I am delighted to add her video, which somehow during those Covid times, was omitted!  Enjoy!

Sally McLaren RE Retrospective: A Passion for Printmaking

Original intaglio etchings 1959 – present

14 March – 2 May 2026

We celebrate the remarkable printmaking of Sally McLaren in a solo selling show that fills the timber-framed galleries at Sladers Yard Gallery with glorious works from throughout her career.

Distinguished printmaker, painter and etcher Sally McLaren was born in London, studied at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford and at the Central School of Art in London. She won a scholarship to study in Paris at the famous Atelier 17 of Stanley William Hayter, returning to teach at Goldsmith’s College of Art. She is a Fellow and Founder Member of the Printmaker’s Council of Great Britain, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers now known as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers (RE). She has exhibited widely and her work is held in numerous collections around the world, including the National Print Collection, the V&A Museum, the Government Art Collection, the Scottish Arts Council, the Museum of Modern Art in Macedonia, the Cabo Frio Print Collection in Sao Paulo and the New York Public Library. In recent years, two monographs of her work have been published, The Response of Landscape and In Search of Stillness, which is in the collection of the National Art Library at the V&A, and is available in soft or hardback boxed editions at the exhibition. Sally McLaren lives and continues to work in Wiltshire.

Now in her 90^th year and producing large, joyous, youthful carborundum prints, Sally’s unique artistic voice sings out even from the first prints she made while studying at the Central School of Art, London, in the late 1950s. Her first ever untitled black and white etching showed in that year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and we have almost all the key works which marked turning points in her career since then.

Immensely knowledgeable and technically adept, Sally has always drawn inspiration from the natural world and landscape. Her experimental approach has taken her through different periods and styles through the decades, exploding in the fabulously colourful freewheeling work she is producing now in collaboration with master-printmaker Andrew Smith.

Biography:

Sally McLaren was born in 1936 and lived in India for her first three years. In 1939 Sally, her mother and brother returned to live in Somerset near to her grandparents. Later they moved to East Knoyle where Sally and her husband still live in her childhood home. Sally’s father was killed in action in Burma in 1942. Sally was educated by her mother until she was 10. Then followed two years locally as a day girl at a local convent. Missing artistic stimulation, she left to board at a small and wonderfully creative school called Langford Grove in Sussex. At home her stepfather Stephen Scammell used to take them camping on the Dorset coast. ‘I was immersed in beautiful landscapes,’ she recalls, a deep connection which would continue throughout her life.

‘I want to feel the wind in the trees, the spray beside the seaside, the heat on the beach, the glistening white of the cliffs. It’s those feelings that I particularly relate to, an enjoyment of freedom, liberty and warmth.’ SMcL

She studied Architectural Draughtsmanship by correspondence course and attended part time at Salisbury Art School and then the History of Italian Art and Literature in Italian at the University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy. In 1956 she went to the Ruskin School of Art which was then housed in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. There she received a thorough traditional formal schooling. Alone for the first time in Oxford, she started painting sets for university theatre productions which introduced her to David Webster (her husband to be), Ken Loach, Patrick Garland, John McGrath, Alan Bennett, Dudley Moore and many others.

Three years later she started at the Central School of Art in London and quickly found her place in etching and painting. There, Anthony Harrison and Merlyn Evans taught her every technique of intaglio – from dry point and line work, stopping out and deep etch methods using acids, etching away different levels for soft and hard rollers as well as techniques with aquatint, and drawing on hard and soft grounds. ‘Tony Harrison opened the whole avenue of etching to me and I completely fell in love with this process.’

The Central encouraged her to push away the barriers she had been taught at the Ruskin to be free with whatever medium she was using. ‘I was beginning to feel that I was developing my own style. In taking a detail away… I would create a more abstract image – a less conventional image that somehow allowed it to breathe.’ And with that, in 1960 she began to exhibit, with the Royal Society of British Artists, The RA Summer Exhibition, and the Zwemmer Gallery where her etching was bought by the New York Public Library. In 1961 she was elected Associate of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers.

On the strength of a portfolio of etchings including City (1962), she won a scholarship for a year at the famous Atelier 17 run by Stanley William Hayter in Paris. There she was expected to start again from scratch using only Hayter’s methods, even though she had already learned all these techniques at the Central. Again, she was being taught rules she would have to push away. She did this on her return by cutting up her plates and printing from them in segments. A position teaching at Goldsmiths gave her an income and also kept her in contact with professional artists. She continued at Goldsmiths after she married David Webster until she became pregnant in 1965.

Juggling motherhood of three boys with her work, she found walking was the key – as it has remained ever since. ‘I seek out places that are empty and have huge expanses of space. As I allow these in, immediately a sense of quiet and stillness arrives. I don’t paint place. I paint an atmosphere, which comes from absorption, of being in that place.’ ‘My work is to try to depict the beauty of landscape, its shapes and forms and inescapable history.’

