Status shows up whenever humans do, and it is the invisible underpinning of our culture. The front lawn was only invented around the time of Columbus. The idea was to demonstrate that you had time and money to waste. You could take useful land and make it non-productive. You could take labor and put it […]

By some estimations, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West home-studio complex took shape in 1941. But even then, the Arizona Republic presciently noted that “it may be years before it is considered finished.” The Taliesin West you can see in the new Architectural Digest video above is unlikely to change dramatically over the next few generations, […]

Hello! My name is Holly Nairn and I am a full time Art teacher in Hertfordshire, a job I absolutely love. I work under the name PaperInkDream and I currently live in Essex with my husband and my cocker spaniel Teddy. Apart from printmaking, I am cycling obsessed and love nothing more than a very long day out on a road bike in nice weather! I have long loved printmaking and this has become a bigger part of my life over the last few years. Especially since discovering the wonderful Handprinted community. Describe your printmaking process. My printmaking processes are still quite fluid as I do love to experiment – I am currently enjoying painting on screens with filler and printing large areas of pattern onto both fabric and paper – however I will always start with pen drawing. I have lots of small sketchbooks which to be honest sometimes just contain doodles or patterns but often form the seed of a new idea or motif.  I used to be very precious about these and would throw them out if I had a creative dry spell but now I make a point of keeping these and I feel this has really helped me come back to and pin point successful ideas and develop these rather than starting all over again.  Once I have drawn a series of ideas, keeping these really loose and fun, without any judgement, I might decide to develop a lino print, or a small screen print or even a mix of them both. I trace or draw directly onto speedball speedy carve and get to work! I use small A4 screens at home that are easy to clean and manage. How and where did you learn to print? I learned to print at school with a printmaker from Peterborough called John McGowan who was an incredible teacher and is still a meticulous genius with all things screen-printing. John introduced me to all types of printmaking and I was lucky enough to make some meaningfully developed work together. I still keep in touch with John and he advises me how best to screen print with larger groups or A level students as although my school is well equipped you have more limitations within a school day and John understands this having been a teacher himself. I then took a degree in illustration and became more proficient with screen-printing. Since becoming a teacher, I try to attend at least 1 course every year which ring fences creative time and helps me learn a little bit more. I now practise at home as I have the materials and confidence to go it alone but it was quite a long time before I really got going independently. The printmaking community around Handprinted and Instagram are absolutely amazing and so supportive which has been such a joy to discover. Why printmaking? Printmaking, for me, perfectly combines the loose and free feeling of drawing with the more controlled meditative aspects of planning, designing, and carving. I find this blend of freedom vs limitations endlessly exciting. I also find the quality of materials has such a huge impact with printmaking, just changing a tool or paper surface can completely change the outcome you had been expecting. Where do you work? I work at a school in Hertfordshire where I lead the Art department. We have a really strong culture of printmaking and drawing at my school and it is incredible to see what my students can create. I am always amazed at how a student can run with a simple idea far beyond what you had envisaged for them and produce something completely breath-taking. I always feel privileged to be part of the creative journey of my students and I definitely think being an Art teacher is the best job available in a secondary school.  I personally work on my own creative practise in my spare room at home. I used to work on the dining table but since we got our dog that became completely hopeless as he just chewed up rollers and paper and is generally a total nightmare around anything you definitely don’t want him to have – like printing ink!  Having a designated space (even though it’s tiny) has completely transformed my printmaking and I wish I had done this sooner (who needs a guest bedroom anyway…) I feel like a proper printmaker now and my portfolio has expanded so much along with my ability to experiment and try new things, leave things and then come back to them. It has also meant I can work on much larger projects; like my block printed quilts which combine my love of printmaking and patchwork. Describe a typical day in your studio. I will come to my studio (spare room) after work at about 6pm. I have very limited time in the week so need to make sure I make the most of it and tend to do things in order, draw, carve, print…I will repeat this each day and then I might have a break if I want to create new ideas in my sketchbook. The weekends are more productive and I will spend a whole day drawing and then the next day might get stuck into a larger linocut or print up some fabric to use later. How long have you been printmaking? I have been printmaking on and off for 20 years but independently and more seriously with a view to sell my work and create a personal portfolio for about 3 years. Teaching in schools has been my main priority but I have always tried to keep my own practise going. What inspires you?  I have the smallest garden in the world, it’s just a tiny patio but it inspires me so much. I have 10 different varieties of clematis growing which I love to photograph and draw when they are in bud, there’s something so beautiful about the regularity of the leaves and flowers. Nature inspires me, we live in an area surrounded by fields and hedges and I am very thankful for this oasis of calm and the opportunity to walk Teddy there. I will often take my sketchbook out or photograph things I see to inspire me later. I am also really inspired by other printmakers – especially those featured on Meet the Maker which is an incredible teaching resource. If we are feeling devoid of ideas at school we have a good look through until we find someone whose work we love. It is endlessly brilliant and inspiring for children so thank you so much Handprinted team for putting so much effort into this amazing resource. What is your favourite printmaking product?  I have to say my Flexicut and Pfeil tools are just absolutely gorgeous. I love using them so much and they were worth every penny. If you are considering the investment – GO FOR IT you won’t regret it! What have you made that you are most proud of? I think one of my most successful screen prints was the piece I made for my sister’s first wedding anniversary. I made it at East London Printmakers open access and I was so happy with how my pen design translated well into a screen print. It feels very ‘me’ and I had to plan carefully to ensure I had all the things I needed on the tube to take to the studio to get a run of about 20 prints in total. I even matched the pinks to her bridesmaid dresses too! I gave the best one to my sister to keep and she loved the print, it is one of the most meaningful and successful prints I have created.  Where can we see your work? Where do you sell?  I mainly share my work on Instagram but am also building a website paperinkdream.co.uk so check back soon to see the finished product! I also have a small selection on Etsy. I share work at a local Art exhibition too but my limited time means I can’t over commit but I definitely want to exhibit more and put myself out there as time goes on and I build my confidence. I love the feeling of making something that has made someone happy or is going to be a unique gift.  What will we be seeing from you next? I am going to design a lino cut alphabet next – it is something I teach as a scheme of work in my Art classes and I often think ‘I want to have a go at this myself’. My sister has also recently had a baby who is called Alfie so it will motivate me to get the letter ‘A’ done first! Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives? Keep a sketchbook! I have finally found out myself quite recently why this is so important, and this is even after telling all my students to do it all the time but not actually doing it myself. As soon as I made my sketchbook a part of my daily art practise things started to make more sense to me and I could start to see my own visual language. Make sure the sketchbook is for your eyes only – don’t make it with the intention of sharing. It needs to be completely 100% YOU in my opinion. If you end up sharing it then cool, but don’t make that the primary objective! Be joyful with your work, it’s a privilege to have the space in any human life to make art so embrace it fully and love the process, don’t worry about an end point or outcome until you really have to!  The best thing about printmaking – there is no printmaking police. Let loose and do what you want to! To see more of Holly, follow her on Instagram

Your project doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Your company wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the customers, competitors, marketplaces, systems and tech that make it all work. I used to make almanacs. Long, detailed, fact-checked reference books that might save a trip to the library. When there plenty of bookstores and no internet, the almanac […]

That Wes Anderson is perhaps the most assiduous maker of short films today becomes clear when you look closely at his recent work. The four adaptations of “The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar” and three other Roald Dahl stories he made for Netflix were presented as a single anthology film; his slightly earlier feature The […]