Two art collectives based in Ordsall exhibited at Manchester Art Fair 2022 to promote printmaking and photography.
Hot Bed Press, a print workshop in the Casket Works, Cow Lane, which faced challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, and Echoic, a collective of five people of colour, attended the 15th instalment of the fair at Manchester Central.
Mandy Martin, 54, an artist who studied on the The Complete Printmaker course, had only just started her printmaking journey with Hot Bed when the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020. She had her fair share of difficulties to deal with.
She said: “The course started and then stopped straight away. And then when everything opened again, we wore masks, and we had all the windows open.
“It’s in an old mill, and it was freezing. A challenge in the winter was to try and keep warm while you did it. That was pretty interesting.”
Hot Bed Press, which was founded in 1994, had a host of eye-catching pieces on sale to visitors, ranging from screen prints, etchings, letterpress and much more.
Ms Martin had the chance to exhibit her own screen print, ‘Summer Pazazz’, at the studio’s stand.
She believes the printmaking process, whilst complicated, is exciting due to the wide range of prints to choose from.
“Printmaking is ultimately about creating a matrix, which is like a plate or a piece of lino, and then transferring that image onto something else, either paper or another surface,” said Ms Martin.
She added: “I think if you were to draw, people would think ‘I’m not very good at drawing’, but if you put that same mark onto lino or onto an etching, and then you print it, it makes something totally different.”
Live demonstrations by experienced tutors were given, which gave the public a glimpse into what to expect from Hot Bed Press’s printmaking course.
Finding the balance between bringing a theme into reality and the printmaking content itself is what makes ‘The Complete Printmaker’ unique.
Ms Martin said: “It’s just a totally different vibe. It has a different look and a different feel to it.”
Find out more about the printmaking course which runs again from 6 February 2023 here
Another Salford-based art collective exhibiting at MAF was Echoic, of Short Supply from Islington Mill, Ordsall, which launched its debut presentation exploring the experience of diaspora, heritage, dual identity, and home.
Echoic consists of a group of five former photography students from the Manchester School of Arts, who are all people of colour.
Tze Yan Lim, one of the five students, said the group got together during the third year of their photography degree.
“We kind of just formed a collective together without actually intending to do it,” said Mr Lim.
Mr Lim talked about his fellow Echoic creative, Manju Lama-Collier, and her struggles with her home life during youth as she was adopted by her parents from the UK despite Nepal being her birthplace. She is currently mountain-climbing in Scotland.
“She always loved climbing and always felt comfortable climbing. Climbing is her passion,” said Mr Lim.
“She never knew the reason why she loved to take photographs of the landscape. But then, during the developing of the degree show, she started to realise that climbing makes her feel at home everywhere, every time she climbs.
“It’s in her DNA. It’s in her memory.”
Instead of focusing on art sales, Echoic hopes their displays and photography can inspire those in similar situations.
Mr Lim said: “We’re not thinking too much about the selling because I think what matters to us as a collective, also as fresh starting-out artists, having the opportunity to show the public of our practice, is more important than actually selling the work.”
You can see more art by creatives such as Tze Yan Lim, Manju Lama-Collier and the rest of Echoic here
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