It all started when I was running a letterpress workshop at Ditchling Museum in 2015. Lucy, the learning and participation coordinator, asked me what my dream project would be. I told her I dreamed of printing giant lino cuts with a steam roller... little did I know at that point that it would go on to become the Big Steam Print.
...and a year later I would be driving a vintage steamroller over a lino cut of David Cameron's face.
Yes, yes and YES!
This was, of course, before he made the catastrophic decision to go ahead with the Brexit referendum. The universe was definitely trying to channel something through my lino gouge! If only someone with any actual power had been able to stop him.
I did what I could. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...to infinity...or maybe not :(
I made the lino cut with the help of my friend Dana Brass; we call it Eton Mess.
A favourite moment of my day at the London Transport Museum event was when the crowd cheered loudly as we revealed whose face we'd just driven the steam roller over, and I was particularly pleased when a Tory voter in the crowd complained that we shouldn't be making political statements. Everything's political mate, move along the bus... prosperity for you, austerity for us..? I don't think so.
I did pause when I saw how lovely most of the other artist's linocuts were... should I have made something beautiful? Nah! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha... to infinity 2.0
I feel I should introduce you to the steam roller and the guys that made it all possible, Olly and Chris.
No, Chris isn't a tiny cardboard cut out, here he is...
Nathaniel, the Director of Ditchling at the time, was a huge steam fair fan and he found the steam roller guys. It weighs 12.5 tonnes and runs on coal, tonnes and tonnes of coal. Chris and Olly run mostly on bacon sandwiches and sausage rolls.
I have to mention that this steam roller printing lark is not something we invented, it's been happening in America for 50+ years, although they mostly use small road rollers. In the UK, Nick Morely (aka Linocut Boy) used a steam roller to make large prints at the Pushing Print Festival in Margate in 2013, what a shame I missed it completely.
Here he is, at the Big Steam Print event at The Level in Brighton, printing his amazing whale linocut...
We also printed at Ditchling Fair, and Amberley Museum... our first test run before the bigger events. The whole thing was paid for by kind donations from all over the world via the #artfund website. We raised £12500! Videos were made, social media shares went crazy and I had to be interviewed on local TV. If you'd like to read my interview with the art fund click here: doughnut and dungaree fans will not be disappointed.
We took the steam roller on the road to four different venues in the South East and wowed the crowds with prints made by famous artists, not so famous artists, students and a very resilient pack of Brownies in sub zero temperatures at Amberley. The dog ate my sandwiches that day, if I remember rightly.
How much paper would we need? We had no idea... an awful lot. Here's the roll we ended up with... Ride it, Lucy!
100m of Colorplan paper was kindly donated by G.F. Smith Papers.
Ditchling asked for my wish list of participants for the events - I invited a few friends and gave them a list of all my printing heroes.... and you know what they say about that ;)
Here's a gallery of photos all things Big Steam Print:
The whole thing was topped off with an exhibition at The Phoenix gallery in Brighton.
After the exhibition all unsold prints were auctioned off to raise money for Ditchling Museum. I believe Mr Cameron's face went off to Scotland. The guy who bought it is probably still throwing darts at it, if he's not already burnt it on a big Brexit bonfire. Haahahahahahahahahaha...to infinity 3.0... or maybe not :(
It was a huge amount of work, and none of it would have been possible without the help of an army of volunteers, the artists and the public for funding it and turning up in droves. Huge thanks to Nathaniel, Lucy and the Ditchling team for bringing my dream to life, and Dana for recording the whole thing.
I still can't believe it happened.
Time for a nap.
*All photographs: copyright Dana Brass
Following on from the Brexit postcards, I collaborated with my friend, Dana Brass, on this postcard design. She came up with the words and we set the type and printed it together on my Vandercook press. Then we set about distributing them as far and wide as possible before the 2017 General Election.
Not so anonymous now, but it was at the time...
By the end of 2016 I was fed up of all the bitter arguments about Brexit, like many people I imagine, and wanted to do something positive. I came across this Howard Zinn quote by chance and decided to have 5,000 of these postcards made. I stuffed them into the letterboxes of houses and businesses all over St Leonards and Hastings with the help of my friend Dana Brass at 2am one stormy night in November. She also dropped loads around London and on the train on her travels. Another friend loaned me a copy of his book 'A People's History Of The United States' and I got inspired!
I hoped people would pass them on, reappropriate, or just bin them if they wanted. My intention was for them to go on a journey I could never possibly imagine, control or predetermine. I like the idea that someone might come across one blowing around at the local tip or folded up under a table leg to stop it wobbling. Hope is often found in the strangest of places.
DAY ONE: We spent the day getting to know each other and learning new techniques of letterpress, mono print and screen printing. Some of us went for an adventure on London bus....
DAY TWO: We started the day with magic and custard, how could anything possibly go wrong ever again...?
DAY THREE: By day three we were reaching for the stars and sharing our love for sewing machines...
Still wanted for crimes against printmaking...
Manifestos made by young people from the Children in Care Council, words by a group of young people leaving care... a strong message to workers & service providers! It’s heartbreaking to know that they may not be getting these basic things as standard from adults whose job it is to help them. Hopefully this will travel far and wide and stand as a document for young people’s needs around safeguarding.
Thanks to Tom Goulden for inviting me to be part of this project. A pleasure as always and truly an honour to spend the day with such a wonderful group of young people. I wish all the very best for them in the future.
Commissioned by Hastings Furniture Service; finished after the first lockdown, a window display for 2020 and beyond. Let's leave the truly terrible stuff behind us and work together on a better future. For everyone.
Mill Primary Academy School t-shirt printing workshop with Janey and the students...
Below: images from local children's workshops I did with Janey from the Craftimation Factory and Dana Brass.
Local children printed these banners at the Robert Tressell day at the Ore Community Centre and marched to the Ore Adventure playground...
What a great day with The Able Group at Ditchling Museum on Sunday! The Able Group is a collective of young disabled people. I designed their manifesto based on the words they came up with at an earlier session with Tom Goulden at Priority 1-54 and we screen printed it onto backgrounds they made on the day...
The images we produced will be distributed to service providers, disabled groups and the general public.
I love my job.
The Government has stopped funding essential furniture for people who have been homeless, suffered domestic violence or a crisis such as a fire. Some families that are destitute can get small charity grants towards starting a home, others simply have to go without. Local not for profit charity, HFS, is asking people to help fund essential furniture for local households in need.
As part of my job working for Hastings Furniture Service I made a tree out of an unusable headboard and bed slats in the hope it will make people think about how furniture poverty affects families in our area. No-one should be without something as crucial as a bed. You can see it in the foyer of the De La Warr pavilion over the Christmas period. The lovely Chris at the pavilion made the stand where visitors can donate to the project.
To find out more and how you can help click here.
I spent some time with my studio neighbours, Autism Sussex (now Aspens), making various items of letterpress, what a great bunch of people.
When our local post office was under threat our community decided to take action; my contribution was to organise a collage workshop at I Love Mel's shop on the seafront with my friend, Dana Brass. Loads of people turned up and made hundreds of postcards, here's just a few...
I teamed up with my friend, Andrew Scrase of Make-Ready Studio, to make Hastings Museum anniversary prints with locals on their day of celebrations, highlights included a delicious bagel and a ride on a trolley bus with Queen Victoria...
