Leeds Print Festival returns to Leeds Gallery in Munro House for its third year to continue to champion contemporary and traditional print making processes.
The opening night, taking place at Leeds Gallery this Friday evening kicks off the festival by allowing you to get inked up and make your own prints with The Print Project and Nomad Letterpress as well as observe the works of Frédéric Tacer; the man behind the Faces exhibition, Lee Goater; DR.ME; TONE; Jonathan Ashworth; Andrew Berwick; Tubbyphunk; Mick Marston; and Caroline Dennin.
Saturday sees the arrival of the print fair which gives you an extra opportunity to purchase some prints from exhibitors such as: Dust, Papercut Bindery; Print for Good; The Print Project; Nomad Press; Caroline Pratt; Graphic Design; Leeds College of Art and many more. With free entry from 10am – 6pm, there’ll be plenty of time for you to wander down to Quarry Hill for a browse.
For those of us wishing to learn a little more about the printing processes involved there’s a day of Print Talks hosted around the corner at the Leeds College of Music on Sunday. Confirmed speakers include the original Shoreditch beat busker, Mr Bingo; editor of Creative Review, Patrick Burgoyne; Pat Randle, letterpress extraordinaire from Nomad Letterpress; and Si Scott, this year’s Leeds Print Festival charity print designer. The Print Talks are the only part of the festival which is payable and tickets are available from Eventbrite for £20 (+ booking fee).
Even though Leeds Print Festival has been in existence for a relatively short amount of time, it is certainly larger than the organisers imagined after initially planning a small event in 2011 for what was then Leeds newest and only commercial gallery. A collaboration with Bradford based The Print Project provided a turning point and this year’s festival sees them work together again for the third time.
This year the festival has adopted an in-house approach which has attempted to keep all the design and production in Yorkshire to celebrate the increasing community of studios, events and spaces in the region. As an attendee, potential print customer and fan of prints, I’ll personally be glad of the opportunity to discover the people and places on my doorstep that are creating great prints.
The opening night takes place from 6pm – 9pm on Friday 24th Jan and you can RSVP by emailing [email protected].
The exhibition at Leeds Gallery runs from Friday until Friday 31st Jan. A Leeds Print Festival Showcase is also taking place in the adjoining Cafe 164 and is open for the same duration.
For further information about this year’s events and previous festivals, visit their website here.