Meet the Maker Round-Up 2024!

It has been another incredible year of printmaking inspiration. We've put together a round-up of all our fantastic Meet the Maker artists from 2024, alongside their advice or inspiration for other printmakers. Read through for a wholesome dose of printmaking magic, and click through any names for their full article. 

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Ian Burke
"Do not get discouraged if you have a knock back it’s part of the game. Follow your own preferences rather than what’s fashionable or pushes the correct conceptual buttons. If you don’t enjoy it stop doing it, you only have one life."

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Ariana Martin
"Don’t worry about feeling like an imposter - everyone has to start at the beginning. Notice what lights you up and stay close to it."

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Kathryn Green
"Don’t give up! Remember that creative practice is an evolving process and each stage is valid and important. You will not always feel like you are moving forwards, but you are always learning and accruing information, skills, knowledge and ideas at every stage."

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Duncan Tattersall
"My biggest inspiration, for as long as I can remember, has been buildings. From visiting castles and stately homes as a child to exploring ruins and abandoned houses through my adolescence, I have always been drawn to old buildings and the stories they have to tell. "

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Rebecca Perdue
"My advice would be: do not be afraid to try new techniques and to push your creative boundaries (even if it is only a wee bit) - you never know where it might lead. There is no right or wrong in art, so above all, have fun with it."

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Rob Jones
"If you can, join a group with other artists in your local area. The support and advice and friendship this provides you will massively improve your confidence and stop you being isolated and lonely."

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Angela Hall
"Start small with basic equipment and don't be tempted to invest in expensive kit. Learn with and from others - Join a print collective or studio and learn to print with a professional or join an online course. This is the best way of getting access to equipment and materials and challenging yourself creatively...Challenge yourself and find out what works for you. Work from your own original drawings and designs." Angela Hall is teaching a screen printing workshop with us in October.

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Rosanna Morris
"Just keep going, keep dedicated and believe that if you spend your days doing what you love it will all be worth it. I had some very rough and very poor times starting out where I wanted to throw it all in and get a job in a café, I’m so glad now that I had the support I needed and persevered."

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Lisa Stubbs
"Keep experimenting, and try something new, put in the work and allow yourself to fail lots because that's where the good stuff is that leads to successes."

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 Lorenzo Davitti
"Practice as much as you can. Be ambitious with your work, experimenting with different materials, sizes and techniques that you are not familiar with. Try to get in touch with other printmakers, in shared studios and particularly by applying to residencies. I learned a great deal of tricks and secrets from fellow printmakers and made new friends along the way. There's immense value in observing others' approaches and sharing insights, promoting both personal growth and camaraderie within the printmaking community."

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Strangford (Jo Pearson)
"Find your people somehow (social media was useful for me) and get into the routine of asking each other questions and sharing ideas. I am good friends with a small group of relief printmakers, including the ones I’m doing the exhibition with in August. It started as a WhatsApp group and resulted in trips to make big collaborative prints. They have been a huge support to me over recent years and I wouldn’t be without them."

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Fiona Black
"My only real advice for other printmakers and creatives is to experiment, try things out, make mistakes and enjoy the whole process."

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Olesya Dzhurayeva
"We must remember that the path of each artist is unique. First of all, you need to stay true to yourself, believe in yourself and work no matter what."

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Fabiola Knowles
"You don’t need a lot of equipment to start being creative, whatever medium you choose. Printmaking can be done with very little to start with. Don’t be scared of getting it wrong or making mistakes, this is how we learn and sometimes the mistakes will be the new discoveries you make. Do what feels right and what makes you happy."

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Jenny O'Leary
"Follow your heart and do what you love and what inspires you. Your passion for your work will come through. Find time to play and explore your technique, that way you won’t become tired and will always be inspired to do more."

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Jenny Stringer
"As for inspiration, I find it everywhere!"

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Jessie de Salis
"For us, setting up a print business has been tough at times. But it’s so worth doing what you love. I think it's important to be who you are, do what you like, and be proud of yourself. You will never please everyone, so don’t try. Starting anything from scratch is scary, as is putting your work out into the world for people to judge. Remember that every creative, whatever their level of success, goes through this everyday. It’s what it is to be an artist."

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Gemma Berenguer (Monostereo)
"As my good friend and great printmaking artist Joris Diks says: "I'm ok with failure".
Every artisan process needs hours of practice, the craft is not acquired overnight. So, be ready to embrace your mistakes, learn from them and, most important: enjoy the process." Gemma is joining us in August 2025 for a 5 day screen printing workshop.

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Rachel Snowdon
"In both your creative and personal world, I believe wholeheartedly in being unashamedly and proudly yourself! It’s very easy to fall into the trap of comparison, or to feel pressured into fitting into the same cookie-cutter mould of making the kind of work that is expected of you. Wherever possible I think it’s important to find time to create, or experiment, entirely on your own terms! Explore and embrace the eccentricities that make you and your prints so uniquely special."

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Rach Lloyd
"My advice is do what you can, when you can; I have just left one full-time job and I'm excited to start another. I am still working on becoming better at organising my own time and finding opportunities to keep making, and share my work with more people. There have been times recently where I have told myself I am ‘too busy working’ to continue printmaking; but I know how much printmaking improves my wellbeing, creativity, and sense of purpose. So finding the time, no matter how little, is always worth it. I have just bought ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron, and I'm really intrigued to see if the weekly prompts and tasks help to improve that balance."

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Matt Hooper
"Experiment. So many trained fine artists find themselves in a rut because they keep doing the same single thing a lecturer once told them they were good at, so they repeat the same thing over and over. Try something new! Paint with your fingers! If you do landscapes, do a pig. If you specialise in architecture then try water. Get out of your comfort zone, because in reality there is nothing comfortable about a comfort zone. Grow! If you’re new to art… make some art. Try it all out. Enjoy it. But try printmaking because if you get half the fun I get out of it then you’ll have a ton of fun.