by Anna Maria Di Brina
I found out about Artichoke Print Workshop while looking for a place where I could print out my little zinc plate – a present for guests at my September wedding.
I discovered it, after a bit of wandering around for the right entrance, at the upper floor of a unique Victorian granary warehouse, one of its windows facing the railway line of the nearby Loughborough Junction Station in Brixton.
The atmosphere of the place is that which I love. Etching presses here and there, ready to be used, working tables spread around with paper, coloured inks, printing tools, all soaked in a rare, warm smell of varnish and etching acids. Everything suggests an intense, handmade, artistic activity.
A man and a woman are taking a big sheet of paper out of a water box and kindly introduce me to one of the directors. “It’s very nice to meet you, I’m Melvyn Patterson” says the middle-aged, gentle artist. I’m fascinated by this flavour of cordiality and immediate friendship that lets you feel at ease and instantly involved in the artistic community, despite coming for the first time!
Melvyn grants me his time and promptly helps me with my dry-point. We adjust the borders, spread the ink, polish the surface, prepare the paper. Passing around the wheel of the press makes me enjoy the pleasure of a long gone, still profoundly meaningful gesture.
I want to know more about this place. I’m wondering about the unusual name given to the studio.
“When I and Colin Gale, my colleague, decided to establish our own printing workshop, in 1992, we found a place in Artichoke Mews, Camberwell” says Melvyn. “It was only when we got in that we understood that our stuff couldn’t wholly fit inside. So we moved and found the place you see now. We kept the name we had started to be known with in the Mews. It was odd enough and inspiring!”
This is one of the few studios in London offering open access. How do things work here?
“We are open to artists from all over the world” Melvyn confirms. “They come from New Zealand, China, Russia, India. It is exciting exchanging ideas with them, and even sharing different techniques, some that we don’t even know exist! And they are one of our few sources of income”.
He is proud to tell me that Artichoke is one of the last independent printing workshops in the UK. It does not receive any grant. It has been a deliberate choice. “We haven’t got to justify to anyone. We are free, our artists can really do what they want, without influences. Working, showing, selling their own works.”
Seven years ago Artichoke became a charity. “It has not been easy, at the very beginning of this enterprise”. Melvyn is speaking with the hearth in his hands. “We didn’t earn any money for the first five years. It has not been easy to go on. Now we sustain ourselves thanks to many activities. We have outreach programmes with schools and institutions and used to host printing courses.”
Artichoke has participated in the exhibition still on show at the British Museum (The American Scene: prints from Hopper to Pollock) and is active in the local Lambeth Community, teaching children in particular.
“Art is a wonderful instrument,” says Melvyn with shining eyes. “It helps children to gain confidence and to express their feelings through the materials. Sometimes it just shapes their self-esteem. My fear is that IT inspired tools are replacing our space in colleges. Anyway, if our courses direct even only one child towards art, yes, it is great!”
Melvyn is an etcher. I cannot leave without asking him what brought him into this particular artistic technique.
“I studied painting and drawing at the Camberwell School of Art and obtained a specialisation in printing. I’m absolutely passionate about etching! I think the turning point in my life occurred when I saw a film about Norman Ackroyd, a famous English printer. He was filmed sitting in the open landscape with the metal sheet on his lap, drawing directly on it from nature and subsequently putting it straight in the acid…wonderful! It opened my mind and in that precise moment I decided to become a landscape etcher…”
It is fascinating being narrated stories like these. It gives me a subtle kind of hope, a vivid impression of how interesting and surprising life can be when inspiration finds people ready to get it!
Ok, a proof from my zinc dry-point is ready. Well, I think that my wedding guests will appreciate the effort more than the result…but, anyway, I’ll leave the work for the final copies to be sent out to the Artist. I fully count on his experienced and insightful touch to make them shine!
Artichoke Print Workshop is at Unit S1. Bizspace, 245a Coldharbour Lane,
London SW9 8RR. Tel: 0207 924 0600. Email: artichoketrading@btconnect.com. You can find out more about Artichoke on their website: www.artichokeprintmaking.com
