Yesterday evening the Leeds Print Festival kicked off with the official launch at Leeds Gallery.
The gallery space, along with Cafe 164 and Colours May Vary on the ground floor of Munro House, were heaving with people there to celebrate print.
The pieces vary quite considerably in style with some being amazingly intricate and others bright and bold. The amount of variation can appear jarring at first but you can tell that the festival is attempting to showcase the breadth of the skills held by the regional community and whilst some prints may not be to your taste, you’re certain to find at least one that is.
With so many people to weave between to get a closer view it was difficult to spend too long observing a print without slowly moving out of people’s way (and further away from it!) so a second visit is definitely required.
As well as observing the works of of Frédéric Tacer; the man behind the Faces exhibition, Lee Goater; DR.ME; TONE; Jonathan Ashworth; Andrew Berwick; Tubbyphunk; Mick Marston; and Caroline Dennin, we were provided with the opportunity to make our own letterpress print. The type was already set so all we had to do was roll over the ink, place our paper on top and roll the weight over the printing press before removing the paper to see the finished product. There were two designs available and the ‘I love the smell of ink and paper in the evening’ design proved particularly popular.
If you missed the event yesterday but are keen to see some of the best print being produced in the region, the exhibition runs until the 31st of January. For further information about this year’s events and previous festivals, visit their website here.