A chance reunion at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) Open Exhibition in Bristol between Grafiska Sällskapet member, Jenny Palmer, and an old friend, Dr Wendy Rhodes from the Gloucestershire Printmaking Cooperative (GPC), has blossomed into an exciting international collaboration between the two organisations bringing together 39 printmakers under the project title ‘Making Contact/Ta Kontakt’.

Through their conversations they thought it would be lovely to share their experience of regaining contact by expanding the possibility to a wider group of printmakers, especially so after the experience of the pandemic.

This collaboration provides an opportunity for printmakers to work together in pairs and learn more about one another and their different ways of working in print. The artists’ responses to this theme can be the result of a physical print exchange, prints made independently but discussed and inspired by one another, or prints where both have contributed visual elements to one final image.

‘Making Contact/Ta Kontakt’ culminates in two exhibitions: the first was at Grafiska Sällskapet in Stockholm, 27th May - 18th June 2023, and the second will be Sixteen Gallery in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in the U.K. from the 23rd November to the 6th December 2023.

Sixteen Gallery presents the results of the collaborative process, showing prints that illustrate the trust that has developed between the printmakers. It is fascinating to see how the various pairings have brought their ideas together working in close harmony. All the participants have found that the process has opened their imagination, tested their methodologies and has enabled them to achieve fascinating results.