Women In Print – The Caravan Press

I am delighted to share a new exciting project partnership between Artlab Contemporary Print Studios (ACPS) and The National Trust Lake District, showcasing UCLan's commitment to sharing heritage skills and creative practice led research.

Over the next two years a series of exhibitions curated by myself and Dr Heather Mullender-Ross will re-tell the story of Gwyneth Alban Davis and the new generation of contemporary artists inspired by Gwyneth's sense of community, creativity and hope.

Women In Print - The Caravan Press will feature photographs of Gwyneth's life, printed materials from her archive and estate and Gwyneth's original printing press, which since 2018 has been part of ACPS archive. Ephemera previously unseen from the Davis family home and artefacts from other public collections will be shown alongside reprints from Davis's original printing blocks giving new insight and context to the creative community in The Langdale Valley and Lake District during the 1940's.

Accompanying this first exhibition is a significant installation by Heather Mullender-Ross; all the better to hear you with. This installation explores how bird calls are heard, perceived, written down and memorised.

The work emerged from a visit to The Merz Barn in Landgale in 2017, the final worksite of the German artist Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948), a wartime refugee from Germany and friend of Gwyneth Alban Davis.

Both exhibitions will be shown at The National Trust property Allan Bank, Grasmere and will open to the public on 1st April 2025 -

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/lake-district/allan-bank-and-grasmere