studio Administrator for 12 years from 1980 to1992. Lino, etching and chine collé, cast paper and plasterare her preferred media for editioning and printmaking.She says ‘her work refers to love, death and the whole damn thing’.

Horgan has exhibited widely in Ireland. Her solo exhibitionsinclude the Oliver Dowling Gallery, Dublin (1989, 1987) and the Original Print Gallery, Dublin (1999). Awardsinclude a prize from the British Print Biennale, Bradford andan Arts Council of Ireland award in 1987. Her work is includedin many public collections including the Arts Council ofIreland; Aughinish Alumina; Bank of Ireland; BlackrockClinic; Contemporary Irish Arts Society; Córas Iompair Éireann; Guinness plc; Irish Life; Irish Management Institute;Jury’s Hotel Group; Kilkenny Art Gallery Society; LambertCollection at IMMA; Museum of Art and Design Chernobyl;Office of Public Works; Royal Hospital Donnybrook; LimerickCity Art Gallery and the National Self-Portrait Collection.

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Margaret IrwinBorn in British India, Margaret Irwin grew up mainly inDelgany, Co.Wicklow. From the age of 10 she received regular painting lessons in Dublin from Lilian DavidsonRHA. Firmly discouraged from attending art school, she waseducated at Trinity College, Dublin, where she obtained anhonours degree in languages and literature, as well as aDiploma in History of European Painting. She eventuallystudied painting at the Studio Andre L’Hote in Paris andqualified as an Art Teacher from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in later years. In the late 1950s shelived in Scotland and England, returning to Dalkey, Irelandin 1968. She took up printmaking under the tutelage of JohnKelly at Graphic Studio Dublin, Upper Mount Street. Shebecame a full-time Art Teacher at Dun Laoghaire VEC in1974, transferring to the Art School after some years andfinally to NCAD in 1982, where she was full-time lecturer inthe Faculty of Education until 1991. She became a memberof the Black Church Print Studio in 1983/1984. She now livesin Connemara, where she has her own print studio,but remains a member of the Black Church. All Irwin’s work is intaglio; mostly etching with some dry-point andcarborundum.

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Her subject matter betrays a predilection for stone, and ismainly figurative drawn from landscape and archaeologicalsites where she lives, but with departures into exploration of images dealing with issues of social conscience.

Solo shows include Brunneby, Ost Gotland andGalleriesander, Linkoping, Sweden and recent group exhibitions include Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy,London (2007); ‘Impressions’ Open, Galway (2006); LimerickPrintmakers Open and Lorg Printmakers Open, Galway(2006, 2005). Awards include Exhibition & Materials Award,Galway County Council (2007, 2005, 2004); Artist inResidence, Fundacíon Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain (1998);Artist in Residence, Joensuu Print Workshop, Finland (1995)and ‘O’Sullivan Graphics Award for Work of Distinction,Print’, RHA Annual Exhibition (1995). Public collectionsinclude Allied Irish Leasing, Dublin; Aer Lingus; City ofBoston Public Libraries MA, USA.; Department of ForeignAffairs; Galway County Council; Galway City Council; MayoCounty Council; Office of Public Works and the Smurfit Art Collection.

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Catherine KellyBorn in Ballymun, Dublin, Catherine Kelly attended collegefor the first time as a mature student in 1991. She graduatedwith a BA in History of Art and Fine Art Painting from theNational College of Art and Design, Dublin in 1995 and subsequently with an MA in Fine Art Painting andPrintmaking in 1999. In 2005 she completed a HigherDiploma in Computer Science from University CollegeDublin. Kelly became a member of the Black Church PrintStudio in 1995. As a fine artist she works in a variety ofmedia, including printmaking, video production and bronzecasting, but screen-printing is her preferred medium inprintmaking. Kelly’s work has concerned itself with relationships and preconceived perceptions about certainimagery such as Punch and Judy, playing cards and so onwhich are often manipulated and used to convey a particular message to the viewer. Kelly was awarded a placeon the Second Random Access Training Symposium by theSculptors’ Society of Ireland in 1997, and received bursariesto travel to New York in 1995 and Japan in 1997. She won theKPMG Stokes Kennedy Crowley purchase prize at the NCAD

Degree Show in 1995 and the Open section of Íontas, Sligoin 1994. In 2002 she was commissioned by Irish HospiceFoundation to design the Queen of Spades playing card for‘Art:pack’. She has screened art videos at the RoyalHibernian Academy, Dublin and the Irish Film Centre,Dublin.

Kelly has had three solo shows to date, in the United ArtsClub, Dublin (2003); the National Concert Hall, Dublin (2003)and Habitat, St. Stephen’s Green (1995). She has also participated in a number of group exhibitions includingmost recently the Rathmines Festival, Dublin (2006); the IrishArt Exhibition, Omaha, Nebraska, USA (2004) and in Gallery411, Hangzhou, China (2004). She is also a regular exhibitorat the RHA Annual Exhibitions since 1995.

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Frank KielyFrank Kiely grew up in Co. Kildare and later Dublin. Hestudied at the Galway Mayo Technical College, NationalCollege of Art and Design, Dublin and the Royal College ofArt, London. Kiely is a member of the Black Church PrintStudio and has served on the Board of Directors from 2005to 2007. He is a member of the Royal Society of Painters andPrintmakers, London since 2006 and sits on their council.On moving to London to study at the Royal College of Art,he was confronted with a multi-cultural society in stark contrast to the one he had left behind. Kiely began to makescreenprints of street scenes of London with isolated areasof colours, typically the red bus or the phone box. This bodyof work dealt with his experience from the perspective of aminority, exploring his ‘Irishness’ laterally.While exploringexistential loneliness and a search for identity unattached to nationality, these iconic prints of familiar London culturalsymbols frequently contain hidden visual puns. Alongsidethis work, Kiely is recently combining portraiture to hiscityscapes. There are many subtexts to these works, takenfrom literature, his imagination and Irish mythology, whichhe reinterprets in a contemporary setting.

Kiely has exhibited widely, his solo exhibitions include‘City Life’ with Anvari Art, London (2006); ‘Memoirs of aLondon Journey’ at Mark Jason Gallery, London (2004);‘Solo Show’ in the Mezzanine, National Concert Hall, Dublin(2003) and ‘I Must Not Talk Between Classes’ at the Bank ofIreland Arts Centre, Dublin (2000). He has also exhibited inmany group exhibitions in Ireland, Britain, Europe and theUSA. Kiely’s works are featured in public and private collections worldwide.