In 1996, Sally began working with master printmakers Jack Shirreff and Andrew Smith at 107 Workshop. Jack and Andrew always encouraged her to make ambitious, radical work with utter freedom. Latterly she has continued to work with Andrew now at Andrew’s Printworks in Poole. Her work has blossomed with their support. She and David moved into her mother’s house at East Knoyle in 2006 and, when she was 70, they converted an old bus garage into a wonderful studio.

Her work breathes with a radical spaciousness. ‘When I walk across the fields I rebalance, I come back to the core of myself from which I think everything stems. It removes any confusion and simplifies my outlook… I will continue to do what I can to show what is beautiful.’

Sladers Yard Contemporary Art & Craft Gallery, CAFÉ SLADERS, West Bay, Bridport Dorset DT6 4EL

Open Wednesday to Saturday 10am – 4.30pm.  t: 01308 459511   gallery@sladersyard.co.uk   sladersyard.co.uk

ARTIST STATEMENT:
‘I am an illustrator, painter, and Fine-Art printmaker
who portrays society and modern events through pain8ng.
I work in London and Lucerne, Switzerland.
My aim is to showcase my sociopolitical and poetic works,
even in a futuristic context. I draw inspiration from literature,
from historical references by German painters and illustrators
of the 20.th Century like George Grosz, OEo Dix, E.L. Kirchner
and from Italian Futurists artists Luigi Russolo and Umberto Boccioni.
Also, from my research from various sources,
from my travels to other places and countries.’

McCormick has always sought out collaborative working across other disciplines. A good example of this is ‘MYAM’, a collaborative project, which consisted of a genetic scientist, Dr. Mark Wilcox, two sound artists; Furlong and Janes and herself as a visual artist. The first stage of the collaboration required each collaborator to donate a sample of blood in exchange for a fluorogram of their own DNA signature. This would be the visual resource for the work produced.

Her MA body of work, Sudarium, consisted of a base photo intaglio image of a Cycladic head, upon which disparate elements were overlaid.

As part of her PhD, she produced a body of viscosity etchings at the Atelier Contrepoint in Paris, under the direction of Hector Saunier and Juan Valladares.

After her PhD, her practice expanded to encompass sound embedded prints, for example, ‘Cern Higgs Boson’ and ‘The Sound of the Sun’, utilising spectrograms of sound.

McCormick developed an interest in frequencies, generated from a wave generator, from which a Cymatic body of print work was created. Each frequency, made a different pattern and she captured these as collograph printing plates.

She also explored the frequency of natural materials, such as pure linen and pure wool, which have a high frequency of 5000mHz, holding healing and good health properties.

Further examples of her work may be seen at;

www.josephinemccormick.com

Facebook; Josephine Mc Cormick Artist/Printmaker

Instagram; Josephine McCormick @cre8ni

Diane studied Visual Art at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, focusing mainly on printmaking. This was followed by a career as a television graphic designer producing title sequences and promos for dramas. This influenced her work on her return to printmaking, both visually and technically.

Favourite printmaking processes include lithography, monotypes, image transfer and photopolymer etchings. A print always starts with a photograph, a snapshot of time. This image becomes the source of a print through various layers of mark-making processes, resulting in small, variable editions.

‘I am inspired by the fleeting instances in time, those half-seen possibilities caught through images, be it scenery or a beloved object. I catch these chance moments which seem to tell a story in a photograph and translate them into prints.’

Diane’s most recent exhibitions include the following:

‘From Whernside’ as part of the PMC’s 60th celebrations at Footprint Gallery at Fusion

‘Over The Bridge to Waterloo’ Southbank Printmakers ’Tides and Tales’ at Morley Gallery

‘Weather Coming In’ at Oxmarket Contemporary Gallery

‘London Skies – From Upper Ground’ at RHACC with Wednesday Printmakers

Instagram: @dianemclellanart

Website: dianemclellan.com

Originally her work was mainly etching on steel plates based on subjects ranging from landscape (images 13, 14, 15) to women’s heads (images 9, 10, 11, 12). Her use of steel plates allowed her to work quickly and without the need of aquatint.

Her practice is constantly evolving as does her subjects and source material. “Mr Turner’s grand design” and “Homage to Piero della Francesca” (images 7 & 8) come from her “Outside in” series.  In image 8 she took one of his most iconic works and placed the background of the double portrait within their silhouettes.

During the pandemic Martin had plenty of time to take stock of her work and she decided to make the radical change and remove the very toxic materials she used for most of her life with etching, and move to drypoint. The Arts Council of Ireland facilitated this with a generous grant enabling her to refit her studio and safely dispose of the acids.

With this move she felt she needed to also change subject matter. Like many people during the pandemic lockdowns, she found herself on daily walks. It was on these walks she began to make drawings of many places and objects she previously passed, barely noticing. The drawings led to the latest series, “Hidden in plain sight” (See Home Page)  These drypoints have been selected for the Royal Academy, London, Royal Hibernian, Dublin, and Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast exhibitions.

