The Society of Wood Engravers’ annual exhibition features over 120 prints created by outstanding British and international printmakers working in the medium of wood engraving, woodcut and linocut. Presenting a diversity of subject-matter, visual style and personal expression, these prints all have in common the technique of relief printing; the oldest, most direct and exacting of printmaking techniques.
The prints in the exhibition are chosen by a jury of three engravers from an open submission process to which both members of the Society, those aspiring to membership and those new to relief printmaking may apply, with each print considered for inclusion on its own merits.
The exhibition travels to galleries around the UK, starting at Bankside Gallery on London’s South Bank and includes showings in Stroud, Suffolk, Perth, Yorkshire and The North Wall, Oxford.
To see all works in the exhibition, click here.
Meet the Artists
Tuesday 3 October 2023 2-3pm
Peter Lawrence, a member of the Society of Wood Engravers since 1998, has three works in the exhibition. He will give a talk about the history of wood engraving and a demonstration.
Peter curated the exhibition “6/25: Wood Engravings by the 6 Chairs of the SWE” to celebrate the reforming of the Society in 1984, which was held at The North Wall. He was instrumental in building an archive of current engravings at the Ashmolean and organising the SWE’s Centenary Exhibition “Scene through Wood”at the Ashmolean in 2020. Peter taught wood engraving at the OPC for 15 years and organised groups of artists to be part of ArtWeeks exhibitions in Summertown for over 20 years. He has prints in the collections of the Ashmolean, the V&A and the Heilongjiang Museum of Printmaking, China”.
Free event / no booking required
Thursday 12 October 2023 2-4pm
Duncan Montgomery, one of the engravers with works in the exhibition, will be in the gallery working on an engraving and will give a short talk at 2.30pm.
Duncan Montgomery is from the North-East of England, now based in London. His recent work focuses on the history of outdoor swimming, with a particular focus on Parson’s Pleasure, a men’s bathing place on the river Cherwell in Oxford, active from the 17th century to 1992; and the bathing ponds on Hampstead Heath in London. From 8th — 25th May 2024, The North Wall will host an exhibition of his wood engravings on this subject alongside archive material curated by the cultural historian George Townsend.
Free event / no booking required
Listen: #NWConnect: Podcast: Interview with artist Peter Lawrence
Read: #NWConnect: A Brief History Of Wood Engraving
