New exhibition shows the power of print

Newspapers, signwriters and printmakers are part of a shared heritage which will be celebrated this Friday evening in a new exhibition opening at the Connacht Tribune in the city centre. The show, Print is Dead: Long Live Print is being held in the Tribune’s former printworks, where the newspaper was published for 100 years. The exhibition has been curated by the Galway Print Studio (formerly Lorg) and will run for 10 days. It marks the 10th anniversary of The Galway Print Studio, which supports artists working in the medium of printmaking.

This fine-art process requires large-scale equipment and The Galway Print Studio provides people with a 24-hour space and all necessary resources.

It is located in Ballybane, on the city’s east side, so the show in the Connacht Tribune printworks will help increase its profile, says its manager, Katriona Gillespie.

“For us, being located in Ballybane, we don’t have a huge profile in the city and need to work on that,” she says.

Exhibiting in the city centre, “in one of the most exciting spaces available, gives the artists an opportunity to let people know what printmaking is”, says Elena Santos, a member of the Galway Print Studio.

Print is Dead: Long Live Print will include work from Galway artists, as well as from members of print studios throughout Ireland – there are six or seven similar organisations throughout the country, Katriona explains.

There will also be a range of print demonstrations, workshops and talks over the 10 days, including the screening of the American documentary, Sign Painters, with Galway sign painter and former footballer John Herrick this Saturday.

Some of the old printing machinery from the Connacht Tribune and from GMIT will be on show to demonstrate the strong link that exists between industrial printing and printmaking at a fine-art level.

For more, see this week’s Connacht and City Tribune