In 2003 we were awarded a Regional Arts Lottery Programme award for special projects and organisational development. In addition we received grants from The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, The Baring Foundation, Awards for All and The Local Network Fund of the Devon Community Foundation

We are very keen to develop our projects which involve bringing printmaking to groups of people normally excluded from mainstream arts activity.

Recent funding from Arts Council England and Exeter Arts Council has enabled us to continue to work with people with mental health difficulties from Lifeworks (part of the NHS Trust’s mental health service), and with the guidance and support of local art therapists from Insider Art. We have been running printmaking sessions with this client group since 2003. As part of an exhibition celebrating arts and health ‘For Some Good Measure’, these participants’ prints were on display at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter and they have exhibited in the past at the Phoenix Arts Centre and The Picture House in Exeter.

During this summer, as part of the ‘For Some Good Measure’ exhibition, over thirty of our members and participants from Lifeworks collaborated on a banner using various printmaking techniques to represent Double Elephant which was displayed in the entrance of the museum alongside the other community arts groups.

In October 2004 we started a project with elderly people in partnership with Upstream Healthy Living Centre. Based in Crediton, Upstream is a research project looking at the health benefits of art and craft activities for rurally isolated, elderly people. We now run regular printmaking sessions with these groups exploring various printmaking processes.

With funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, we ran a three-term printmaking course in 2004 with children from Grenville Pupil Referral Unit and Priory High School, now ISCA College of Media Arts. This has now developed into a very successful long-term project where eight students who are at risk of exclusion from mainstream education come to weekly printmaking workshops at our studio. These highly creative individuals are experimenting and exploring all the printmaking processes available and will be exhibiting their work at Exeter Phoenix in May 2006.

Printmaking is a medium that particularly lends itself to building confidence in art making. There is safety in the process because the artist can choose to what extent they want to distance themselves from the end result and allow for unexpected outcomes. Through designing, making, inking and printing a ‘plate’ the artist can be detached from the end result – the print itself. The simple machinery, tools and hands-on manual techniques involved allow for unforeseen effects and then when the paper is drawn back from the printing plate and the print is revealed an almost magical process has taken place. Our group members are unlocking hidden talents and finding new ways of expressing themselves.