Detail of hand drawn watercolour screen print of textile tassel on paper, 2024, 25cm x 25cm

Women in Print Residency, 2024-25

Artlab Contemporary Print Studios, UCLan, Preston

Jenny was invited to be part of the Women in Print Residency at Artlab Contemporary Print Studios to explore recent textile work and weaving through the medium of print. Artlab Contemporary Print Studio (ACPS) is a hub for incubating ideas and methods, developing innovative thinking about printmaking as a fine art discipline. This practice based research unit is led by artists and research staff Tracy Hill and Magda Stawarska.

During the experimental residency at ACPS, Jenny has explored embossing hand made textiles, drawing the textiles using stone lithography and monoprints, exploring colour through water colour screen printing. Experimentation of scale using scanning and magnification of handwoven artifacts as revealed new sculptural forms, screen printing small details such as hand wound cord and tassels to ten or fifteen times the dimension changing the presence of the textile entirely.

“I am particularly interested in developing an edition using the subtler processes of screen-printing and embossing on paper. I paint everyday watercolours on an open screen, building up dense layers which I leave to dry and settle into the screen. I then pull through medium to print the image, which first comes through strong and bright and then fades in certain areas more and more as the prints progress.”

Above: Screen print of backstrap loom weaving on paper, 2024, Jenny Steele, 42cm x 59cm

Jenny will create a limited edition print at the end of her residency at ACPS using watercolour screen printing and embossing techniques.

Jenny’s work created during her Women in Print residency has been explored in the article ‘Translating Textiles into Print: Jenny Steele’s Women in Print Residency’ by Iona Glen for Corridor 8 available to read here

Jenny’s prints were also featured in the Autumn 2024 Issue of Printmaking Today, in a ‘Weaving Threads’ article by Catherine Cartwright, available to purchase here

Above: Detail of hand drawn lithography print on paper, 2024, 29.7 x 42cm

Screen print of hand wound cord on paper, 2024, 42cm x 59cm