The Curate's Weekend
Parts of it were excellent
So after weeks of planning on my part, and months of planning on the part of the organisers, that’s it, Printfest Ulverston is over for another year.
I had a fabulous time and it really is one of the most enjoyable, happy, good natured and superbly well organised art events around. The camaraderie among the printmakers is second-to-none and the visitors are an exceptionally nice bunch. I’m not sure how the Printfest team ensure this (it’s so busy I can’t imagine they have time to assess people’s niceness at the door and refuse entry to those who don’t pass muster) but I have yet to meet anyone really obnoxious within the walls of the Coro. From my list of ‘Things not to say to a printmaker’ (link below) I scored only one number 2 and two number 3s which is not a bad record for two full days and an evening preview.
The only caveat to my enthusiasm is that in terms of sales it was not nearly as good for me as it was when I was there two years ago, and I definitely felt there were fewer visitors around my stand. Sometimes I even had time to nip to the loo, which was pretty much impossible in 2023. I don’t know if that was a feature of a changing economy, a reflection on my work, or just my stand position. I had, frankly, drawn the short straw in that latter regard and was tucked away in a rather dark and stuffy corner at the end of the hall, whereas last time I was in a more open spot near the entrance. But someone has to have the less favourable places and maybe I will be back in a more attractive location next time (assuming I am accepted back for a ‘next time’).
Another way of looking at it though is that my husband and I went on a really lovely long weekend in perfect weather, in which my husband had, he says, the best two days walking he has ever done, and while he was off in the hills I passed the time in excellent company. And the icing on the cake was that I even got to sell some of my work. We also enjoyed two truly memorable dinners1 and were able to take a small detour to Barnard Castle2 on the way back for a bonus visit to the Bowes Museum.
One of the nicest parts of the weekend was lapping up all the lovely things that people said about my work. No doubt some people were less in favour as we don’t all like the same things, but those people were too polite to say anything within earshot so I remained blissfully ignorant. I should probably have thought to make a recording of what visitors said so I could play it back in difficult studio times, but I did remember to jot some things down and this was the word cloud produced. Good to see ‘dappled’ and ‘light’ doing their thing - though nobody said ‘scrumping’.
The theme for this year’s Printfest was ‘Art for Health’ which could have been chosen for me really. I made this sign to go on my stand.
I didn’t expect it to strike quite such a chord but it got a lot of reaction (all positive, even the tears were positive tears).
And now back in the studio
New projects are bubbling away already. I was out very early this morning gathering source material (which is an arty way of saying ‘taking photos on my phone’) for a new print or two. There is also something quite exciting happening on the York printmaking scene which I will be able to tell you about very soon. For now, suffice to say June is going to be busier than I expected.
Prints that were launched at Printfest are now in my online shop. The little mini-prints proved very popular but I still have some left, and I have finally added my ‘Elbow Falls’ lino print which was also well-received.
I have loads more to tell you but I don’t want to outstay my welcome in your inbox. It can all wait for next time.
Thanks for reading
Jane
Shout out to the The Farmers Ulverston. Highly recommended.
British readers, please admire my restraint in not mentioning eye tests. Oh dammit…
I hesitated before tapping the Barnard Castle footnote but thought “no, it won’t be about eye tests” … 😐
I hope you get a better spot next year a good one makes so much difference!