Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Pressing Matters Launches Issue 02

We spoke to John Coe about the release of Issue 02 of Pressing Matters. Pressing Matters is a magazine that focuses on traditional printmaking and the creatives behind it.

So whats in Issue 02 of Pressing Matters? Give us a little round up / sneak peak!

Our second issue is a whirlwind of a journey through the various disciplines of printmaking, be it epic etchings of old structures, bright and geometric letterpress creations or the scientific exploits of printing cyanotypes. In this issue we also take a look into how ink is made, which is both technical and mind-blowing! If there is a theme running through the stories in issue two, it is that of community, working together and sharing a creative journey with others. Examples of collective working are scattered throughout the pages of the magazine and it’s clear that working with others can bring both surprising results and new directions for an artist. Saying that, we’re always happy to celebrate the lone printmaker in Pressing Matters, and in this issue we have a real breadth of artists beavering away in their chosen discipline and sharing their inspirations and approaches with us all.

Issue Two is a truly international affair with contributions from as far and wide as New Zealand, Ukraine and Germany, plus others based closer to home, dotted around the British Isles. This issue picks up where the first left off, casting the net a little wider and, in turn, reflecting the brilliant diversity of printmakers out there.

Where can we pick one up?
You can buy a copy of our latest issue on our website at http://pressingmattersmag.com/buy-magazine – here we have single copy options for both the first and second issue (and together) and if printmaking groups, stockists or studios would like to buy 5 or 10 copies, they can buy these from our wholesale page http://pressingmattersmag.com/wholesale

What does the future look like, any grand plans in the pipeline?
We are planning a small launch, a kind of ‘Meet the Makers’ style event at Magazine Brighton (http://www.magazinebrighton.com) from 1-4pm on Saturday 14th October, and we are at InkPaperPrint at The Towner in Eastbourne on Sunday 15th too, so come and say hi if you are in the area. We are at North Wales Print Fair in November and the Bristol Wayzgoose in December, so we have a print fair booked in once a month until the end of the year.

Next year we are looking at doing 3 issues of the magazine, working with more studios and printmakers to do one off events and maybe start selling artwork through our website. We are also excited about the idea of creating some specific ‘How To’ guides for creatives starting out in certain areas of printmaking… I am sure we will be at some print fairs next year too and hope to get the magazine out to more more stockists and studios as the word gets out.

How do you go about curating the next issue of Pressing Matters?
Since the release of issue 1, we have had such a great response from printmaker (around the world), that we have a healthy list of stories that we are keen to explore and expand upon. Firstly, we get together and look at everything that we would like to cover, then make sure that there is a fair spread of the types of techniques across the magazine. Then we work with the contributors to either create an article that fits in with our regular features (workspaces, story behind the print, etc) or explore their story and work for unique piece that shed some light on their interests and their process.

We usually work on more than enough content for an issue, as some pieces can take longer to curate than others, so we often have a head start on the next issue. In the short term we will be concentrating on getting the latest issue out to people, but will make a proper start on issue 3 from November onwards, with a Feb/March 2018 release in mind.


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