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Elaine LeaderBorn in Dublin, Elaine Leader graduated from the College of Marketing and Design in 1995 and became a member ofBlack Church Print Studio in the same year. Leader drawsupon a number of sources in the construction of her prints,including field guides, mapping and botanical illustration toinvestigate how the self orientates and navigates a world inconstant flux. Her work sensitively, yet unsentimentally,addresses themes of care, nurture and dependency.

Selected exhibitions include ‘Insideout’, Graphic StudioGallery, Dublin (2006); RHA Annual Exhibitions, Dublin;‘Garden of Earthly Delights’, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin(2005); ‘Hand Pulled Prints’, San Antonio, Texas (2004);‘Contemporary Irish Prints’, The Gallery of Graphic Art,New York (2004); ‘Ireland France‚ Paris 2001’, CitéInternationale des Arts, Paris and Grafiska Sallskaet,Stockholm (2002). Awards include Arts Council TravelAwards (2000, 1996); RHA Annual Print Award (1998); ArtsCouncil Art Flights (2001, 1997, 1994); Arts Council StudioGrant (1996); Arts Council Materials Grant (1995), as well as an Office of Public Works Per Cent for Arts SchemeCommission for the National Library, Dublin. Public and corporate collections include the National Library ofIreland, the RHA Collection, AIB, the Office of Public Works,Dublin Institute of Technology, Intel, KPMG, Dublin Castle,Office of the Ombudsman, Jury’s Doyle Hotel Group, and theIrish Medical Organisation.

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Catherine LynchBorn in Co. Cork, Catherine Lynch graduated from theCrawford College of Art, Cork with a Diploma in Painting in1988 and a postgraduate in Printmaking in 1989. She thenpursued a Masters degree in Fine Art at The Royal Collegeof Art, London, graduating in 1991. From 1992 to 1993 sheattended the Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico,Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA where she participated inthe print training programme and specialised in the area oflithography. In 1996/1997 Lynch joined the Black Church

Print Studio and worked mainly in the area of screenprint.Lynch’s work is inspired by her interest in the many aspectsof womanhood and the choices that women make in relationto their work and domestic life.

Solo exhibitions include ‘No Title’, The Bourn VincentGallery, University of Limerick (2001); ‘Portraits’, CharlevoixArt Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (1999); ‘NewWork’, Green on Red Gallery, Dublin (1997); ‘Prints’,Original Print Gallery, Dublin (1997); ‘Decanos’, OldMuseum Arts Centre, Belfast (1995) and ‘A Return FromEnchantment’, Triskel Arts Centre, Cork (1994). In 1991 she was a participant of the Arts Entrepreneurial BusinessCourse, sponsored by the America Fund for Ireland in conjunction with the Arts Council of Ireland. Her work isincluded in many public collections, including the IrishMuseum of Modern Art and the Office of Public Works.

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Anthony LyttleAnthony Lyttle was born in Kisumu, Kenya, where he liveduntil the age of eight. His family then moved to Ethiopia until1973, before coming to live in Co. Carlow. He was educatedat St Columba’s College in Rathfarnham and then at theNational College of Art and Design, Dublin, where he studied Fine Art Painting from 1979 to 1982 and 1983 to1984. The subject matter of his earlier work is inspired byelements of landscape and how we contain and separatespace; the themes of enclosures, borders and areas of concentration are common in his work. In recent work thesubject matter has evolved into an exploration of transitionalstates of change. He joined the Black Church Print Studio in1987 after taking a night class in etching given by AndrewFolan. His main area of interest is etching.

Exhibitions include ‘Estampe/Print’, Galerie Michele Brouta,Paris (2001); ‘The Holy Show’, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin(2002); ‘Composites’ (large format print), Original PrintGallery (2003) and ‘Insideout’, Graphic Studio Gallery(2006). Lyttle received the Éigse Open Award in 2004.His work is included in the collection of the Office of PublicWorks and many private collections.

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Colin MartinBorn in Dublin, Colin Martin studied painting at the Collegeof Marketing and Design, Dublin graduating in 1994, and hecompleted post-graduate studies in printmaking the following year. He joined Black Church Print Studio in 1995.Martin’s practice cross-references the stillness of Europeangenre painting with the expectant uncertainty of lens-basednarrative. He creates a staged familiar reality in scenes ofrecreation and leisure which hint at wider narrative themesthat are beyond what is actually represented.

He has exhibited both nationally and internationally including: ‘The Night Demesne’‚ Ashford Gallery, RHA,Dublin and West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Cork(2006/2007); ‘Insideout’, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin;RHA Annual Exhibitions; ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’‚Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (2005); ‘Contemporary Irish Prints’, The Gallery of Graphic Art, New York (2004);San Antonio, Texas; ‘Ireland France, Paris 2001’; CitéInternationale des Arts, Paris; Grafiska Sallskaet, Stockholm(2002); ‘Contemporary Irish Printmaking’‚ Kelowna ArtGallery,Vancouver (2000) and the 22nd InternationalBiennale of Graphic Art, Slovenia (1997). Recent awardsinclude the Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary (2004); theHennessy Craig Scholarship (2005) and the Ballinglen Arts Foundation Fellowship (2005). Public and corporate collections include ESB, McClelland Collection, AIB, ChesterBeatty Library, Office of Public Works, Dublin Institute ofTechnology, Microsoft Irl., AIG, Dublin City University,Ace Europe and Iona Technologies.

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Marie Louise MartinBorn in Dublin, Marie Louise Martin attended the NationalCollege of Art and Design where she studied Fine Art(painting and printmaking) from 1978 to 1983. Martin joinedthe Black Church Print Studio in 1983 and later served as aBoard Director. In 1999 she established a print studio for theAirfield Educational Trust, Dublin. Martin has always workedwith etching and embossing. In the early years she was very

interested in Florentine portraits and her subject matterincluded images of women’s heads. More recently sheworks with both Irish and Italian landscapes and her latestwork comprises a series of journals related to time spent in Italy.

