EDINBURGH PRINTMAKERS: FROM THE ARCHIVES

Welcome to our weekly feature showcasing artworks drawn from the archives of Edinburgh Printmakers

In an essay commissioned to mark the 40th anniversary of Edinburgh Printmakers in 2007, the art critic John Calcutt noted that the organisation was once known as the Printmakers Workshop. “Although it has dispensed with the word workshop in its current title,” he wrote, “it is in the idea of work that its essence lies.”

Fifteen years later, this is still very much the case. In its new home at Castle Mills in Fountainbridge, today’s Edinburgh Printmakers combines two galleries with a world-class workshop, boasting facilities for etching, screenprinting, relief printing, stone and plate lithography, laser cutting and more.

It is a place for collaboration and experimentation, a place where ideas are exchanged, and it continues to play an important role in the story of Scottish art. Curated by Tiffany Boyle and drawing on the extensive Edinburgh Printmakers archive, a new exhibition entitled Workshop offers a snapshot of the diversity of work made in the studio. Included in the show are works which have been produced at Edinburgh Printmakers by artists including John Bellany, Eduardo Palozzi, Rachel Maclean and Graham Fagen. Visitors will also have an opportunity to see archival items that relate to the creative process.

For the duration of the Workshop exhibition, The Scotsman will be showcasing a series of prints from the show. These will be paired with archival photographs, illustrating the processes that went into making them.

Workshop: Selected Prints from the Edinburgh Printmakers Archive is at Edinburgh Printmakers until 26 June. Edinburgh Printmakers offers courses for beginners and experienced printmakers, see www.edinburghprintmakers.co.uk