Printmakers and textile artists at Snape

 

As the Suffolk Craft Society prepares for its first exhibition of the year, visitors to Gallery 21 and the Dovecote at Snape Maltings can look forward to a rich display of printmaking and textile art. 

Among the printmakers exhibiting is Honorary Member Sally Freer, whose evocative monoprints are created from remembered impressions and watercolour studies made while exploring the countryside and coastlines of Suffolk and Essex. Her prints capture the character of the region’s hidden corners, intricate hedgerows, winding paths through patterned fields, quiet woodland tracks leading to secluded churches, and boats resting along the shore. Colour plays a vital role in Sally’s work, with layered, patterned print marks transforming the mood and atmosphere of each image. 

 

Helen Maxfield produces limited edition linocuts from her studio near Needham Market in Suffolk. Her designs begin as observational sketches made during regular drawing trips across the Suffolk countryside and along the coast. Back in the studio, these studies evolve through the printmaking process, resulting in striking compositions that celebrate both the beauty of the landscape and the bold graphic qualities of linocut. 

 

Printmaker Greta Hansen trained at Ipswich Art School, Central Saint Martins and University of London. While teaching art and pottery in London she regularly returned to her native Suffolk to paint the coastline and countryside, imagery that continues to underpin her work today. For more than twenty years she has been part of the Print Workshop at Gainsborough’s House, where she developed her skills in etching. More recently she has concentrated on collagraphs and relief printing using lino and MDF blocks, often employing the reduction method to build rich and sometimes unexpected colour relationships drawn from the Suffolk landscape. 

 

Jenny Portlock works as both a wood engraver and linocut artist. Using boxwood which is prized for its exceptionally close grain she is able to carve extremely fine lines and intricate detail into her engravings. Initially working in linocut before moving to wood engraving, Jenny now prints her work on a specially adapted etching press. Her imagery often emerges from imagination rather than direct observation, producing dreamlike compositions with subtle symbolism. Influenced by the Japanese Ukiyo-e tradition, her prints combine rhythmic shapes, strong graphic qualities and finely worked detail, each edition embossed with her own distinctive maker’s mark. 

Alongside the printmakers, a group of talented textile artists will also be exhibiting their work at Snape Maltings. 

 

Liz Chester has been weaving tapestry since 1980, when she first trained with the Lyth Tapestry Weavers studio in Caithness, Scotland. After a 21-year career in engineering, she became a professional tapestry artist in 2007 and has since exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. Liz also undertakes commissions and regularly gives talks and lessons on the art of tapestry. Her work is often graphic in character and inspired by her local environment and personal experiences. Working on a loom up to two metres wide, she produces pieces ranging from small domestic works to large-scale commissions, embracing the slow, meditative nature of tapestry weaving to create works rich in colour, texture and pattern. Liz will be demonstrating her techniques on a small tabletop loom at the Places Weekend from 11th - 12th April. 

 

Textile artist Helen Dougall begins her creative process outdoors, painting and drawing directly from observation to capture how light interacts with surfaces across landscapes and seascapes. In the studio she translates these studies into batik, a traditional process in which hot wax is applied to fabric to resist dye. Through repeated layers of wax and colour, Helen builds up complex surfaces that evoke cloud formations, perspective lines across fields, the textures of stubble and ploughed land, or the reflective surfaces of wet shingle beaches. The final removal of the wax reveals a richly textured and luminous textile. 

 

Weaver Ruth Holt designs and creates cloth on a 24-shaft loom using fine silk and wool yarns, producing textiles with nuanced colour and tactile depth. Her work is inspired by the ever-changing landscapes of Suffolk and the dramatic seascapes of Orkney. A recent residency at Linkshouse through the Pier Arts Centre deepened her connection with the powerful colours and shifting light of the islands. Alongside one-off woven stoles and wall pieces, Ruth has also produced limited-edition scarves for a City of London livery company and woven commissioned vestments for Norwich Cathedral. 

 

These printmakers and textile artists bring a wonderful range of techniques, ideas and inspirations to the exhibition. Their work joins that of many other makers across disciplines to create the vibrant and varied celebration of contemporary craft on display this Easter at Snape Maltings, a fitting setting beside the sweeping marshes and tidal waters of the River Alde.