She has exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy, RoyalAcademy, Royal Ulster Academy, Claremorris Open, Íontas,ev+a, Éigse, Impressions, Gateway to Art, TaispeántasEalaíne An Oireachtas, Independent Artists; as well as printexhibitions in Japan, UK, Netherlands, China, USA, Germany,Spain, Australia, Germany, Cuba, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Finlandand Sweden. She won prizes at the Royal Ulster Academy(2003, 2001), Royal Hibernian Academy (1989) and theClaremorris Open (1988). In 2005 she had a residency atCill Rialaig, Ballinaskelligs, Co. Kerry. Her work is represented in a number of public collections, includingOffice of Public Works, National Self Portrait Collection,Dáil Éireann, Stormont Castle, St Luke’s Hospital, MicrosoftIreland, Contemporary Arts Society, BP Oil (Europe)Brussels, Boyle Civic Collection, Butler Castle Collection,Guinness Peat Aviation, Durrow Castle and Craig Gardner & Associates.

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Fiona McDonaldBorn in Co. Louth, Fiona McDonald graduated with a BSc in Biological Chemistry from Coleraine University of Ulsterbefore attending the National College of Art and Design,Dublin. In 1996, during her final year at college, McDonaldbegan experimenting with an alternative method of etchingplates called electrolysis. In 2001 she received an MA inFine Art from the National College of Art and Design and a MSc in Multimedia Systems at Trinity College Dublin in2006. McDonald joined the Black Church Print Studio in1997. She is a printmaker (specialising in electrolytic andother non-toxic etching methods) and an installation artist.

She has exhibited her work in many shows nationally,including group exhibitions at the Green on Red Gallery,Dublin, ev+a, Limerick and the Lab Gallery, Dublin.She has also participated internationally in exhibitions inCanada, Copenhagen, Paris, New York and the Cologne Art Fair, Germany. Her work is included in the AIB and UCD collections.

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Silvia Nevado RocoBorn in Barcelona, Spain, Silvia Nevado Roco studied adegree in Fine Art Print at the University of Fine Art,Barcelona from 1987 to 1993. In 1991 she attended the Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA where she studiedlithography and engraving. The following year she receivedan Erasmus Scholarship to study etching in Accademia diBelle Arti di Bologna, Italy. From 2001 to 2004 she completed a Masters in Art Therapy, Metáfora, University ofBarcelona and became a member of the Spanish Associationof Art-therapy in 2006. She initially joined the Black ChurchPrint Studio in 1995 and remained a member until 2001,when she returned to Spain. She rejoined the studio whenshe returned to Ireland in 2007.

She was the winner of the Engraving Prize at the 12th PlasticArt, Generalitat di Catalonia, Spain (1993) and has also beenawarded an Arts Council Scholarship (2001) and an ArtsCouncil Travel Award (1999). Her work is included in manypublic and private collections in Ireland and Spain.

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Margaret O’BrienMargaret O’Brien graduated with a BA in Fine Art from theLimerick School of Art in 1995 and completed her MFA atthe Slade School of Fine Art in London in 2004. O’Brien is alecturer in Fine Art at Crawford College of Art and visitinglecturer at a number of third level institutions, including theNational College of Art and Design. She is currently basedin London. O’Brien joined Black Church Print Studio in 1998,specialising primarily in photographic screenprint. Herpractice has expanded over the last few years from print-making to site-specific installation involving a variety ofmaterials and media. Her works refers to a psychological in-between space, one that exists between the private andpublic self, and the self and others. She draws inspirationfrom the everyday, the familiar and the domestic environ-ment. In recreating objects or spaces that we encounter on a daily basis, she replaces their normally functional or benignfundamentals with an element of malfunction or mishap.

O’Brien has exhibited nationally and internationally, and has won numerous awards for her work from various funding bodies including The Slade School of Fine Art,London, the Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin City Council and AIB. Solo shows include ‘The Long Goodbye’, DroicheadArts Centre, Drogheda (2007); ‘Sea of Unknowing’, PallasHeights, Dublin (2005); ‘No Man’s Land’,West Cork ArtsCentre (2004) and ‘Dirty Trash’, Droichead Arts Centre,Drogheda (2002).

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Eamonn O’DohertyBorn in Derry, Eamonn O’Doherty studied a degree inArchitecture at University College Dublin, graduating in1965. He was Visiting Scholar at the Graduate School ofDesign in Harvard, where he was able to access the printmaking facilities in the Carpenter Centre under printmaker Peik Larsen. He was offered a one-year residency at the Graphic Studio in Mount Street in 1967 and continued to make prints there, and subsequently at the Black Church Print Studio under the tutelage of Patrick Hickey and John Kelly until 1983.

O'Doherty works in all media but prefers the ‘magic’ oflithography. He is best known for his large-scale publicsculptures. More than thirty of his public sculptures stand inIreland, Britain and the USA. These include landmark workssuch as the Tree of Gold at the Central Bank and the JamesConnolly Memorial in Beresford Place, the Hooker Sails inEyre Square, Galway and the Great Hunger Memorial inWestchester, New York. In 2006 he won the prestigiousSelvaag/Peer Gynt international sculpture competition andthe resultant four-metre high bronze is now in Oslo.O’Doherty is also a painter and photographer and has wonawards at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, the ClaremorrisOpen, the Arnotts National Portrait Competition and theRHA. His photographs have recently been exhibited at theFowler Museum of Cultural History at UCLA, the Universityof Virginia, the Glucksman House of New York University.Throughout his career O’Doherty has supported himself asan academic and was for many years a Senior Lecturer inArchitecture at the Dublin Institute of Technology. He hasalso taught at the University of Jordan, the University ofNebraska, and the École Speciale d’Architecture in Paris,and has been external examiner at the École SuperieureD’Arts Graphiques, Paris and the Dun Laoghaire School of Art. He relinquished teaching for good in 2002 to concentrate on artwork and now lives and works in Ferns,Co.Wexford, where the adequate studio space has enabledhim to re-engage in printmaking.

