Centre For Print Research

Paper Symposium Papers Are Live! The papers from Paper Symposium are now published and available to read on Impact Printmaking Journal. Dive into the research, ideas, and conversations that shaped the symposium 👇 /index.php/impact/index

Our Short Courses are booking up fast and are open to everyone- whether you’re just starting out or already working in the field, we’ve designed options to suit beginners and experienced practitioners alike. We are very excited to be able to offer a wide range of courses from Traditional Printmaking, through to Digital Skills and CAD. Join our specialists and experts as they guide you though some of the wonderful processes they use every day in our beautiful CFPR workshops! Click the link in our Bio to book your place. 1. An Introduction to Autographic stencil making for Screen Print, 26-27 February 2026, £150 2. An Introduction to photographic stencil making for Screen Print, 4-5 March 2025, £150 3. Screenprinting Masterclass – Unconventional Inks & Surfaces, 6 March 2026, £180 4. The Fundamentals of Etching, 10-13 March 2026, £380 5. Chine-Colle Masterclass – Exploring Chine-Collé in printmaking, 18 March 2026, £150 6. Photopolymer Gravure for Artists and Photographers, 19-20 March 2026, £280 7. Letterpress Compendium: blocks, & printing, 23 July 2026, £150 8. Making with Rhino, 12-15 January 2026, £275 9. Making with Grasshopper, 9-12 February 2026, £275 10. Creating your Own Digital Colour Palette, 25 March 2026, £50

ARE YOU CURIOUS? Developed at CFPR, the Curio Case builds on our Cabinet of Curiosities- a modular display system reimagined in a smaller, more portable, and accessible form. Designed to spark creativity and curiosity, it invites artists, curators, and creatives of all ages to explore how artworks are displayed and experienced. Perfect for galleries, art clubs, and community projects, the Curio Case is a hands-on tool for learning, making, and showcasing creativity. 📩 For hire & enquiries: [email protected] Made and designed by Michael White (Senior Reserach Technician) & Carinna Parraman (Centre Director) at Centre for Print Research, UWE Bristol Video edit credits: Michael White #CFPR #CurioCase #CabinetOfCuriosities #UWEBristol #ArtAndDesign #CreativeEducation #Printmaking #ExhibitionDesign #CuratorsOfTheFuture #CreativeLearning

Applications are now open for a funded PhD exploring how material qualities in cultural heritage can be translated into accessible audio for blind and partially sighted audiences. This interdisciplinary project combines AI, imaging, and design to turn surface detail (like texture, marks, and structure) into meaningful, evidence-based audio descriptions. 🎓 UWE Bristol (College of Arts, Technology and Environment) 📅 Deadline: 22 May 2026 🚀 Start date: 1 October 2026 💰 £20,780 stipend + full tuition (3 years) Work with cutting-edge imaging, inclusive design, and cultural heritage partners to shape new tools and standards for accessibility. 📌 Ref: 2627-OCT-CATE04 Find out more & apply: cfpr.uwe.ac.uk under NEWS #PhDOpportunity #Accessibility #InclusiveDesign #DigitalHeritage #AI UWEBristol

Fully Funded PhD Opportunity – New Earthly Vernacular We’re inviting applications for a funded PhD exploring how architecture can develop a new earthly vernacular- combining traditional earthen construction with contemporary design, sustainability, and digital fabrication. 🎓 Based at UWE Bristol (College of Arts, Technology and Environment) 📅 Deadline: 22 May 2026 🚀 Start date: 1 October 2026 💰 £20,780 annual stipend + full tuition fees (3 years) This practice-based project brings together material experimentation, prototyping, and collaboration with industry partners to rethink low-carbon building for the future. 📌 Ref: 2627-OCT-CATE05 Find out more: cfpr.uwe.ac.uk/phd-studentship-opportunity-new-earthly-vernacular/ (or under NEWS) #PhDOpportunity #Architecture #SustainableDesign #EarthArchitecture #FullyFundedPhD UWEBristol

