Published at 16:26, Wednesday, 20 February 2013

THE main attraction of an internationally renowned festival has been revealed.

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The twelfth annual Printfest will take place at the Coronation Hall in Ulverston over the weekend of May 4 and 5, when more than 40 printmakers are due to attend.

Printfest is an art fair dedicated solely to printmaking and attracts artists and visitors from around the country. Around 1,500 visitors attended the weekend last year.

Festival organisers have now announced Katherine Jones as the 2013 Printmaker of the Year.

To make the decision, Printfest teamed with the prestigious Leicester Print Workshop, whose members nominated artists they felt were the best printmakers working in the UK.

Ms Jones was selected from a shortlist and will spend a four-day residency in Ulverston next month to create a commissioned print based on the local area.

The finished piece will be unveiled at the Printfest private viewing on May 3.

In 2007 Ms Jones was awarded the research fellowship in printmaking at the City and Guilds of London Art School and has won numerous gongs, including the Birgit Skiold Memorial Trust Award of Excellence 2010 and the International Print Biennale Solution Group Prize 2009.

Ms Jones, who was also shortlisted for this year’s prestigious Arts Fellowship Foundation Award in Printmaking, said: “I’m delighted to have been voted this year’s Printmaker of the Year.

“I’m looking forward to participating in the event and discovering Ulverston and the surrounding area during the residency.”

Ms Jones’ chosen medium is collagraphy – a printmaking process in which materials are applied to a rigid substrate such as paperboard or wood, and her printmaking methods are often experimental.

Two of her prints, Stove and Forest Light, have been selected for inclusion in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum’s prints and drawings collection.

Janice Benson, Printfest’s artistic director, said: “I’ve admired Katherine’s work for a long time and I’m very excited that she will be creating a print especially for us.

“The support of the Arts Council has been invaluable in allowing us to offer Katherine this residency and in supporting Printfest activities.”

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