Abi Fairhurst is a Printmaker based in Manchester, UK. She has been creating and producing designs under her label, Abi Prints, over the past year. Her work embraces a wide range of styles and influences, from minimalistic vector art as seen in her Risograph pieces, to excessive, neon-drenched, screen printed designs.
In 2015 she graduated from Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK with a degree in Animation. Five years and three studios later, she has found herself in a Lead Compositing Role working on an animated Netflix show. Here, she is responsible for combining all the animation, backgrounds and 2D fx, and adding the finishing touches including colour grading, shadows, and lighting.
As well as working on the main production, Abi and her team were also given the opportunity to pitch ideas for a one minute short. With two of her friends she came up with the winning idea, Cows Come Home, for which she created a physical set for the backdrop of the animation.
“The experience of physically crafting the set for the shot gave me the urge to continue to create more tangible and personal work” says Abi. Thus, she started looking for courses to learn a new skill, when she came across Hot Bed Press; an open-access print studio in Salford, UK. After seeing that they offered a five-day screen printing course, and having experimented a little with screen printing in college, Abi felt confident and excited at the prospect of trying it out again. Over the five days, she learnt so much about the process, and was instantly hooked.
Currently, she is working on developing her artistic style and building her brand, Abi Prints. “I’m finding that I enjoy creating the most by testing out different limited edition prints and greeting cards,” states the printmaker. Her works draw inspiration from many places; her love for nature, architecture, and bright colours. She comments; “As I develop I am trying to find ways I can combine my two main interests, printmaking and animation”.
In the pre-pandemic world, Abi finished work a little early every Thursday and printed at Hot Bed Press, where she created all of her printed goods. In March last year, before we went into lockdown, Abi realised this wasn’t going to be a possibility for much longer, so quickly got together some wood, hinge clamps, and a screen so she could make her own makeshift screen bed. Now, with the addition of a printer, drying rack, and heat-press, this homemade screen bed has grown into her own home print studio.
www.abiprints.co.uk
@abi.prints
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