The drypoint “Sanctum” (image 6) was Martin’s response to the Graphic Studio in conjunction with a homeless charity’s fundraiser which had the theme “Home”. Fifty printmakers from the Graphic Studio took part in it.  She consciously decided not to use an obvious subject and chose a nest, as she felt its fragility represented the precarious nature of some peoples living situations, and how they can become homeless overnight. The fundraiser ran for four years and collectively raised almost €90,000 for the charity.

Martin is passionate about traditional printmaking and on its promotion in the face of the onslaught of reproductions. She regularly gives printmaking demonstrations in Ireland and Italy. Also, on the first Sunday in December she opens her studio to the public and demonstrates printmaking.

 Milena Michalski is Senior Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London. Her visual arts practice engages particularly with place and perception, site and sight, and complements her academic research.

Working with printmaking and camera-less, analogue photographic techniques, often through site specific installation, Milena traces hidden or suppressed stories of places or moments. She uses plant pigments and botanical materials in her prints and is currently experimenting with making her own natural screenprinting inks.

Milena co-runs alternative process workshops at Darkroom London including ‘Albumen Printing’ and ‘The Silver Garden: Cultivating Camera-less images’.

Recent publications include:

‘Alternative Photographic Processes: Developing Your Fruit and Veg’,
(with Elisabeth Scheder-Bieschin), Black + White Photography, issue 308, November 2025, pp. 66-69

‘Planting Prints’, Printmaking Today, vol. 33, no. 131, Autumn 2024, pp. 34-35

Enmeshed

The aviary prints are part of ‘Enmeshed’, Milena’s series of cyanotypes on Fabriano Accademia paper, created for Michaela Nettell’s book ‘LESS A BUILDING: Interactions with the London Zoo Aviary’, published September 2021.

https://www.passen-gers.co.uk/post/659760077590478848/passengers-is-delighted-to-announce-its-publishing

These cyanotypes originate from photographs, many taken by Milena on 35mm film during the Covid-19 pandemic enforced isolation period, when the aviary was undergoing transformation, others taken by Michaela Nettell earlier, when the aviary could still be entered.  Milena developed her film in a homemade leaf solution, and exposed the cyanotypes in sunlight. Some prints in this series were also toned in leaves or wine tannin. The interaction of nature and the man-made is key in both subject and process of this work.

Still Standing

‘Still Standing’ is a site-specific cyanotype installation made for St. Augustine’s Tower, the oldest building in Hackney, London. This tower is all that survives of the original parish church, which was demolished in 1798. 

Phytograms

A phytogram is a print made by harnessing the internal chemistry of plants to create images on photographic emulsion, which is usually coated on to paper, but can also be on glass or film. Plants are treated with developer (Milena makes hers from plants), and then pressed into the emulsion and exposed to light. Depending on the pressure applied to the plant, a phytogram can take on a deeply haptic quality, because the plant can emboss itself into the emulsion, or it can be more of a surface image. On glass, in particular, a phytogram can become three-dimensional, as the emulsion can move and loosen during contact with the wet plant, and when it re-dries it gains extra texture. On paper, a phytogram can range from appearing to be a delicate, shaded pencil drawing, to seeming more like a strong charcoal or ink line-drawing. Phytography is, ideally, more than a technique; it is a two-way interaction between humans and nature, a consideration of other species. One of the special qualities of a phytogram is its unpredictability: each plant is unique and so too is each set of environmental circumstances during creation.

Milena’s phytograms tend to use plants from locations specific to each project.

‘Lucia in Lumine’ is part of a series of phytograms, including this sculptural one on glass set within an illuminated wooden house. The image is created from leaves growing in places that the photographer Lucia Moholy lived and worked. For more on Milena’s project see it featured in the documentary film ‘Lucia Moholy: Bauhaus Photographer’ written and directed by Sigrid Faltin, 2024.

‘Fade Away (Radiate)’ is a phytogram combined with a chemigram print, in which various plant and food substances were added to the light-sensitive paper to create resists and make marks, along with the plants.

Steve Mumberson, Co Chair comments ‘The choosing of the PMC prize winner at the East London Printmakers Exhibition ‘Festival of Print 2025′ was a very difficult process since there was a good range of engaging works and good examples of artist works from artists who were already members. Within my short list there were examples of highly crafted traditional approaches and works that involved the latest wide use of digital process.  Subjects spanned from the deeply personal, issue based work to formalist engagements and works that were a celebration of the potential of printmaking.  It was the future potential and range of ideas that lead me to choose Shelia Woollam for our membership PMC Prize, although there were many other exhibitors who made the decision difficult.  So a warm welcome to Shelia as a new member and hope to see her work in next year’s programme of shows.’

He sees all printing technologies as both tools for art creation but also for its dispersion, however he considers thought and play to be the essential instigators of art. His work is informed by print as a concept and also by his love of drawing.