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Sinéad O’ReillyBorn in Cavan, Sinéad O’Reilly studied Printmaking at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin before completing a Higher Diploma in Art and Design Teaching at the Limerick College of Art and Design, graduating in1999 with first class honours. She became a member of theBlack Church Print Studio in 2001 and currently teaches artat Dominican College, Drumcondra, Dublin. O’Reilly specialises in the area of etching. Through her etchings,which combine the real with the mythical, a playfulnessemerges that seeks to endow the everyday with an air of the fantastic and questions, among other things, our relationships with nature, conservation and beauty.She has recently returned from India, where she studiedprintmaking techniques under Professor Kashinath Salve in Mumbai.

She is a founding member of Jeco Sword artists' collectiveand her work has been selected for numerous group shows,around Ireland and is represented in many private collections. Recent exhibitions include ‘Hung, Drawn andQuartered’ at the Original Print Gallery, Dublin (2007) and‘Íontas 07’ at the Sligo Art Gallery.

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Louise PeatBorn in Dublin, Louise Peat attended the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and the Dublin Institute ofTechnology, graduating with an honours degree in Painting in 1993. She is a painter and fine art printer, and isa member of the Black Church Print Studio since 1990.Peat works mainly in the area of screen-printing, as she feels this is a technique that mirrors her cerebral approachto print-making. It is a process in which one part is added to another, so that the image is built up from the surface in adevelopment of superimposed strata. There is a real senseof play, improvisation and experimentation in the gatheringand arrangement of the images and the possibilities thatthey invite.

Solo exhibitions include ‘Clearing’ in St John’s Art CentreListowel, County Kerry (1999) and ‘Elemental’ in theNational Concert Hall, Dublin (2005). Her work has beenselected for many group shows nationwide, including ev+a; RHA; RUA; Íontas; Oireachteas; Sculpture in Context;Claremorris Open; Monaghan Open; Éigse; DaniskeGrafikere, The Association of Danish Printmaking Artists,Copenhagen; Henrietta Street Artists Group show and theBlack Church Print Studio Members group shows. Sherecently had a two-person exhibition called ‘Paradigms’with Belgian artist Ronald Ceuppens at the Original PrintGallery, Dublin. Peat received an ev+a award in 1998, and in 2000 she won the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal and ArtsCouncil Award for painting. Her work is held in many private and public collections.

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Alison PilkingtonBorn in Sligo, Alison Pilkington graduated with a Diploma in Fine Art Painting and Printmaking from Sligo RegionalTechnical College in 1989, and with a BA honours degree in Fine Art Painting from the National College of Art andDesign in 1990. She completed an MA in Film and TVStudies in Dublin City University in 1994. Pilkington joinedthe Black Church Print Studio in 1997 and has worked in abroad range of printed techniques. The areas of printmakingthat she specialises in at the Black Church are relief andlithography. She primarily concentrates on an etched linotechnique to produce graphic work, which echoes thestrong painterly qualities that she has become known for.Pilkington draws inspiration for her graphic work from herpaintings. The work is process-led and this ultimately determines the outcome of the image. She has producedlarge-scale print installations that combine print, video and painting. She has received Arts Council travel and publication awards and project bursaries. She is co-editor of The Fold with fellow artist Cora Cummins, which is a publishing platform for invited artists to consider variousthemes.

She has been selected for group shows in Ireland, Scotland,England and America. She has had solo exhibitions in theBelltable Arts Centre, Limerick; Sligo Art Gallery; theBasement Gallery, Dundalk; The Workroom, Dublin and theKevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin. Her work is in numerouspublic and private collections, including the Office of PublicWorks, Univeristy College Dublin and Bank of Ireland.

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Piia RossiPiia Rossi was born in Finland, where she studied JewelryMaking and Scandinavian Design. In 1992 she moved toDublin to study printmaking in the National College of Artand Design. She graduated in 1996 with BA honours degreein Fine Art, and in 2007 she completed an M.Litt in NCAD.She has been working as a printmaker in the Black ChurchPrint Studios since 1996. Rossi has always drawn inspirationfrom architecture. She is interested in the concept of howpeople construct buildings in an orderly manner seekingcontrol over their surroundings. Through her prints,Rossi creates mysterious and evocative buildings and environments. These are fictional, anonymous places withunknown histories, composed so that they connect with eachother. These prints reflect the many roles and attributes ofbuildings throughout the ages such as strength, order,power, control, protection, identity and beauty. A strongsense of order is obvious in Rossi’s monoprints. Her work isabout cultivated compositions and refined mark making.Most of Rossi’s prints are monoprints and therefore uniqueand not editionable. She uses a technique of combiningchine collé and mono-printing on hand-made paper,reinforcing the uniqueness of each piece.

Rossi has held two solo exhibitions to date, ‘Dream Travel’,Lambay Art Gallery, Howth (1997) and ‘History/Order/Space’, Original Print Gallery, Dublin (2002). Group exhibitions include RHA Annual Exhibitions; TaispeántasEalaíne An Oireachtas; Tokyo International Mini-printTriennial and New York Etching Week. Public Collectionsinclude AIB, Microsoft Irl., Embassy of Finland, TrinityCollege, County Councils and Dakota print. BlanchardstownArt Centre purchased her work for presentation to PresidentMary McAleese at the opening of the Centre.

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Naomi SexBorn in Co. Cork, Naomi Sex grew up in Dublin. She attainedan Honours BA degree in Fine Art Print in 1999 from theNational College of Art and Design, Dublin, where she iscurrently completing her Masters studies. She joined theBlack Church Print Studio in 2000 and subsequently becamea member of the Board of Directors in 2006. Specialising inetching, her prints encapsulate the essence of particulartimes and places. Exhibiting these pictorial descriptions ofpersonal slices of history allow the viewer to access aglimpse of a private version of events, akin to finding astranger’s lost diary, ripping out random pages and readingthem. These snippets of a life can then be experienced andreinterpreted in a public domain. As a result of her Mastersstudies her practice is now expanding; continuing to useprint and its diverse technical vocabulary, while encompassing a wider language of materials and mediaconveying concepts informed by relevant concerns in contemporary living.

