Travelogue Kernow will be in Truro for the festival on MONDAY 7th April from 10.30am.
You can find us in a marquee on Lemon Quay near M&S. We will have a printing press and all the materials and tools for you to make a stunning print and you can also learn all about book binding from PZ Conservation. Come along and let our great team of artists help you to make some great prints of Truro for our Travelogue Kernow.
Work has begun on the first pages of Travelogue Kernow! Artists Claire and Chris, book conservator Lizzie and her PZ Conservation interns Liz, Holly and Sam, joined Jesse and Bernard at the Newlyn Art School print studio for five days and evenings of all out printing. This is a great facility which we are very lucky to have the opportunity to work with.
Jesse and Bernard have gathered together all the printing plates from our 2013 tour which took place in Wadebridge, Liskeard, Launceston, Helston, Penzance, Newquay and The Middle of Nowhere Children’s Literature Festival. So many fabulous images; what a great resource but we can’t use them all so there will be some tough decisions ahead seeing which ones will work for the book!
The great thing about working at the school is that we have the space to work on two of the books at the same time and lay the pages out across the floor; they take up a lot of space!
It has been interesting how quickly and naturally a quite distinct character, feeling and atmosphere developed for each of the first two chapters, for Wadebridge and Launceston.
Launceston both unfolds and rises to the heights of the castle while Wadebridge follows the meandering narrative of river and railway.
The above image shows the first stage of printing the Wadebridge pages and below Claire inking some of the plates. These pages will pass through the press many times as we add more images.
Once we had established the overall shape for a chapter we could begin adding images
making an arrangement of plates and deciding the order through the press.
Gradually we began to build up the collage of images for individual pages.
Page by Page the collage of images is completed; at a later date we will do further work on the book adding text to the mix.
Each chapter is to have a cover and Chris has taken the lead on arranging the wooden letter blocks and design for the titles.
It has been a fantastic week working full on with a great team and we are looking forward to working soon with PZ Conservation to add text and bind the pages and covers together.
Travelogue Kernow will be at the festival on Saturday 20th July from midday onwards working with the children to create prints around the idea of story telling which will be an exciting addition to the Wadebridge chapter of the book. As usual there will be a printing press and all the materials for making dry point prints. Artists Jesse Smith, Bernard Irwin and John Howard will be on hand to give inspiration and expert guidance ably assisted by Wadebridge artist Tracy Hunter. PZ Conservation book conservator interns Liz Ralph and Holly Smith will be showing and explaining some of the processes and paraphernalia of book binding,and guiding children through making there own notebook.
We all loved the church of St. Mary Magdalene with its extravagant and intricate carvings that cover the whole building.
Sketching Charles Causley from Peter Douglas Edwards large oil portrait in the Town Hall entrance.
– and here’s the print.
The mock up of the Launceston chapter is shaping up nicely.
“A really good time. Thank-you. I didn’t feel a useless fool at all!” Sylvia
Some of the many wonderful prints including the castle gate, town square and statue of Mary Magdalene [the subject of a Charles Causley poem – Mary, Mary Magdalene] from the church of the same name.
the end of day 2 with mock up books in foreground – what a great venue.
Setting up in the morning.
Chris, Bernard and Jesse taking a well deserved break.
“Thank-you! really well organised and professional.” Karen
“I had lots of fun drawing, colouring and making it was a really lovely day!” Phoebe
“Inspirational! Thank-you.” Helena
“Really motivating and great to work alongside others and have professional input!” Janet
“Really interesting- the individuals we were supporting appeared to really enjoy getting involved and having a go” Gemma from the Westgate Centre
“We have really enjoyed both sessions, it’s been such a brilliant opportunity and we are very grateful. Thank-you 🙂” Sarah, Ella, Oliver and Alfie
“Excellent facility. A lot of fun, inspiring, patient leaders with enormous amounts of empathy!” Mary
“Brilliant! Great 2 days of ‘Festive’ activity. Lovely to see. Come back again.” Andy
“Wonderful experience for 3 generations of my family!” Ann
“Enjoyed this – new experience, wish we had longer!” Helen
“Good fun! my girls have enjoyed it. Thank you!” Nicky
“Excellent, great information and lots of new skills learnt.” Claire
Terry with his fantastic print.
“Being physically, vision and hearing impaired I have found today so stimulating and great fun. Bernard is so knowledgable, Jesse’s so interested in all our efforts, Georgina so helpful in inking up and cleaning my work. To you all, and all those whos names I didnt catch, thank-you for bringing your arts to us down here in far-flung southeast Cornwall- that’s Liskeard and environs to those in the know!! Your works and efforts are an inspiration to us all both young and old. Please come back soon!!” Terry
“Great to learn new skills, really enjoyable.” Claire
“Great day, enjoyed making a print of Derek Swindley’s camera obscura” Lesley
“Fantastic day – inspiring- inventive ideas – look forward to seeing the finished book!!” Steph
“I enjoyed it so much!” Tom
Thanks to the generosity of Tracey Hunter and the Cornwall Art Studio we were able to exhibit many of the amazing prints people of all ages had made during our time in Wadebridge. We had a great time and enjoyed meeting and working with everyone – our thanks to you all and thank you Tracey!
Day three and a really busy and lively day of printmaking with many returning for the second or third time! A wonderful surprise; knowing about the artist books show Bernard and Jesse are curating in 2014, Irene who has made some lovely prints over the two days, bought in a wonderful and moving book belonging to her father filled with drawing and paintings made by fellow POWs in WW1. An idea emerges to put the New Year fireworks – watched by crowds from the Bridge-on-Wool at the centre of the book, we can print in colour on black paper.
We’ve had a great time in Wadebridge with lots of really good feedback, tired and glad to have lots of hands to help we pack up and head back to Penzance for a rest day before we move onto Liskeard on Wednesday.
Irene shows us her father’s war diary.
First page of the War Diary
One of the many paintings by soldiers of WW1 that make up the diary.
Enthusiastic punters helped by Holly of PZ Conservation C.I.C.
A busy day of printing on Monday
A terrific print of the Bridge on Wool at Wadebridge by Nicole
Another great print by Ishqa
Day two and the book already has a strong design of large flowing abstract shapes inspired by the river running through town and countryside. A lively print of the clock tower and the town hall sits well in the centre of things. Another good days printmaking!
Working on the Big Book
A busy Sunday.
Travelogue KerNOW 