Inky Cuttlefish

INTRODUCTION TO PRINTMAKING INTRODUCTION TO PRINTMAKING - the perfect health and wellbeing retreat - immerse yourself in printmaking while surrounded by nature.

Spring Awakening: a Celebration of the Wildflowers of Walthamstow Wetlands by Artist and Printmaker Anna Alcock
- 2 March to 28 April

Artist and printmaker Anna Alcock's work is a celebration of the natural landscape, the flora and fauna, that can be found in one of the busiest cities in the world. Anna's studio - Inky Cuttlefish - is just a short walk away from Walthamstow Wetlands which is the inspiration for her latest work of fine art prints and one off unique pieces showing the wildflowers of the wetlands together with some of its pollinators and birds.

Walthamstow Wetlands is Europe's largest urban wetlands and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Over 50 varieties of wildflowers have been recorded there and so it is fitting to be hosting Anna' s latest exhibition "Spring Awakening": from Wednesday 2 March until 28 April in the locally-listed Engine House.

Anna's exhibition invites us to treasure those special moments in the nature that can be found in our cities. This work continues her artistic journey to learn more about how we can protect our natural world for future generations and to raise awareness of the decline in pollinators, caused primarily by loss of habitat, intensive farming techniques and the large scale use of pesticides and herbicides.

Anna says: "I hope that by enjoying the colours and varieties of the wildflowers of the wetlands it might serve as a reminder and wake up call to us all of just how important it is for us to protect the natural world which surrounds us. This can be through actions large or small. We might simply set aside a tiny wild space in our own city gardens or window boxes to encourage bees and other pollinators. As a regular visitor to Walthamstow Wetlands it inspires my work and is a place I explore with my family, so I am delighted to be given the opportunity to exhibit there".

Regular visitors to Walthamstow Wetlands may already be familiar with Anna's work. Her specially commissioned "Wetlands Tale" linocut can be seen in the Coppermill Tower depicting the industrial heritage of the Coppermill stream which runs through the reserve.
Spring Awakening is a free exhibition and is open every day from
Wednesday 2 March until Thursday 28 April.

Exhibition Opening Times
March: 9.30 to 3.30pm
April: 9.30 to 4.30pm
Venue: Walthamstow Wetlands Engine House Mezzanine, 2 Forest Road, London N17 9NH.
Nearest tube/rail: Tottenham Hale or Blackhorse Road
For more information or images contact Anna Alcock [email protected] /07753 686331

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Anna Alcock is an Artist Printmaker working in a wide range of techniques. She has a BA Fine Art (Hons) from University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (First Class Honours), and MA Printmaking from The University of the Arts, London..

Each artwork is individually hand-pulled and printed on 100% cotton paper, at Inky Cuttlefish Studios, Walthamstow, where she has been based since 2007. Many of her fine art prints are either part of variable editions (VE) or one-off unique pieces.

This exhibition explores her journey to learn more about and raise awareness of the decline of pollinators, caused primarily by loss of habitat, intensive farming techniques and largescale use of pesticides and herbicides. Her journey began in 2018 when she was invited to create work in response to this theme and exhibit with four artists at Vestry House Museum in an exhibition organised by Alke Schmidt called ‘Swarm: Artists respond to the pollinator crisis’. Following a series of visits to the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity in the Natural History Museum in 2019, where she sketched pollinators ranging from bumblebees, bees, moths to hoverflies and beetles, she began turning her sketches into works of art. Her work in the Swarm exhibition was a triptych of linocuts.

During Lockdowns in 2020/2021 working from home with a much smaller workspace, Anna began printing smaller intaglio pieces using the sketches she had created in 2019 as the starting point to create her drypoints, etchings and screenprints of ‘Ghosts of a Bee’ series - a dead insect in a petri dish, including 24 Carat goldleaf to convey the delicacy and fragility of our pollinators, and the precious nature of their existence, finished with hints of watercolour to bring them back to life.

Anna's most recent work - and the subject of her latest "Spring Awakening" exhibition has been of the wildflowers found at Walthamstow Wetlands and which also bloom from the cracks in pavements and the wild corners of our city gardens and green spaces.

Walthamstow Wetlands is a fully operational 211 hectare Thames Water reservoir site which is the main source of water supply for 3.5 million people. Walthamstow Wetlands is also an internationally important nature reserve, providing home and shelter to a wide range of wildlife, from rare waterfowl to majestic birds of prey.
In October 2017, Walthamstow Wetlands opened to the wider public for the first time in 150 years. The nature reserve is fully accessible and admission is free of charge.
www.wildlondon.org.uk/walthamstow-wetlands-nature-reserve