TREVOR PRICE Printmaker
Trevor was born in 1966 and grew up in Cornwall. He studied at Falmouth and then Winchester School of Art. After leaving college, for two years, he found work in a London etching studio. This was a hugely important time for Trevor, learning the skills of professional printmaking in the way of an old fashioned apprenticeship. On returning to Cornwall he firstly set up a print studio/gallery in St Austell and then moved the studio to St Ives. At 26, and with the artistic influences of St Ives, his work began to change. He was now making a living solely from his art. Trevor has since returned to London and set up an etching studio, but has maintained a base in Cornwall where he also still works.
INFLUENCES
The Cornwall, and chiefly St Ives connection, naturally comes through in his work. The abstract highly coloured, textured works originated from wave patterns, reflections on water, imagining what it looks like beneath the surface, or even on a microscopic level. The abstract work is now much less about looking directly at water/waves etc. but has definitely come from that as a starting point. He now uses no direct references but just lets the pictures develop instinctively.
Trevor's figurative and abstract works were at one point noticeably inter-linked but each developed in a different direction and he didn't fight the development. He will spend several months working on a body of either abstract or figurative works until he has brought it to some sort of conclusion and then move on to another.
His figurative works also show Cornish influences, often the setting may be a coastal one, but mostly the influences are on a more personal level. Some of the pieces are a reflection of his life, others show the normal obsessions of any man, and others are complete fantasy. He views his figurative works as both fun and serious, much more so than for his abstract works. Trevor has been influenced by the works of many artists, Primarily Picasso but also others including Henry Moore, Henri Rousseau, Elizabeth Frink and Cecil Collins.
METHOD
The process is enormously important to Trevor. This is why he calls himself an artist/printmaker, and not just an artist. He loves printmaking. It is the opportunity to experiment and the diversity of technique that draws me to the medium. Printmaking can be as simple as making some scratches on a piece of metal and inking those grooves and the burr they create (drypoint), to highly sophisticated multi-plate etchings. You can ink up etched lines (intaglio process) or roll ink over the surface of the plate, or both at the same time. Variations/experimentation in printmaking can be endless. At the moment most of his figurative prints are drypoints of one form or another, usually on zinc or perspex. The abstract monoprints are made from rolling various coloured inks on to a metal plate, and then printing the results. This process can then be repeated numerous times until at some point hopefully something interesting starts to appear on the paper.
Awards, Publications and Commissions
Julian Trevelyan Outstanding Printmaker Award 2002
'Printmaking Today' Magazine, front cover & lead article, Autumn 1998
National Print Exhibition, Mall Galleries, 1997:
The 'Printmaking Today' Award
The Zenith Purchase Prize
1995 ‘The Independent’ Newspaper. Selected as critic as highlight of show
1996
Featured in 'Practical Printmaking', published by Apple Press, 1996
Exclusive limited edition of 3 etchings, commissioned by P & O , for Cruise Ship 'Oriana', 1994
Images selected for the 'ncyclopaedia of Printmaking Techniques', published by Headline, 1993
Featured in Christie's Contemporary Arts Publications, 1992-1995
Collections
Marriott Hotels, John Lewis plc, Fujisawa Europe, Gillette, Glaxo Smith Klein, P&O, Bank of England, Enron Europe Ltd, Regus UK Ltd London, Fidelity Investment Services Ltd London, Update Software Ltd UK, Yale University USA, Office of Public Works, Dublin. St Barts Hospital, The Lister Hospital, Cunard (Queen Victoria)
Trevor has exhibited his figurative and abstract work in many solo and group exhibitions throughout Great Britain.