It’s been a hectic few weeks at Printed by Us, we’ve been back at Sheffield Print Club working on nine different designs for the Pete McKee exhibition. Titled “This Class Works”, the art represented an exploration and celebration of the working class and offered a personal perspective on the work and life of the working class. McKee aimed to celebrate the spirit of this class; the pride, tenacity, hope, fight, passion and resourcefulness which he witnessed growing up.
As part of the exhibition known artists in Sheffield created different designs about the working class. We were honored to print these designs for them which are limited edition and there is only 10 available of each.
Printing for this exhibition marked a lot of firsts for us as James explains, "it was a challenge because of the complexity of the designs, because we have never printed artwork with four colours before – but it was definitely a very rewarding experience". It was a learning curve for all of us having to work with such detailed designs, but thanks to the expertise of Hannah and Heather at the Sheffield Print Club, we were able to develop our screen printing skills.
Amy & Andrea working on the print designed by Kid Acne.
In the end, we spent over 35 hours at the Sheffield Print Club, and everyone pulled together to make this exhibition a success. James, Andrea, Amy, Russel, Kamran and Lee all got involved with the screen printing, with the guidance of Hannah F. and Heather, while Hannah S, Terry and Daniela took pictures and made endless cups of tea for the team.
It was a great honour to work with the artists and print their fantastic designs and we all commented on how surreal it was to then attend the private exhibition and see our hard work displayed. Our invitation simply said 'Printed by Us + 16 guests' and it was great to see the team arrive promptly at 92 Burton Street, some in our PBU shirts and others wearing flip-flops (talking to you Terry).
James & Amy with our invite to the exclusive launch event
Just a few months before the exhibition, James became a first-time father to three beautiful boys. He was worried that he was not going to be able to attend the launch party, however as we are a big family here at PBU, we were all happy to give our fair share of cuddles. We even printed them matching PBU baby grows.
Harry, Oliver & Silas
The whole team enjoyed an amazing evening at the exhibition, seeing the nine brilliant prints proudly displayed – the achievement of many workshops which were both fun and challenging for everyone involved.
It was great to meet Pete Mckee and the artists who's work we had printed and just enjoy the rest of the brilliant exhibition.
The PBU Team & the man, Pete McKee
We want to thank Hannah and Heather from the Sheffield Print Club for their never-ending hours at the workshops teaching and guiding us. Thank you also to the nine designers (Dust, Nick Deakin, Cafeteria, Nick Bax, Kid Acne, Patrick Murphy, Peter and Paul, Field Designs and Jon Cannon) for giving us the honour of printing their designs. Finally, thank you to Pete McKee for giving us the opportunity to showcase our printing talent at this event.
Check out our social media for more behind the scenes of the prints!