Since 2000, Sex has exhibited widely both nationally andinternationally. In 2001 she was part of a two-man show inthe Original Print Gallery. That same year she was fundedby the Arts Council to travel to New York, where she tookpart in a workshop at the Bob Blackburn Print Studio in theLower East Side. In 2002 She was awarded a residency by the Newfoundland/Ireland artist program, with the award she worked at St Michael's print studio in St Johns,Newfoundland for a month. In 2003 as part of the ‘percentfor arts scheme’ she was awarded a commission by theOffice of Public Works to produce a series of ten etchings documenting the restoration of the Great PalmHouse in the National Botanical Gardens. In 2005 she had a solo show at the Printmakers Gallery, Dublin. Her work ispart of numerous state collections including the Office ofPublic Works, AXA insurance, the Aviation Board of Ireland,A & L Goodbody Solicitors, Chris Ryan, KMD and O’ Dowdand Herlihy & Horan Architects. She has also lectured on a part-time basis at the Dublin Institute of Technology.

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Vincent SheridanVincent Sheridan studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and the Dublin Institute of Technology.He has been working as a full-time artist since 1981. From1989 to 1998 Sheridan lived and worked as an artist inToronto and Vancouver, Canada. He returned to Dublin in1999. In 2007 he graduated with an Honours degree in FineArt, specialising in Video. He joined the Black Church PrintStudio in 2000 and is currently a Director of the Board.Birds (especially crows and starlings) continue to featurelargely in Sheridan’s work. He is concerned with the socialbehaviour, flight dynamics and subliminal ‘brushstroke’patterns of birds in flight. His images often mirror humangroup dynamics, modes of communication and social inter-actions.

Residencies include West Baffin Eskimo Printshop, ArcticCanada; St Michael’s Print Shop, Newfoundland; Cill RialaigArt Centre, Kerry and Annaghmakerrig, Tyrone GuthrieCentre. Awards include First Prize (graphics), ClaremorrisInternational Exhibition (1989); Best Graphics Award, RHAExhibition (1992); Ernst & Young Purchase Award (1992) andImage Now Award, Best Use of Multimedia in Fine Art(2007). Sheridan has had solo and group exhibitions inIreland, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Poland, Germany, Peru andthe USA.

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Paki SmithBorn in New Zealand, Paki Smith studied Fine Art at theNational College of Art and Design, Dublin, graduating in1987. It was there that he learned to etch from Coilín Murrayand John Kelly. He joined the Black Church Print Studio inlate 1987, etching there until the day he arrived to find theStudio burned to the ground. Smith has exhibited widely, hislast one man show was ‘The Holy Shiver’ in the TaylorGalleries in 1999, when Mermaid Turbulence published hisartist’s book The Rose Hedge.

Since 1993, Smith has become increasingly involved in film,carrying out production design on several movies, mostrecently including Ferris Wheel in Canada in late 2006,starring Charlize Theron and Dennis Hopper. He also set-decorated films including Veronica Guerin and BatmanBegins. In 2003 Smith directed a short film called God’sKitchen which was selected for competition at the VeniceFilm festival that year. In 2007 he worked on JamesColeman’s as yet untitled project, which is to be shown atDokumenta 2007 in Kassel, Germany.

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Rob SmithRob Smith was born and educated in Wolverhampton,England. As a teenager he apprenticed to a crystal glassengraver for five years before entering WolverhamptonPolytechnic to study fine art. He continued his studies atManchester Polytechnic and was awarded an MA in Paintingin 1974, before moving to Ireland to take up a position asAssistant Lecturer in Painting at the National College of Artand Design, Dublin. Smith was an extremely private man,for whom art provided a means to explore inner worldsbeyond the mundane. He constantly challenged the every-day presumptions, striving untiringly to go beyond ordinaryunderstandings. This uncompromising inner search formeaning fed richly into his imagery as an artist as he stroveto create visual representations reflecting realities includingchaos and order, beauty and humour. He often juxtaposedawkard styles, scale and media in his endeavour to createmetaphors for the Absolute. Printmaking, in particular theetching press, was a constant resource, and provided amedium through which a style could evolve facilitating thestrength and surety of mark making, which had earlierenabled his success as a glass engraver. He worked andreworked the plates, as he would a canvas, overlayingimagery and re-engraving until he was satisfied, which wasseldom. Smith joined the Black Church Print Studio in theearly 1980s and continued to work there until his death in 1990.

He had two solo shows during his lifetime and regularlyexhibited in group shows in Ireland and abroad.A posthumous retrospective was held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 1994. He was also a member of the IrishLiving Art Committee and the Dublin Visual Arts Centre.Collections include the Arts Council of Ireland, IrishMuseum of Modern Art, Office of Public Works, RHA Galleryand Contemporary Irish Art Society.

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Jacqueline StanleyBorn in South London, Jacqueline Stanley studied atBeckenham School of Art and the Royal College of Art,Kensington under the tutelage of John Minton and FrancisBacon, where she was awarded First Prize in Painting and a shared first prize at the Young Contemporaries (Louis leBrocquy was one of the selectors). Stanley taught atWalthamstow, Croydon, Hornsey and Byam Shaw colleges of

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art and the Cyprus Summer School. She also studied printmaking at Morley College with Birgit Skiold. Shemoved to Ireland in 1975 and currently divides her timebetween Dublin and West Cork. Stanley’s work in Londonwas city-based (markets and shopping centres), but hasmoved towards landscape. She joined the Black ChurchPrint Studio in 1982 as a Founder Member specialising inetching and monoprint. She served as a Director of theBoard and represented Black Church as a Director of theBoard of Graphic Studio Dublin for several years. She taughtpart-time at NCAD (1975 – 1987). She is a member of AICA(International Association of Art Critics) and founded andco-organised Arnotts National Portrait Awards (1985 – 1999).

She has exhibited regularly in the UK and Ireland includingRoyal Academy,Whitechapel Art Gallery, Angela FlowersGallery in London and the RHA, Catherine Hammond, Éigse,Vanguard Gallery and the Irish Museum of Modern Art(‘SIAR 50’) in Ireland. She has held a number of solo exhibitions at the Hallward Gallery, Dublin. Biennalesinclude Japan, Germany, Egypt, Hungary, Belgium and Italy.In 2002 she held a fifteen-year retrospective at the WestCork Art Centre. Public collections include AIB, NIB, Smurfitplc, Guinness Irl., Office of Public Works, Arts Council ofGreat Britain and the Guildhall, London.

