Bernard Leach: graphic artist

Bernard Leach was one of the first, great, donors to the emerging Crafts Study Centre. He donated a substantial body of his own ceramics, including rare early pieces; he also gifted his personal study collection of Oriental ceramics and early English pottery (inspirational pots 'that gave me joy'). His archive of prolific writings, diaries, photographs and extensive correspondence is an unrivalled source for research and study and is called on by scholars internationally. More recently, gifts have been made of new personal papers as well as the etching plates that Leach worked on between 1907-8 as a student and then in Japan until 1920. These etching plates remind us that Leach began his career intending to be a fine artist. Whilst he produced etchings in Japan during his first creative steps, he remained committed to drawing throughout his life and his skill as a painter of pots remains one of his distinguishing attributes. This new exhibition brings together archives. etchings and drawings together with his early ceramics to present a rounded portrait of an eminent artist discovering a life-long interest in and aptitude for ceramics, set in the context of his first love of drawing. The exhibition has been curated by Jean Vacher, Collections Manager of the Crafts Study Centre. Many of these etchings have rarely been seen in the museum environment, and the project, generously supported by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, is intended to stimulate a wider understanding of Leach's output as an etcher, and possibly to bring new etchings to light. The project is published in partnership with The Leach Pottery, St Ives

Creative image maker: Edward Gordon Craig’s achievements in the visual arts

In his own lifetime and beyond, Craig’s immediately recognisable wood-engravings, woodcuts and etchings were widely exhibited both domestically and internationally. The speaker will argue that these images also had an important place in the wider creative revolution of content and medium explored by twentieth-century artists

Paula Rego: printmaker

‘Paula Rego: Printmaker’ is an extended essay commissioned from the author by Marlborough Fine Art and Talbot Rice Museum, Edinburgh, for the illustrated catalogue to accompany the touring exhibition of Rego’s graphic work. My essay reveals Rego’s working method, and places her prints within the overall context of her practice. The essay contains much original research evidenced over a 20-year period of collaboration with the artist, including first hand observation and hitherto unpublished stage proofs revealing the progression and development of images from first stage to final print

Visual Culture Project: Confederate War Etchings: Searching for Arms by Adalbert Johann Volck

Adalbert Johann Volck’s 1861 sketch of Union soldiers, “Searching for Arms,” represents a substantial contribution to the narrative about gender relations during the American Civil War. This simple, small sketch offers the observer a window into the past. It is a collision of symbols and meaning—from gender to war to the household—all wrapped up in one image. This is a portrait sketch of a woman being invaded in her domestic, private sphere, revealing so much about gender relations during the time. The mistress herself seemed to embody a vast range of sentiments such as anger, fear, frailty, and strength, proving the tension in her role as a wife, a mother, and guardian of the home. This inner conflict is something that all women faced during this time as they strove to remain loyal to the cause for which their husbands fought

South Africa: Artists, Prints, Community: Twenty-Five Years at the Caversham Press

This is the catalogue of the exhibition "South Africa" at Boston University Art Gallery