Impact 8

In late August, my colleagues and I traveled to Dundee to attend the Impact 8 International Printmaking Conference. Billed as ‘A celebration of interdisciplinarity and exploration through the medium of print', the progamme of events offered an insight into fellow printmakers current practice through panel discussions, presentations and demonstrations. The evenings were taken up with exhibition openings - an ideal opportunity to network, hanging out with old friends and making some new ones along the way.I thoroughly enjoyed the final day, which started off with the Open Folio sessions. I had a table top with lots of examples of prints, plates and wares and was thrilled by the interest and enthusiasm shown by fellow delegates. I had hoped to slip away to some of the demonstrations which were running at the same time but there was a constant stream of visitors to the table, keen to learn about the project so a few hours quickly slipped by. It was reassuring that the research was so well received by my peers, particularly for me as a printmaker - lots technical ink and paper related questions so I felt quite in my element.

Saturday was rounded off with a traditional Scottish Ceilidh- a perfect opportunity to get back to my Scottish roots after 6 months in south west England. The music was fantastic and lots of folk joined in with the dancing and seemed to really enjoy themselves, although the dance floor could’ve done with being about 4 x larger - it was a bit of a rammy. Good fun though.