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Michael TimminsBorn in Dublin, Michael Timmins graduated from the DublinInstitute of Technology in 1999 with an Honours degree inFine Art, specialising in the area of printmaking. He joinedthe Black Church the same year and subsequently becamepart-time studio technician. He has worked in all printmedia, but has recently concentrated on the medium oflithography. In 2003 he travelled to St John’s inNewfoundland on an exchange with St Michael’s Print Shop,where he worked for an intensive three-week period making lithographs. In August 2007 he travelled to theTamarind Institute in New Mexico, where he commencedtheir prestigious printer-training programme.

He has exhibited widely both in Ireland and abroad, hiswork is included in private and public collections includingIona Technologies, British Telecom and the Office of Public Works.

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Stephen VaughanBorn in Kilkenny, Stephen Vaughan attended the GrennanMill Craft School, Co. Kilkenny in 1989 and subsequently the Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork where hereceived a Diploma in Fine Art in 1993, and then an HonoursBA in Printmaking in 1994. He works from his studio inThomastown, Co. Kilkenny and at the Black Church PrintStudio in Dublin, where he has been a member since 1997.His work examines the varied landscapes and environmentsboth internal and external that mankind inhabits. He workswith large plates using all the techniques of intaglio to create highly textured images. He likes to think of this as‘building’ plates and, in this sense, there is a sculpturalaspect to the work. At times his prints have also approximatedthe characteristics of paintings. This transformation withinthe medium is of considerable interest to him. His work ismultifaceted culminating in the convergence of ideas,experiences and events both current and historical.Anecdote plays a significant role in his work. The wholegamut of humankind's trials and tribulations, successes andfailures, are explored.

Solo exhibitions include the Michael Gold Gallery in NewYork (1999, 1998); Galeri Helle Knudsen, Stockholm (2001)and more recently, at the Original Print Gallery, Dublin(2004).Vaughan has also participated in numerous groupexhibitions in continental Europe and the USA. In 1997 hewas awarded the Graphic Studio Award for Printmakers:In Memory of Mary Farl Powers. His work is included inmany collections, including AIB, Office of Public Works,Chester Beatty Library, the New York Public Library PrintCollection, Upsala University and University College Dublin.

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Annraoi WyerBorn in Dublin, Annraoi Wyer studied at the Dublin Instituteof Technology and National College of Art and Design,taking an honours degree and diploma. He currently lives in Co.Wicklow.Wyer’s initial contact with the Black ChurchPrint Studio was in 1985, when he undertook a course inlithography. The following year he became a StudioMember. The technique of photo silkscreen and morerecently of digital manipulation have been key areas in theproduction of his studio work. In the late 1980s Annraoi produced a polemic series, revolving around the IranContra affair and the illegal sale of weapons. From the mid1990s abandoned structures and interiors reemerged as atheme in his work. The wreck of the SS America on the westcoast of Fuerteventura continues to inspire him. In 1986Wyer worked with the late art critic Dorothy Walker on theGPA Emerging Artists Exhibition at Kilmainham.

In 1995 Paraclete Press published his first book BlackrockCollege 1860-1995, a selection of archival photographs. Hisgraphic work has been included in numerous internationalshows. Selected exhibitions include Mednarodni GraficBiennale, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia, (1997, 1993,1989); Taipei Fine Arts Museum (1987-1988); PortraitGallery, Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina (1990); Museum ofModern Graphic Art, Egypt (collection 1992); FirstMaastricht Biennale The Netherlands (1993);Varna ArtsMuseum Bulgaria, (1995, 1993, 1991, 1989); Highlights of theTaylor Awards 1878-2005 at the National Gallery of Ireland(2006). Awards include Irish Exhibition of Living Art (1987);Douglas Hyde Gold Medal; Cultural Relations CommitteeDepartment of Foreign Affairs (3 awards); ElizabethGreenshield Foundation Montreal, and The Taylor Prize(1986, 1985). His work is included in the following publiccollections: Sharjah Art Museum, United Arab Emirates,Museum of Graphic Art Giza, Egypt, Dundrum College,Ireland and a number of private collections.

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Artist’s proofHaving completed the plate, the artist will then experiment with the inking up and printing of the image until completelysatisfied by the result. This first perfect proof is marked A/P,artist’s proof or e/a, épreuve d’artiste and is used as a referenceto which the rest of the edition is matched.There are usually one or two artist’s proofs, in addition to thenumbered prints in any edition, and when a print is highlysought after, a good-condition artist’s proof may be the mostvaluable print in the edition.

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AquatintThe invention of aquatint meant that broad areas of tone couldbe achieved by anyone in less than an hour, as opposed to thedays required by master craftsmen to engrave a similar effect.Artists such as Thomas Rowlandson (1756 – 1827) abandonedengraving for this new technology. Ease and speed of production led naturally to more spontaneous images and,importantly, to more frivolous subject matter. More risks weretaken and social commentary, caricature and satire began toflourish. A fine dusting of resin granules is bonded to the metalprinting plate using heat. The plate is then etched in acid,giving a rough texture made up of the acid-bitten pits in the surface and the raised dots, which were protected from the acidby the resin. This rough surface holds ink so that broad areas oftone can be achieved. Aquatint is very adaptable, but it particularly lends itself to dramatic chiaroscuro and wonderfullyrich blacks.Check out: Mary Farl Powers, Goya, Colin Martin,Rembrandt, Vincent Sheridan.

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CarborundumTiny grains of silicon carbide are mixed with PVA glue.The texture of this mixture is such that it can then be brushedonto the plate in a very free way, and will even retain the characteristic marks of the brush as it dries. Once dry, thisrough surface will hold ink in a similar way to aquatint. Thismedium has the advantage of being less toxic than aquatint,and unlike aquatint it needs no complicated equipment so theplate can be worked away from the printmaking studio.Check out: Margaret McLoughlin, Louise Meade, JohnGraham.

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Chine ColléMeaning glued tissue in french, this refers to the addition of an extra layer of lightweight paper to the main paper support.It is often used to add colour to a print, or to show finer detailsthat the heavier support paper may not pick up.This method is popular in Europe and the West becauseWestern printmaking papers are traditionally very heavy.Eastern printmaking papers by contrast, particularly those fromJapan, are very fine and lightweight.Check out: Joan Gleeson, Piia Rossi.

