1. Katherine Jones, RA - the youngest artist to have been elected as a Royal Academician
In 2022, Katherine Jones was the youngest artist to have ever been elected as a Royal Academician. In Summer 2024 she was also selected as one of the Royal Academy hanging committee selecting artworks for the prestigious Summer exhibit. She has undertaken major residencies at Winchester College, Eton College, Rabley Drawing Centre UK and Kloster Bentlager in Germany, and her work is held in The Ashmolean Museum, Yale University Library, The House of Lords and the V&A Prints And Drawings Collection.
Katherine combines painting with traditional printmaking techniques, bringing together disparate narratives in hyper-real and folkloric spaces. She uses archetypal motifs in her work such as a house, flower, tree or the sun, to explore perceptions of safety and danger
2. Two print demonstrations during the exhibition – by Anita Reynolds and Jonathan Lawes
Anita Reynolds is an intuitive and skilful mark maker whose landscapes often depict the frequently ignored aspect of place, particularly in and around Dartmoor where she lives and works, since her work always, without exception begins with the outdoors; locations, the seasons, recordings of gestural and energetic marks that reflect her immersion to the landscape. She is also an experienced art teacher and leads a team of tutors on the year-long Professional Landscape Programme at Newlyn School of Art in Cornwall.
Jonathan Lawes is an artist and designer based in South East London. Upon graduation, Lawes spent a decade living and working in Berlin. After returning to London in 2018 he set up a print studio to further explore his passion for print, geometry, shape, and pattern. He has a keen eye for nuance and layering, paying close attention to colour and detail. His abstract compositions are formed organically and develop over time due to his genuine enthusiasm for, and evolution of, the printing process, and his distinct look affords him clients like COS, The Conran Shop, Gandia Blasco, Petit-Pli, and Joseph Joseph.
3. Peter Randall- Page, RA
Peter Randall-Page studied sculpture at Bath Academy of Art. During the past 40 years he has gained an international reputation through disciplines of sculpture, drawing and print. His work is held in public and private collections throughout the world including Japan, South Korea, Australia, USA, Turkey, Eire, Germany and the Netherlands. A selection of his public sculptures can be found in many urban and rural locations throughout the UK including London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge and his work is in the permanent collections of the Tate Gallery and the British Museum amongst others.
His practice has always been informed and inspired by the study of natural phenomena and its subjective impact on our emotions. In recent years his work has become increasingly concerned with the underlying principles determining growth and the forms it produces. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Plymouth in 1999, an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from York St John University in 2009, an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Exeter University in 2010, and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Bath Spa University in 2013.
In June 2015 Peter was elected as a Royal Academician in the category of sculpture.
As a member of the design team for the Education Resource Centre (The Core) at the Eden Project in Cornwall, Peter influenced the overall design of the building incorporating an enormous granite sculpture (Seed) at its heart.
Peter Randall Page will produce three standout prints for the Original Print exhibition launching in February.
4. Frances Gynn, RWA, Sarah Gillespie and Richard Lawrence – where art meets environmental space
The environment and the affects that humans have on it is a growing subject within the art scene. We wanted to select three major names who really embody this movement.
Frances Gynn, RWA. Devon based artist Frances Gynn makes work informed by environmental issues. Through drawings and paintings her practice reflects growing concerns over the effects of plastics in the ecosystem, deforestation, habitat loss and the decline of precious species. She is the originator of ‘Public Erasure’, a technique that focuses on drawing and performing an interactive body of work on endangered species, and inviting the viewer to erase elements from it, to highlight the very nature of extinction.
Sarah Gillespie studied 16th & 17th century art methods and materials at the Atelier Neo-Medici in Paris and then read Fine Art at Pembroke College, Oxford (BFA Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art). On leaving, she was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshield Foundation International Award for figurative art. In 2016 she was elected a member of the Royal West of England Academy. Her work is held in collections including those of the Victoria Gallery, Bath, Chatsworth House, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Sarah’s mezzotint and drypoint works explore the natural world, particularly the rare beauty of moths, in black, white and subtle shades of brown and grey. Through a long process of paying close attention to her subjects, she captures the quiet moments in nature, revealing something of the world’s beauty and delicacy.
Richard Lawrence. Since graduating, his combined interest in sculptural woodcarving and drawing have developed his passion for woodblock printing, which is now a key part of his practice. Public works include sculptures at London Docklands, Margam Sculpture Park South Wales, Guilin South China, and the British Foreign Office in Sao Paulo Brazil, and in 2024 he exhibited a woodcut print in the Royal Academy Summer Show.
As both a sculptor and printmaker, Richard makes work informed by his concerns about the effects of climate change. Creating pared down forms and thoughtfully restrained imagery, he brings shape, surface and colour together to express a feeling for what is essential in an image, and for the communication of environmental and socio-political issues.
5. Print is very much with us
Here at Velarde, we do not feel that original print is given enough of a platform. The Original Print Show will showcase a total of 17 printmakers, who will all bring very different techniques and point of views. From classic intaglio techniques of etching, dry point and mezzotint, to collagraph, woodcut, monotype, screenprint and blind embossing, we have handpicked an international selection of artists who demonstrate and really highlight the importance of print as a key discipline in art.
The Original Print Show opens at Velarde on the 1st February and runs until the 26th April 2025.
