Spring is a way off yet but

Printemps is here!

A group of ten artists from the Cambridge Arts Movement are presenting Printemps, an exhibition of prints in various mediums at the Williams Art gallery in Gwydir Street, Cambridge, from Friday 19th until 3rd March. 

The group is extremely diverse, from the powerful political comments of Mohammed Djazmi to the amusing jottings of Victoria Sponge. It also has an international flavour. This highlights the type of group that CAM is, emphasising no particular style or theme which joins them, just the wish to show their work in an independent gallery to an appreciative audience.

A little about some of the exhibitors

An Iranian living and working in Cambridge, Mohammed Djazmi’s drawings and etchings are based on social and political themes, portraying the effects of immoral politics on society. In the Printemps exhibition he is exhibiting his highly-acclaimed Rise and Fall series, which focuses on a non-specific group of corrupt people who could be politicians, religious fanatics or businessmen, but whose behaviour and activities cause social suffering. Mohammed says: 'I wanted to express my opinion that the pain which these people cause makes them essentially ugly, regardless of their superficial appearance or how kind they may be towards their friends and family.' 

Valerie Sims is a Cambridge printmaker who is showing prints on an uncomfortable subject  death. The Victorians obsessed about death but didn't talk about sex, and even hid table legs with table cloths. Now it's completely the opposite; death is the ultimate conversation-stopper but we talk about sex, grinning and slapping each other on the back...'

Victoria Sponge’s quirky and uplifting images appeal to a wide age range. Many of her illustrations end up as greetings cards, and very popular they are too. But there is a darker side to Ms Sponge. She is showing a piece called Bluebells. In English folklore the bluebells rang to call a Fairie meeting, but if humans heard the bells they would be dead within the year!

Rosemary Catling recently completed an MA in Printmaking using a fairly unconventional approach to etching. She photo-etches on steel using an image that is degraded from an original digital photograph by re-scanning it several times and manipulating. She then also uses unplanned patina on the plate to create the images, a development of her multi-layered digital work.

Robert Good has created a giclée print of a section of a recently-commissioned (gigantic) painting entitled Pop Paradise. The print features a scantily-clad cherub popping a balloon and the silhouette of a stripper. Other balloons float through the picture, some with letters on.

John Erwood has been a keen photographer for most of his life and has a special interest in nature and landscapes. He has been inspired in recent years by the mountains and flora and fauna of the Pyrenees. John’s aim is to create digital art from elements in nature. He achieves this with his eye for the detail and form of the image and how this impacts on the viewer. The evanescent light on the landscape is also instrinsic in many of his photographs.

Also showing at Printemps will be Jim Gintner, photographer, Geertje Anderson, a Dutch artist, photographer and interior designer who has made her home in Cambridge, and Maureen Mace, who produces dream-like images of her home-town Cambridge (and occasional pictures of flowers vases, obviously!).

Open Tuesdays - Sundays until 3 March 2010