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CollographLike the term chine collé, the word collograph comes from thegreek word collo meaning glue. It is a print made from a platewhich is literally glued together; usually made of card and othertextured materials. A wide variety of effects can be achievedwithout the need for acid or any other toxic chemicals.Check out: Peter Wray.

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DigitalAny image generated on a computer printer may be called digital. See also: giclée.Check out: Lynda Devenney, Dermot Finn, Emma Finucane,Andrew Folan, Paula Henihan.

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DrypointAny pointed tool is used to scratch into a metal plate, for example a nail. This creates a groove in the metal, as well as araised ‘burr’ to one side of the groove which will hold extra ink.Marks made in this way print up as blurry edged lines.The simplicity of the technique, as well as the force required to scratch the metal mean that it lends itself well to lively,expressionistic, angular drawing.Check out: German Expressionist portraits, e.g. LudvigKirchner and Max Beckmann, who is considered the Master of drypoint. For contrast take a look at Lars Nyberg, whoachieves incredible delicacy and detail in this medium.Also: Mary Fitzgerald, David Lilburn.

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Glossaryof

terms

Kate Betts

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EditionThere are physical limits to how many prints can be taken fromone plate. However, it is more in the interest of preserving a ‘rarity value’ that artists limit and number their prints.The edition information is conventionally noted in pencil at the bottom left-hand corner of the image. The notation 1/25,for example, tells us that this is the first print in an edition oftwenty-five.

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Electro-etchA form of intaglio whereby instead of using acid, the metal plateis etched by placing it in a bath of electrolytic solution alongwith another piece of metal. The plate is attached to a positiveelectric charge (thus becoming an anode) whilst the otherpiece of metal is attached to a negative electric charge (thusbecoming a cathode).When an electric current is passedthrough, ions migrate from the anode through the solution to the cathode. The same technology is used for gold-plating.It was invented in 1832 by the self-educated Cockney and firstFullerian Professor of Chemistry, Michael Faraday. It was notutilised in printmaking, however, until many years later.Check out: Fiona McDonald.

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EmbossWhen damp paper is laid on a plate and rolled through thegreat pressure of the press, the outline and texture of the plateis imprinted on the paper. This is an emboss. A print made inthis way, without ink, is called a ‘blind emboss’ and often hassculptural/architectural qualities.Check out: Eduardo Chillida, Marie Louise Martin, LinaNordenström, Maria Simmonds-Gooding.

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EngravingA sharp tool called a burin is used to cut grooves in a metalplate. The sliver of metal displaced comes away from the plate.This results in a line which is fluid, sharp edged and, by necessity, very controlled. The plate is inked up and printed in the same way as an etching (see across). Engraving is enormously time consuming and an extremely difficult skill tomaster, requiring years of practice. Consequently from the

sixteenth century onwards there was a separation of the ‘art’from the ‘craft’; craftsmen were employed to engrave the images drawn or painted by artists. They achieved almost photographic reproductions of images created in other media,but this artistic remove resulted in some very dull images.By this time most artists making their own prints had understandably moved towards the new, easier, more spontaneous medium of etching. Nontheless, the uniquely clear and fluid line which engraving allows, which cannot beachieved by etching or any other means, has led a small number of extremely patient artists to persist.Check out: Albrecht Dürer, Pitteri, Evan Lindquist.

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EtchingAn image is created on a metal plate using a ‘resist’ such aswax. The resist acts as a kind of stencil, which protects someareas of the plate while exposing others. The plate is then putinto a bath of acid or other mordant (such as the less toxic ferricchloride), which bites into the exposed areas of the plate.The resulting rough areas of the surface will hold ink, givingblack and grey tones, whilst the smooth areas, which were protected from the acid, will not hold ink and will provide thehighlights or pale tones of the image. Damp paper is laid on topof the inked up plate and both are rolled through a press, whichlooks something like a mangle. The pressure forces the paperinto the bitten areas of the plate where it picks up the ink.Etchings can be identified by their characteristic emboss andplate mark – the indentation around the image which marks theedge of the plate; a subtle reminder of the 180 lbs per squareinch of pressure required to create the image.Check out: Jaques Callot, Cora Cummins, Mary Farl Powers,Patrick Hickey, Anthony Little, Naomi Sex, Antoni Tapiès

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GicléeGiclée is in fact the french word for inkjet. A print at the press of a button has understandably attracted many contemporaryartists to work in this medium. (See also: digital)Check out: Barbara Freeman.

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Hard groundHard ground refers to the hard wax which is melted and rolledonto the metal plate. Once cooled, lines can be scratched intothe wax exposing the plate, which is then etched in acid oranother mordant. Hard ground gives a sharp edged line andlends itself to line drawing and cross-hatching. It is usually usedin conjunction with other methods, such as aquatint.Check out: Niall Naessens.

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IntaglioMeaning cut in italian, intaglio is a generic term, which coversall kinds of printmaking where the ink is held below the surfaceof the plate in grooves, scratches or tiny holes. The paper usedmust be well soaked so that when rolled through the press withthe plate, it will be forced into the grooves to pick up the inkthere. Drypoint, etching and engraving are all forms of intaglio.

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Lino CutPicasso was amongst the first artists to cut into this cheap,mass produced floor covering to create a plate for a relief print,and he did so in very innovative ways. Because of its texture,linoleum is relatively easy to cut and lively spontaneous markscan be achieved. As well as being cut into, lino can also beetched using caustic soda. This results in a different kind ofmark; fluid, looking something like a wash.Check out: Caroline Byrne, Picasso (cut), AlisonPilkington (etched).

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LithographyThe image is created using greasy crayon or ink on a stone orspecially surfaced tin plate, and as such a lithograph often hasthe line and tonal qualities of a drawing. The complex andlengthy chemical process which is then used to preserve theimage on the stone was invented by Senefelder, a Germanchemist, in 1798. The first image-based printmaking medium tobe mechanised, lithography led to democratisation of theimage, and indeed can be said to have spurred on democracyitself. At a time when illiteracy was the norm, the impact of thenew mass produced images was taken very seriously by thosein power. During France’s revolutionary period there were strict

laws governing printmakers and publishers and in 1832, HonoréDaumier, a political caricaturist, was imprisoned for publishinglithographs critical of King Louis Philippe. Later in France,Toulouse Lautrec and others produced iconic theatre posters inthis medium.Check out: Claire Carpenter, Honoré Daumier, David DuBose, John Kelly, Nancy Spero, Michael Timmins.

