The Impact International 
Printmaking Conference

By Joann Moser
Senior Curator, Graphic Arts, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

The Impact International Printmaking Conference that took place September 22-25, 1999 in Bristol, England, was a successful first attempt to hold such an ambitious conference in Europe, modeled on the annual Southern Graphics conferences, which representatives have attended for the past few years. The break-even point for covering expenses was a registration of approximately 200 participants, but in fact more than 400 people attended.

The conference was sponsored by the Centre for Fine Print Research of the University of the West of England. Most of the sessions were held at the Royal West of England Academy in the Clifton section of Bristol, but some of the sessions, the product fair, and all the demonstrations were held at the Bower Ashton campus across the Avon River. I was especially impressed by the thorough printed program given to each participant that included not only the conference schedule, but paper summaries, demonstration summaries, contributor’s biographies, product fair exhibitors, exhibitions at UWE and elsewhere in Bristol, supplementary trips, maps, and a complete list of delegates. Clearly, a good deal of planning went into this conference.

Registration, the opening reception, and welcome took place on Wednesday evening, but the actual sessions did not begin until Thursday morning. The sessions took the form of papers or panel discussions. The keynote papers were scheduled by themselves, but many of the other papers and panels were scheduled two at the same time, so participants had to choose one or the other to attend. The keynote papers were Photogravure at the Graphic Studio by Deli Sacilotto, A Graven Line: the Power of Print as Political Imagery by Paul Gough (Bristol UWE), In Praise of Neglected Print Histories by Beauvais Lyons, Chinese Printmaking - an Illustrated tour by Guang Jun (China Central Academy of Fine Arts). Other speakers, panel members, and demonstrators came from Iceland, Scotland, Australia, Argentina, Northern Ireland, South Africa, France, and Bulgaria, with a strong representation of Americans as well.

As one might expect, the quality of the sessions varied considerably.  Although I did not attend, I heard from several people that the panel on The Impact of Digital Technology on Printmaking was especially interesting and lively. The panel on which I participated, the Impact of the Collector on Current Printmaking Practice, was good, but would have been better had there been more time for discussion. Exchange portfolios were distributed, and an evening of open portfolios was scheduled on Thursday, during which artists had opportunities to show their own work and discuss it with others. On Friday evening, there was an artists open access print workshop exhibition at Spike Island with bar and food. There were many opportunities to meet people, and the pubs stayed open late. For those fortunate enough to be able to extend their stay, a trip to St. Cuthbert’s Paper Mill took place on Wednesday, and a trip to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford was scheduled for Sunday.