‘The value of property’ is a collaborative project between Anna Harley, myself in conjunction with Spike Island Print Studio and the UWE Impact printmaking conference. The project explores, through fine art printmaking, the feelings around home ownership in Bristol

It will be a series of Fine art prints will be produced to simulate and subvert the ‘For Sale’ and ‘To Let’ and ‘Sale Through Auction’ placards that are placed outside private homes.

The images will explore the hopes, dreams and anxieties people have in relation to their property; issues that are central to ordinary people in the current economic climate of falling house prices, the threat of redundancy and home repossession.

The prints will be the same size as the placard and will be produced from materials and
substrates found inside private homes, such as linoleum, wooden floors, rugs and wallpapers. Using print processes of intaglio, relief and silk screen, the materials of the house will be echoed in both process and end result. The visual language of stencil graffitti and flyposting will be integrated in the process, as this seems to be one of the last bastions of honest protest in the eyes of the people.

We intend to interview people on the street and home owners in the area; the latter may be asked to display the print/placards outside their properties. Our aim is to create a visual link between the inhabitants and the audience on the street, evoking thoughts and feeling around what a home means, what it is worth and how much it costs in emotional terms.

Spike Island and Ross Ford introduce Hidden Impact:
HIDDEN IMPACT: prints in the city
12th – 19th September 2009

Artists living, working, exhibiting or studying in Bristol will install prints in unexpected locations in central Bristol. From the wine vaults of Avery’s wine lodge to Brandon Hill overlooking the city, HIDDEN IMPACT will take you to places you may not have visited.

Shops, stores and cafés on and near Park Street from the FOPP record store at the bottom by the Council House to Howies clothing store at the top near the Royal West of England Academy will be displaying prints. Towers of books will be found in the Cathedral, there will be etchings at Temple Meads Station and bicycles with print will tour the area. You may have to search for the work or it could be self-evident.

Many forms of prints will be shown including the use of commercial placards, recycled materials, leaves, bus tickets, wine labels and digital screens. Traditional print methods such as lino cut, etching and silk-screen will also be seen.

Indoors and out all the venues will be marked on a map. Just make your own route and have fun spotting the work when you’re out and about. A map marking the venues and all the print exhibitions in the city will be available. Information and a map will be on Spike Print and IMPACT 6 websites from August.

HIDDEN IMPACT : Prints in the City is an artist-led project co-ordinated by Spike Print Studio, Bristol in conjunction with IMPACT 6 International printmaking conference organised by the University of the West of England.

www.spikeprintstudio.org/impact
www.impact.uwe.ac.uk

contact: hiddenimpact@spikeprintstudio.org