Impact 10

Santander is a port town in the north of Spain, where ferries go to and from France and Britain, moving tourists with cars and pets for the holidays. In September, it’s the end of the summer season, and locals are starting to look forward to a bit of winter quiet. I’ve just been there to attend the latest Impact printmaking conference. This series of international conferences are run every 2 to 3 years, always somewhere interesting.

My first Impact was the 7th conference, held in Melbourne in 2011, where I presented a paper and was included in a group exhibition (Book Art Object). I missed the 8th, in Dundee, Scotland, but managed to get to the 9th, in Hangzhou, China, where I presented as a PhD student, and exhibited my Sarah Rice work, Vitreous Syneresis (I see you sometimes) (link coming soon!).

This Impact conference, the 10th, required us to be in the city for around 10 days if we wanted to exhibit, so that our work could be set up and taken down. Of course, we could send it in advance and have it sent back, but what’s the fun in that? I flew in on the 1st of September – bus to Sydney, then Sydney > Singapore > London > Madrid > Santander – about 30 hours of travel. Luckily, I had little jet lag.

My exhibition was in the Palacete del Embarcadero (Palace of the Pier), which is a gorgeous little gallery that gets a lot of public attention as they stroll up and down the waterfront. I showed my Working Papers project, and shared a vitrine with Rowan Conroy, whose work I’d brought with me while he lobbed off to Crete.

You can see my work in the front of shot. Behind my work is Rowan Conroy’s book, then Paul Uhlmann’s book. On the wall behind is Susanna Castleden’s print work.

The conference itself was three days, throbbing with printmakers from all over the world. We could choose from 3 or 4 panels at a time, and there was translation if the speaker spoke in Spanish, or for Spanish attendees when we spoke in English.

It was a lovely experience to meet a lot of people that I’d known of, like Half-Pint Press’s Tim Hopkins, and others that were excellent discoveries.

The next Impact, number 11, will be in Hong Kong in 2020. See you there?