Memori Prints is the printmaking moniker of Vince Hanford, who creates limited edition hand made screen prints which combine a modern graphic aesthetic with tradional methods. His silkscreens are inspired by the natural world, mythical creatures, science fiction, and literature. In 2022, Vince made the leap and became a full-time self-employed screen printer; “It’s been great, a lot of hard work but I get to do something that I love. I wasn’t sure how well I would work once self employed but I’m really enjoying it and love the flexibility”.
This year, Vince also partook in a print residency at Ocean Studios in Royal William Yard; a redeveloped Royal Naval Victualling Yard in Plymouth. The residency ran for a few months and he had free use of the screen printing facilities for a few months. This provided the opportunity to experiment with ideas and create a new collection of prints. He tells us; “It was great to work with a variety of other printers during the residency and we put together a small exhibition at the end”.
2022 was also an exciting year for Vince as back in August he held a pop up at Vacancy Atlas, Cornwall Street in Plymouth City Centre. This was a good opportunity for him to trial a space in the high street, sell his prints, and also run some live screen printing demos. “It was great to interact with a different group of people to those that I normally meet at craft and print fairs,” says the printmaker. The pop up was a funded opportunity through the Meanwhile Use project which allows businesses to trial projects in unused high street shop units.
The year was also full of lots of craft and print fairs which Vince sourced out on social media and his local area. He had a stall at The Print In Action Festival at Ocean Studios which was an amazing event with a print fair, talks, workshops and demos from local printers. He also attended Ink, Paper & Print in The Corn Exchange, Exeter. He comments; “It’s been great to get involved with some fairs solely based around print this year rather than just craft fairs. The local print community is so supportive and I have loved checking out what other printers are doing.”
Looking to the new year, Vince is keen to experiment more with test prints (one off unique screen prints); “I’ve made a few of these this year and you can get some interesting, unexpected effects from overlapping multiple layers”. He also hopes to put together some limited edition screen printed posters for a band or a festival, as well as attend more local prints fairs, or even some abroad!
His advice to fellow printmakers who want to go full-time is as follows; “Plan your time and prioritise what’s important. There’s always loads of things you can be doing but some things can wait. Make sure you allow time to print, experiment with ideas and have fun.”
@memoriprints
www.memoriprints.com
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