INTRA SPRING //
// AT NO.64
Whether you’re sitting in No.64 Coffee & Brunch right now, you’ve clicked a link or stumbled across this exhibition via a search engine:
welcome to INTRA SPRING
17 - 26 MARCH
at NO.64 COFFEE & BRUNCH,
old intra high st.
CHATHAM
Hello, I’m Rachel and I'm lucky enough to work out of Studio 7 on the top floor of this beautiful building on Rochester High Street. It's also home to Café Nucleus and The Halpern POP Gallery
workshops - The best part of my job is running online and in person relaxed printmaking workshops. I’ve had the opportunity of working with a diverse mix of companies from the National Trust to Spotify.
I also run workshops from Studio 7 in Rochester where you and friends can take over the studio for a chilled afternoon of printing with a glass of Prosecco.
the challenge - Because most of my days are spent organising and running workshops I don’t have much time to develop my own work, so when Sun Pier House asked me to be part of their exhibition programme for INTRA Spring I said "YES!" and was delighted to be paired with No.64 Coffee & Brunch - not just because Sam and Sara are absolutely lovely but because they also make a mean brownie.
All the prints on display have been created using screen printing techniques, gel plates and linocut.
INTRA SPRING- is a 10 day festival celebrating the season and The Old Intra High Street by filling the local area with art, storytelling, comedy, film screenings, open studios, live music, poetry and workshops. It runs from 17 - 26 March and you can download the full events programme here.
techniques - If you're looking for perfect prints then you've come to the wrong place! I enjoy the imperfections of hand printing and the creative journey that can take you down. I encourage you to really look at each print, examining the layers and the beautiful inaccuracies. I’ve used screen printing techniques, gel / Gelli plates and relief linocuts to create the prints - all of which you can learn how to do at a workshop.
find out more This is the main exhibition guide where you’ll find an explanation of each print, the story behind it and the print medium used. To purchase an artwork please get in touch via the contact page.
the prints
Series of four gel prints
Watts Meadow in May // Pink
Watts Meadow in May // Yellow
Watts Meadow in May // Green
Watts Meadow in May // Blue
Framed monotype using a gel plate
£38 per print
Watts Meadow is a peaceful green space that runs between Ethelbert Road (just off Maidstone Road, Rochester) and Priestfields. It’s where I have my allotment and there’s also a 100 year-old tennis court. May is my favourite time of the year, when the paths are flanked with masses of frothy cow parsley which is the inspiration behind this series of prints. The prints were made using a gel plate. I used a paper stencil to mask and create the base layer and circular sun shape and then a sprig of flowering cow parsley (in February!) for the main image. No two flowers are the same just as no two prints are the same. See how there are broken print lines, dark smudges left on the gel plate from a previous print and, yes, a finger print.
Don’t Overthink It
I ran a couple of team building workshops at a co-working space in Hackney a few years back. This phrase was plastered over one wall and it’s stuck with me ever since. Whether you’re a perfectionist or not, we all get caught up in insignificant details that stop us from moving forward. Everyone needs one of these reminders fixed firmly and visible in their workspace.
This is a one colour linocut print in neon pink. Here’s a quick explanation about linocut prints.
Framed linocut
£28
Walking the Creek, Faversham II
A memory from the same bleak November walk as PRINT 14 // FOURTEEN is the starting point for this print.
It's a monotype on canvas created using a gel / Gelli plate. I reprinted over a light base layer in muddy shades of grey leaving an off-centre area to place the main printed seed head onto. Subtle echoes of nettle stalks and their clusters of seeds, printed in moss-green, fence the print into the frame.
Framed monotype on canvas
£120
8 // EIGHT
New Girl
A transfer print created using a gel / Gelli plate.
Framed monotype
£38
9 // NINE
Punch Today in the Face
This is a one colour linocut print in navy blue. Try lino printing for yourself during the exhibition click here to find out more.
Framed linocut
£28
10 // TEN
Standing on The Pilgrim’s Way
This is the only print in the exhibition that was created alfresco. It's not something I often do as I always feel really embarrassed if people are around. The sketchy background was printed in the studio using gel / Gelli plates then I took a small screen and squeegee, a selection of paint and brushes and found a quiet spot on the Pilgrim's Way near Common Road, Blue Bell Hill. Nervously I drew the Down's landscape onto the screen and painted it, whilst continually looking over my shoulder. I then set the screen onto the canvas and printed it. Throwing everything into my bag I picked up the screen and canvas and quickly made my way back to the car!
A mono screen print is made by painting the image directly onto the screen’s mesh. The screen is lowered onto the canvas and then a squeegee is used to ‘pull the print’ which just means sliding the squeegee over the painted image and pushing the paint through the mesh. This is one of those types of printing techniques where you never quite know what you’re going to get.
Mono screen print on canvas
£80
