The Hepworth Wakefield launches three new School Prints by artists Phyllida Barlow, Ro Robertson and Veronica Ryan
05 Sep 2023
In 2018, The Hepworth Wakefield launched School Prints – an ambitious project to engage every primary school child in its local area with contemporary art.
Each year, the participating schools are gifted a set of limited-edition prints by leading contemporary artists for display in school and are supported with an in-depth engagement programme led by artists to encourage creativity across the curriculum. The prints are also sold to generate funds for the engagement work with school children.
For Year 5 of the School Prints project, The Hepworth Wakefield has released three new prints for sale by Phyllida Barlow (1944 – 2023), Veronica Ryan (b. 1956) and Ro Robertson (b. 1984). The Hepworth Wakefield has had long-standing relationships with each of the three artists.
All of the prints are available to buy online from our shop. All funds generated from the print sales support the engagement programme with local schools.
To stay up to date with The Hepworth Wakefield’s artist editions programme sign up to the editions mailing list and follow our editions Instagram.
School Prints is kindly supported by the Eridge Trust and Coriander Studio.
School Prints is inspired by a ground-breaking scheme set up in the 1940s by Brenda Rawnsley where artists, including Henri Matisse, Henry Moore and Pablo Picasso, were commissioned to create prints specifically for schools to allow children to have direct access to high-quality art. Artists who have taken part in The Hepworth Wakefield’s revival of the scheme include: Hurvin Anderson, Sir Peter Blake, Sir Frank Bowling, Sir Michael Craig-Martin, Martin Creed, Jeremy Deller, Anthea Hamilton, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Helen Marten, Haroon Mirza and Yinka Shonibare CBE.
This year's School Prints
Phyllida Barlow, untitled - boulders, 2022, 2022
As an artist educator herself for four decades, Barlow welcomed the invitation to contribute to the School Prints project. Barlow’s lithograph, untitled – boulders, 2022, is among the last works the artist made before she died in March 2023. Barlow was nominated for the inaugural Hepworth Prize for Sculpture in 2016. For the Prize exhibition, Barlow made new work and adapted existing sculptures constructed from simple everyday materials, with which her work has become synonymous. In 2021, The Hepworth Wakefield and Leeds Art Gallery were jointly allocated a large-scale sculpture by Barlow, gifted to the nation through the Cultural Gifts Scheme, administered by the Arts Council.
This edition has Barlow’s signature printed on the reverse and is certified by Barlow’s estate.
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Ro Robertson, The Source, 2022
Robertson’s The Source lithograph is inspired by a 20-metre-long sculpture of the same name that is due to be installed in Wakefield city centre as part of the new Wakefield Sculpture Trail. In 2019, Robertson was Yorkshire Sculpture International’s associate artist, based at The Hepworth Wakefield. The year-long mentoring programme, including a display of work, led to Robertson being awarded a number of major outdoor commissions. A body of Robertson’s work, Packing, comprising sculpture, video and work on paper was acquired in 2020 for Wakefield’s art collection with support from Contemporary Art Society’s Rapid Response Fund. It examines the connections between the queer body and the landscape.
“I am very pleased to collaborate on this special print edition with The Hepworth Wakefield for the School Prints project and share this drawing which has been an important part of my process in realising The Source sculpture and garden. This is an active drawing – an exercise in reaching from one side of the paper to the next in as many watery bursts as possible to free up my mark-making and decide on the forms that are later refined and cut from steel for fabrication. I am happy that this active drawing will be part of such a proactive project that sees contemporary art enter schools and hopefully inspires young people to continue their creativity and be inspired to see where it takes them.” Ro Robertson
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Veronica Ryan, Coco Beans, 2022
This year’s Turner Prize winner, Veronica Ryan, has produced a lithograph, Coco Beans, with a screen-printed varnish. Between 1998 and 2000 Ryan was the first artist to undertake a residency at Barbara Hepworth’s Palais de Dance studio in St Ives. At the time, Hepworth’s full scale plaster prototypes, that are now permanently displayed at The Hepworth Wakefield, were still housed there. In 2017, Ryan undertook a residency in Wakefield and was co-commissioned by The Art House and The Hepworth Wakefield to create a new work – Particles – for Wakefield’s art collection. In 2021, Ryan was commissioned to create work for The Hepworth Wakefield’s 10th birthday exhibition, Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life. One of these works, Cluster, was acquired for the gallery this year alongside Sweet Dreams are Made of These, a major floor-based piece incorporating ceramic casts on a fabric base.
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