Beautiful World: The Work of Peter Reddick

PLEASE NOTE – THIS EXHIBITION IS AT THE ROYAL WEST OF ENGLAND ACADEMY (RWA), QUEEN’S ROAD, BRISTOL BS8 1PX

Peter Reddick was one of the leading wood engravers in the UK, and his artistic integrity and wealth of experience made him a most outstanding engraver and illustrator. His work and output were extraordinary. To achieve complex expressions, free flowing lines and intense detail from a process which can be very unforgiving showed the confidence of an artist totally in control of his technique – trusting his eye and hand.

Peter’s love of drawing, landscape, literature and calligraphy enriched each work allowing the image to have depth and vitality which reaches back to Hogarth and Palmer but also sat easily with contemporary work by Emma Stibbon and Thomas Kilpper.

His work is loved by a huge cross section of people and his landscapes in particular resonate with artists and viewers who are drawn into the rugged, brooding scenes with their sharp beauty.

Peter felt very strongly that art and particularly print should be available to all. He felt that as wood engravings are easy to print and as you can print hundreds without any degradation of the image, there is a case for not limiting the edition. He felt the limited edition was partly an artificial thing done for the benefit of galleries and so healways kept some prints as non-limited editions to keep the prices low and some for galleries as limited editions.

Peter illustrated more than 50 books and produced around 500 wood engravings for the Folio society including Thomas Hardy, Wordsworth, Browning and Trollope. He also collaborated with the poet Philip Gross to illustrate his book, The Abstract Garden, printed by the Old Stile Press.

Peter was the founder of Spike Print Studio (1976) and co founder of Spike Island. He was chair of Spike Print Studio until 2008 and taught a class for many years for free. He remained active in the studio until his death in 2010.

Beautiful World allows us to view over 50 years of artistic practice and the exhibition includes colour woodcuts, lithographs and previously unseen watercolours.

Spike Print Studio and the RWA have collaborated to produce a programme of drawing and print workshops to accompany the exhibition Beautiful World celebrating the work of Peter Reddick, former RWA and founder of Spike Print. Covering a selection of techniques and practices the programme offers opportunities for all ages and marks the start of a collaborative project between the two organisations. Look out for more courses and workshops in the summer.

The Royal West of England Academy
Queen’s Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1PX10 March – 22 April 2012
Admission prices
Adults £5
Concessions £3
Exhibition ticket £8 (unlimited repeat visits to this exhibition)
Friends/Under 16s/UWE & Filton College students FREE

One admission includes entry to all exhibitions on at the same time

Opening times
Monday to Saturday – 9.30am – 5.30pm
Sunday – 11 – 5pm Last admission half an hour before closing

Events

Wood Engraving Master Class Anne Desmet MA RE RA RWA
Sunday 11 March, 10am-4pm

A chance to explore the art of wood engraving.Suitable for beginners and/or those with some experience. £70 Booking required, call 0117 973 5129.

Exploring Woodcut, Martine Baldwin MA
Friday 16 March, 10am-4pm

A chance to take inspiration from some of the beautiful works in this exhibition and explore the medium of woodcut. Different methods of transferring a drawing or photograph to the woodblock will be looked at and there will be the opportunity to produce a small print in one colour, or a combination of colours using more than one block. £70 Booking required, call 0117 973 5129.

Get the Point of Dry Point, Ros Ford MA
Saturday 24 March, 10am-4pm

Get inspired by the exhibition followed by sketching outdoors directly onto the contemporary medium of plastic drypoint – a fantastic, easy and immediate way to beautiful prints. No experience of printmaking needed. Using environmentally friendly inks. Bring a sketchbook.

£70 Booking required, call 0117 973 5129.

Contemporary Cut, Kerry Day MA
Sunday 25 March, 10am-4pm

A chance to look at Lino print in a different way. Explore shape, tone and texture to produce a series of prints or one off creations. £70 Booking required, call 0117 973 5129.

Family Screenprint Session, Workshop (5+ years old), Simon Tozer MA
Wednesday 11 April, 10am-1pm

Try your hand at screen printing, a simple technique that uses stencils to produce vibrantly coloured and crisp images. We will experiment with the process using a combination of hand cut paper stencils, and a monoprint technique using watersoluble pencils. Participants will each make several pictures, which can at the end of the session be put together to make a simple book. £10 Booking required, call 0117 973 5129.

Easy Linocut Children’s Workshop (age 12-16 years old), Christine Howes MA
Thursday 12 April, 10am – 12.30pm

Christine will take you around Peter Reddick and Ravillious exhibition for inspiration and you can choose a work to respond to or work with your own image to will create colourful prints using soft-cut lino. Print your own cards and wrapping paper using exciting materials to create colourful images. Great fun! £10 Booking required, call 0117 973 5129.

Print with Anything Children’s Workshop (age 8-11) Maria Bowers MA
Friday 13 April, 10am – 12pm

Basic print/Print with anything course – Household objects, fun printing with no press and using objects from around the house and water based washable ink to make prints on paper. For example, potatoes, sponges, spoons, pastry cutters, lego, corks, bottle tops, fabric strips (lace etc), leaves – as long as your imagination. £10 Booking required, call 0117 973 5129.