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MezzotintGiving soft, velvety images with incomparable blacks, mezzotintis often used for dramatically lit still-lifes. It was invented in theseventeenth century by Ludwig von Siegen, a professionalGerman soldier. No chemicals are used, only elbow grease,and a lot of it. The artist starts by abrading the whole surface of a copper plate with a hand-held tool to give a rough surface,which when printed will give the black. The artist then burnishes away parts of the surface to give mid-tones andwhite. The plate is then inked up and printed in the same manner as an etching or any other intaglio print.Check out: Konstantin Chmutin, James McGreary, RobertRussell.

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MonoprintAlso referred to as monotype, this is a unique print. Only oneexists; there is no edition. There are many different ways of creating a monoprint; one such way is to ‘paint’ an image onto a very smooth surface such as glass or metal and then transferthat image onto paper. This technique has been around sincethe seventeenth century. Alternatively the artist may roll up asmooth covering of ink onto glass or metal, lay a sheet of paperover the top and draw on the paper. This will result in a printedimage on the reverse. These are just two popular examples,but monoprint techniques are as varied and inventive as the mind of the artist. Robert Rauschenberg’s Tyre Print is agreat example.Check out: Gráinne Dowling, Tracey Emin, Louise Peat,Robert Rauschenberg, Piia Rossi.

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Photo-etchThe earliest recorded photo-etching was made in 1827. It is also sometimes known as gravure and photo-gravure. A light-sensitive resist is applied to the plate. An image is then laid on the plate and the plate is exposed to light. The resist, oncedeveloped (a bit like developing a photograph), can be inkedup as it is, or may be used to etch the plate. The electronicsindustry picked up on this method and it is now used to produce circuit boards.Check out: Janine Davidson.

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À la PoupéePoupée means dolly in french, but in this case it refers to a tightly rolled piece of scrim, which is used to apply differentcolours of ink to different areas of the same intaglio plate.Check out: Kate Betts, David Hockney’s ‘A Rake’s Progress’series; the concept for which was inspired by WilliamHogarth’s (1697 – 1764) series of etchings of the samename.

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ReliefA generic term which refers to prints made by applying ink to the raised surface of the plate (not rubbing it into groovesbelow the surface as in intaglio). This is the most ancient form of printmaking.Woodcut, linocut and wood engraving are allforms of relief printmaking, as is a finger print.

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ScreenprintThe medium as we know it was first patented in Manchester in1907 and used in the signwriting trade. These early screenprintswere made by painting an image in negative onto silk, whichhad been stretched taut across a frame. The paint would hardenwhen dry and act as a stencil. Ink was then pushed through the mesh screen onto paper or other support using a squeegee.This lent itself to bold, clearly-defined areas of flat colour.By the 1930s artists had adopted the medium and rechristenedit serigraphy, clearly to distance themselves and their work from the signwriting trade. By the 1940s the stencil was being transfered to the screen photographically, using a light-sensitive

emulsion; and at this point screenprint became the eminentlyflexible medium that it is today. Many screenprint artists remaintrue to its roots, however, using it to create bold compositions invibrant colours. Interestingly artists have also returned to usingits original name. Perhaps this was under the influence ofWarhol and the Pop Art movement, which relished its links with‘trades’ such as signwriting and graphic design.Check out: Michael Craig Martin, Aoife Dwyer, TerenceGravett, Frank Kiely, Lichtenstein, Louise Peat, RobertRauschenberg, Warhol.

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WoodcutWhen Japanese woodcuts started to reach Europe in the 1860san artistic sea change ocurred. European artists, particularly the French Impressionists, were inspired to break previous conventions of composition. Artists of Die Brucke seized on thismedium too. For them the visible gesture of cutting into thewood with force conveyed something of the artists’ inner stateand served the needs of the art they were creating – latertermed Expressionism.An image is carved into a plank of wood which has been cutalong the grain. Ink is applied onto the flat raised surface. Paperis layed over the top and pressure applied, which transfers theimage to the paper.Check out: Polly Apfelbaum, Jim Dine, Albrecht Dürer,Hiroshige, Hokusai, Caroline Byrne, Anita Klein, FangLijun, Edvard Munch, Kou Yanming.

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Wood engravingSimilar to woodcuts, except that by using a piece of hardwoodcut across the grain it is possible to achieve much finer detail.Check out: Thomas Bewick, Monica Poole.

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Artists’ names underlined are or were Black Church PrintStudio members.

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BBangoura, Aïda 38-39,121Betts, Kate 40-41,121Byrne, Caroline 42-43,121

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CCummins, Cora 44-45,122

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DDavidson, Janine 46-47, 122de Fouw, Jan 48-49,

122-123Dowling, Gráinne 50-51, 123Dunne, Barbara E. 52-53, 123Dwyer, Aoife 54-55,

123-124

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FFinn, Dermot 56-57, 124Finucane, Emma 58-59, 124Fitzgerald, Mary A. 60-61,

124-125Folan, Andrew 62-63, 125

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GGarland, Jane 64-65, 125Gleeson, Joan 66-67, 125

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HHenihan, Paula 68-69, 126Horgan, Sara 70-71, 126

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IIrwin, Margaret 72-73,

126-127

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KKelly, Catherine 74-75, 127Kiely, Frank 76-77, 127

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LLeader, Elaine 78-79, 128Lynch, Catherine 80-81, 128Lyttle, Anthony 82-83, 128

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MMartin, Colin 84-85, 129Martin, Marie Louise 86-87,

129McDonald, Fiona 88-89, 129

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NNevado Roco, Silvia 90-91,

130

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OO’Brien, Margaret 92-93, 130O’Doherty, Eamonn 94-95, 130O’Reilly, Sinéad 96-97, 131

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PPeat, Louise 98-99, 131Pilkington, Alison 100-101,

131

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RRossi, Piia 102-103,

132

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SSex, Naomi 104-105,

132Sheridan, Vincent 106-107,

133Smith, Paki 108-109,

133Smith, Rob 110-111,

133Stanley, Jacqueline 112-113,

133-134

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TTimmins, Michael 114-115,

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VVaughan, Stephen 116-117,

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WWyer, Annraoi 118-119,

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