Alison and Vince Patterson, a husband and wife team based in Cheshire, are the founders of a brand new event celebrating the best of print design and paper-based crafts. Chesire Print Fair, which will be taking place on Saturday October 30th at Chester Cathedral, gathers together artists, designers, makers, and printers to showcase their amazing work the way it needs to be seen – up close, in the flesh.
The pairs’ backgrounds are quite different; Alison has lived internationally in the UAE and on her return set up her photography practice which combines reappropriated materials and print. She also runs the clothing brand Hiking Kids Club. On the other hand, Vince has always been based in the North West and is an interdisciplinary artist and educator, specialising in one-off Riso and screen prints and a fine art practice.
Both keen visitors of print, art, and craft fairs for years, back in 2017 Vince decided he’d have a go at applying. He comments; “It was hard, difficult to secure a pitch, hard to know how to apply, what the do’s and don’t are. It was a steep learning curve”. After finally getting in, it was a revelation to see how these fairs operate from the other side. “It really is about the community of the printmakers involved, it is so inspiring seeing the different styles of print and meeting the people who make them,” says Vince. Thus, the duo felt inspired to bring that community to their local area.
Based in Cheshire, where there isn’t much of a contemporary print or art scene, they’re not too far away from the established and excellent Print fairs of Liverpool and Manchester. Wanting to host a fair in the middle of the two, with the biggest location where local people would attend, Alison and Vince were drawn to Chester. With a “go big or go home” approach they then looked at the largest possible space and secured the beautiful Chester Cathedral as their location.
The one snag that the pair have faced is their timeline, with just a month to get all of their plans in place; “We’re very much Waynes Worlding it – if you book it they will come. We have two weeks to recruit printmakers and two weeks to get it running. No pressure.”
More than any commercial success to begin with, Alison and Vince want to develop that face-to-face community and skillshare amongst printmakers and the public. “We’ve spent an awful lot of time indoors looking at small screens – the beauty of print is seeing it up close, in the flesh, and even better when you can chat to the people who make it,” state the fair’s founders.
Their advice to other budding fair hosts; “Go for it, there will be enough people thinking about doing something who’ll never get past that thinking stage, so make your move, if you start doing it, you’re doing it. Our rationale was location and access to it. For it to be a success people have to walk through the door – make it easy for people to walk into.”
They hope to expand Cheshire Print Fair to be a regular event, even possible satellite versions. Alison and Vince have intentionally tied themselves to the county rather than a single town or city, leaving the possibility for expansion open.
Cheshire Print Fair will play host to and highlight local talent as well as those from further afield. So far they have hometown printmakers Abby Sumner and Sans Studio confirmed, as well as collage artist and northern print fair legend Local Hotel Parking. For the most part, it is an open call, and they’re looking for printmakers of all disciplines with a slant to the analogue/traditional and with a focus on affordability and ethics.
Applications are open until the 10/10/21. Apply here.
Chesire Print Fair will take place on the 30th October 10am – 4pm at Chester Cathedral,
Want to know more about our membership? Give us an email at members@peopleofprint.com.
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