“Retrospective: Bound in Place” explores how printmaking and bookbinding can tell powerful stories about place through materials, process, and memory. This exhibition article by a UWE alumni is part of the Reel Case Exhibitions programme, organised by CFPR Research Fellow Angie Butler in collaboration with the Bristol Materials Network (Morwenna Peters and Fiona Dowling). Featuring the work of Brian Norman, the piece reflects on the tactile relationship between paper, ink, thread, and landscape- inviting us to see books as layered narratives shaped by where they come from. 🔗 Read more under NEWS on our website #CFPR #UWEBristol #Bookbinding #Printmaking #ArtistsBooks BristolArts MaterialStories

Dive into the calming art of suminagashi, or “floating ink,” in this one-day, hands-on workshop. Learn to create beautiful, fluid patterns on water using simple techniques and materials. Perfect for beginners and creatives alike- come experiment, unwind, and leave inspired. Read more and book your space: /courses/cpd/

Master printer @laura.l.clarke has had a wonderful week printing with artist @mrcn.gwn at @cfpr_research . The image needed a hybrid approach to resolve it and to do it justice. We used Giclee, screenprinted neon, spectraval pigments, gold and gloss varnish. Such a productive time of truely pushing the boundaries of print and collaboration to achieve results. Do give Marcin a follow… his work is incredible. If you are an artist and want to come and work with me in the studio do get in touch. #printmaking #screenprinting #printstudio #artistinresidence #masterprinter

Fully Funded PhD Opportunity Tate St Ives and UWE Bristol are offering a Collaborative Doctoral Studentship (AHRC CDP) starting October 2026. Apply by 10 May 2026 Ref: 2627-OCT-CATE03 This is a great opportunity to be part of two supportive and creative research communities, exploring how people engage with museums in a global context. Available full or part-time. For informal enquiries: [email protected] Image: Another Hurling of the Silver Ball by Allard van Hoorn, 2019 © Tate

Having another crack at ‘I am inside of who I was’ auto graphic photopolymer gravure today. Added a dash of carmine to the black to try and make it feel more fleshy…. Still not entirely happy with it… it remains a work in progress. But was a happy end to my Thursday. #Printmaking #photogravure #printstudio #print #femalemasterprinter Made on my gorgeous @rochat_printing_presses at @cfpr_research , using Somerset satin soft white from @st.cuthberts.mill as ever ❤️

Paul Laidler- To Live Is to Be Haunted @paul.laider In this talk I’ll share an ongoing visual series titled To Live Is to Be Haunted, after Philip K. Dick – a practice-related project that treats generative A.I. as a slightly uncanny, print-adjacent apparatus: a system that repeats, slips, and misremembers. Here, authorship becomes less about invention and more about discovery through derivation. I use repetition, slippage, and re-enactment as methods—treating the machine as a reflective partner while keeping uncertainty visible as part of the work. Following printmaking’s logics of trace, derivation, and re-visitation, I ask what creative agency looks like when images circulate as unstable versions rather than fixed originals. Paul Laidler is a Senior Lecturer in BA Illustration and an associate member of CFPR at UWE Bristol. His research and practice explore how technologically informed culture—its speeds, interfaces, and habits of replication—quietly reshapes how images are made, read, and valued. With a background in collaborative print studio production and doctoral research into digitally mediated print and the artist–printer relationship, he works across art and design practices to examine trace, derivation, and authorship under changing technical conditions.

📢 Calling all printmakers - there’s still time to apply to Spike Print Fair! 📢 Open to individual artists, collectives and galleries, Spike Print Fair is part of Spike Island 50, celebrating 50 years of artist-led production and experimental practice. Applications are open now and last until 12 April. Produced by Spike Island (@spikeisland ), Spike Print Studio (@spikeprintstudio ) and @uwebristol ’s Centre for Print Research (@cfpr_research ), the fair brings together printmakers, illustrators, designers, small presses and galleries working across traditional and experimental print practices.      We invite applications from individual artists, artist collectives and galleries alike and look forward to recieving applications from across all spectrums of printmaking practices and methods.      Open Call closes Sunday 12 April, midnight   Spike Print Fair dates: 24 to 26 July, 2026      Find out more and apply via the link in bio 🔗