Woodcut Printing

The Upendo Printers

By Standing Voice

August 28^th, 2019

The Upendo Printers are a talented group of artists with and without albinism using relief-printing techniques to produce beautiful works from carved wood. Established in 2017, the group has honed its creative potential under the expert guidance of visiting print artist Alex Booker, who has led the printmaking workshop in our Summer Skills Series for three consecutive years.

Alex is an acclaimed print artist whose work has been exhibited internationally. He runs the Booker Print House from his studio in London, where he explores the properties of ink and wood in an ongoing series of stunning experiments, often inspired by history, landscapes and the sea. For the last three years, Alex has delivered regular printmaking day sessions from his studio.

At this year’s Summer Skills Workshop, the printers strengthened their existing skill sets, expanding their portfolio with a range of stunning new works. Welcoming many familiar faces -- together with some new ones -- Alex was delighted by the quality of the prints produced and impressed by participants’ progression from last year:

"Summer Skills 2019 was a special week; it was my third year on Ukerewe and my longest series of woodcut printing workshops to date. The teaching sessions proved to be another enriching and inspired collection of moments, especially on the field trips which gave the class beautiful island scenery and wildlife which produced a canon of drawings to experiment in printmaking".

“Together, the printers created a range of beautiful prints, drawn from observation and imagination in equal measure. Each participant began with a plain block of Japanese plywood and an idea. Then came the challenging part: in woodcutting, whatever image you would like to print must be drawn onto the block in reverse. The marks made on the block appear in the image as a void. It sounds simple enough, but it's actually very different from drawing or painting. The next step was inking the surface of the finished wood cut, then finally placing a piece of paper on top to transfer the final image.” -- Alex Booker

"The diversity of people in our group brought an abundance of enthusiasm, energy, music and singing to the workshops. It was a riot of loud joyful scenes and colourful prints: a wonderful combination that quite literally shook the floorboards! I was really impressed with how the new members of our group embraced with confidence and skill the woodcut process. Everyone excelled in the multi-coloured reduction cut print technique. I’m continually amazed by how much talent is out there." -- Alex Booker

In a separate week of workshops, the Upendo Printers enjoyed the opportunity to develop their skills in the additional training disciplines of batik and soapmaking. Led by Rose Jacob Pakiel and Zuwena Brown—two members of Upendo wa Mama, a Community Based Organisation empowering vulnerable women—the group built on previous training sessions to develop their capabilities in batik and soapmaking, expanding their knowledge of batik patterns and learning how to produce liquid soaps as well as bar soaps. By the end of the week, the group had begun receiving orders from regulars at the UTC, including local government leaders!