The Arts Society Wensleydale Young Arts Print Workshop

Wensleydale School students have created some superb images inspired by Marie Hartley’s prints at a workshop held in the school and led by the Dales artist Hester Cox.

Due to the guidance of their art teacher Louise Webb, the students were already aware of various printing techniques. However financial support from The Arts Society Wensleydale, together with the help of Fiona Rosher from The Dales Countryside Museum and Hester Cox, enabled the workshop to take place. The year 11 students looked at Marie’s prints, the illustrations from three of her books and at the woodblocks and were amazed to see the high level of detail in her work. They learnt about the basics of relief collagraphy (collaging materials and textiles direct onto a plate), then, inspired, they created plates from which they then printed. The whole process was very much enjoyed and appreciated by the students. “Cool” and “amazing” were just some of the comments overheard. 

 Hester Cox has been working with the Museum over the last year and has  printed all of the Marie Hartley woodblocks held by the museum. She has researched into Marie’s life as an artist and author, and is now putting together a body of work for her exhibition in the museum in 2020.