How to … Print

What are the secrets of a great intaglio or screen print? We pop down to the Bluecoat Print Studios to find out …

Hello! Who are you?

And hello to you too. My name is Emma Gregory and I’m employed 15 hrs a week to manage the print studios at the Bluecoat.

What does that mean exactly? 

There are two studios: one for intaglio and one for screen printing. Approximately 400 people are currently using them and the number is rising all the time. The spaces are for hire by the session (3.5hrs/£14) and we run courses and workshops, and host residencies, sometimes the work results in an exhibition. We co-promote print related events with partner organisations, run a blog and publish research into ‘non-toxic’ print methods. I say ‘we’ because there are 5 print volunteers and I rely on them heavily (Jen, Alex, Sue, Katie and Stephen). I create the programme, manage it and teach on it.

What’s the difference between intaglio and screen printing?

Intaglio (pronounced in-tal-ee-oh) means that you scratch into a surface (normally copper or zinc plates), and the sunken area holds the ink. It’s the direct opposite of a relief print. You can use etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or mezzotint to make the marks on the surface.

Screen printing is basically the process of using a stencil to apply ink, through a mesh screen, onto another material (like paper or fabric), and you can use multiple screens to produce a multicoloured image.

What experiences were vital in making you decide that you wanted to be a printmaker?

I was very lucky to get this job because I love it. My Gran was a wood-engraver. My Dad was a painter/printmaker. The family business is a press in Ruislip, London. I have a degree in printmaking dating from the 1980′s; initially though, I did a City University’s PG Dip in Arts Management and worked in arts admin. I was printing throughout, but only for myself. I retrained as an upholsterer, then worked as a set and props maker and scenic painter for the West End Stage. Very exciting but long and anti-social hours.

In 2002 I moved to Liverpool, pregnant. I couldn’t continue to work with the noxious materials but beyond that I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I helped to set up Liverpool Reads and then worked for The Reader, organising reading initiatives mostly, simultaneously teaching printmaking (everything freelance). In 2008 I wrote a proposal to create a more involved and ‘safe’ print programme around the existing etching studio at the Bluecoat. It didn’t get funding, but the Bluecoat advertised for a Print Studio Manager. I applied for the post.

As you can see, I didn’t decide to be a printmaker. It’s like the man said: ‘life is what happens to you when you’re busy planning’. When I first graduated I didn’t have the self-confidence to ‘be a printmaker’ and I wasn’t pushy on behalf of my own work. Is being a printmaker the same as being an artist? I’m happy with the technical side of things. I know how to make a print but I’m trying hard to develop more depth to my own practice and that’s always going to be a challenge.

Have you got any top tips for making a great print?

Making good prints starts with seeing things in terms of layers and stencils, and as an extension of a strong drawing practice.

What type of person do you have to be to succeed at printing? Do you have to be a certain type of person?

You don’t have to be a particular type to succeed in printing, but you need to accept that, whilst printing to reproduce something is okay, it’s not exciting in itself. Exciting is putting your observation or research through the blender of a print process or three print processes, and seeing what comes out the other side. Well that’s true for me anyway.

What’s your favourite thing about printmaking?

The process of making a print always turns up something unexpected.

What’s the most difficult thing?

How to embrace the above.

What gets you through the day?

Other people.

What’s your top tip for being the best at printmaking?

I don’t have one but I’d like to hear from anyone that does! You can reach me through the Bluecoat or contact me through my website: www.emmagregory.co.uk.

The refurbished and extended Bluecoat Print Studios re-open next week. To book a session please visit Tickets and Information at the Bluecoat in person or call 0151 702 5324

To book a free induction email Emma: print@thebluecoat.org.uk