At this year’s Wrexham Arts Festival, Yale College’s Memorial Gallery in conjunction with the Regional Print Centre will be celebrating all things print throughout May the Memorial Gallery will be showcasing a selection of artwork from their Paul Peter Piech archive. Rare prints will be displayed alongside Piech’s original printing blocks and limited edition books. The artworks were donated by Piech’s daughter to the college in 2006 following his death. This gift was linked to the educational role the Memorial Gallery has as a visual learning resource that directly influences those studying at the college and the wider community.
Piech’s work is dominated by humanitarian, social and political issues which include power, racism, equality, war and national identity. These topics are still very relevant today. Piech used the printed poster to project his opinions and values to a wider audience by highlighting issues that directly affected the community around him, which is arguably something we should all do.
Piech spent the last ten years of his life in Wales and greatly influenced the Welsh art scene with his trade mark use of quotes, text and hard hitting imagery. He embraced the social issues surrounding him and this also impacted on his artwork as he produced posters that reflected Welsh traditions, language and political concerns.
Piech used art as a way of documenting and questioning the society he lived in. In a similar way the visual arts in Wrexham continue to spark a debate and hopefully this will lead to some interesting discussions.
On a more practical level the Regional Print Centre is offering a variety of creative printmaking opportunities for those who are new to printmaking as well as professional development for more experienced printmakers and artists. Thanks to support from Yale College and the Arts Council of Wales, the Centre is running an on-going series of open access sessions in which anyone with practical printmaking skills can become a member and use the facilities. Further details can be found on the Centre’s recently launched bilingual website www.regionalprintcentre.co.uk. 2012 also marks the tenth Birthday of the centre and there will be an exciting range of projects planned for the rest of the year. Please get in touch or see the website for more details.
By Jim Creed Regional Print Centre & Memorial Gallery Coordinator
