ABOUT
Career, passions + background.
Jane is a practicing artist, printmaker, educator and author with a special interest in silkscreen printing and photographic imaging in all of its forms. Bought up in Northumberland UK, from a very early age she would ‘help’ her father, a talented amateur photographer, develop photographs in his darkroom. This engendered a lifelong fascination with the magical processes involved in making prints.
An inspiring teacher at secondary school showed her how to process her photographs and expose photostencils on to screens using makeshift homemade equipment. One summer he lent her the equipment to make screenprints at home using wallpaper paste and dye as the printing medium and she never looked back. His experimental, can do approach was a great influence on her future development as an artist.
She went on to study for a BA at Exeter University and Exeter College of Art. Tutored by Polish printmaker Marek Laczynski she learnt etching and lithography and also how to run a studio. She loved it and Devon so much she stayed on for an extra year and also completed a teaching qualification at St Lukes College, Exeter before winning a scholarship to study for an MA in Art History and English at the Barber Institute, Birmingham University.
In the 1980’s she moved to Brighton UK attracted by its unique entrepreneurial and creative vibe and joined the printmaking postgraduate course at Brighton Polytechnic run by Harvey Daniels.When the Polytechnic became a University she was appointed as a research assistant and began teaching part time.
Her energy and enthusiasm for all things print and her ability to communicate this to others led her to set up Brighton’s first open access print workshop:Brighton Independent Printmaking (BIP) with fellow lecturer Ann d’Arcy Hughes.
This successful collaboration lasted until 2010 when Jane moved on to set up her own venture Inkspot Press and write a book on silkscreen printing. Jane exhibits regularly in galleries and art fairs in the UK and abroad winning awards and prizes for her work over the years. And her prints are in many private and public collections.
INK SPOT PRESS
2010 - 2020
Started in 2010 Inkspot has thrived as an important part of the
artistic and creative community in Brighton by running courses
and workshops and supporting access to professional equipment and tuition in silkscreen printing, letterpress and photopolymer printmaking.
Currently based in Hove It provides a friendly relaxed environment that customers describe as their ‘happy place’ welcoming those who are new to printmaking as well as those who are experienced practitioners.
Inkspot regularly plays host to schools groups for workshops and also local creative businesses for team building away days.
Jane teaches regular evening and weekend classes aided and abetted by Fox Fisher who has made the one day Saturday classes a hot ticket. Rose Walker looks after the
letterpress area running classes and regular introductions
to letterpress and also one to one guidance for those who
have a particular project in mind.
Vouchers can be bought as gifts and bookings can be made online at: www.inkspotpress.co.uk where there is also a link
to a shop selling prints.
SCREEN PRINTING BOOK
In 2017 Jane published her own in-depth screen printing guide book
Screenprinting is loved by artists and designers for its accessibility and for the seemingly endless possibilities that come naturally to a process that can combine vibrant colour and layering with pattern and image making. This book is not only aimed at the beginner, but also at more experienced printers who would like to brush up on their technique or bring themselves up to date. It is divided into chapters that cover a wealth of different screenprinting methods, from simple ones that can be achieved on a table top at home with minimum equipment, to those that require a professional studio or workshop set-up.
Topics covered include using paper stencils and filler stencils; monoprinting through the screen; making positives for photo exposure by hand or by using the computer; making high-contrast positives and posterisations and there are special sections on using bitmaps, half tones and making colour separations.