THE pupils of talented printmaker and teacher Sarah Morris are once again showing their work at the annual Wooden Spoon Press exhibition at Teignmouth Arts Action Group community centre, writes Roger Smith.

Sarah’s two groups of enthusiastic students are tutored in one of the oldest art forms – relief printing involving linocut and woodcut printmaking. Her pupils learn a method known as reduction block printing whereby the colour you want to reveal on your print is cut away from the block, almost an opposite to what you might expect when you think about relief printing.

They do not use a press, instead the work is burnished using the back of a wooden spoon hence the unusual name of the exhibition!

This ‘wooden spoon’ method gives the work its unique look. The selective pressure allows the prints to take on a more ‘painterly’ look, quite unlike the flatness of traditional linocuts. Reduction print making also means that the quantity of prints is very small as the block is gradually cut away and cannot be reused creating a valuable, limited edition.

The students, often artists exploring a new technique have, over a short period of time gone from strength to strength. They are now producing work of a very high quality that has exceeded their expectation, especially those who came with absolutely no knowledge of printmaking.

The excellent artwork will be on show at the Wooden Spoon Press exhibition from tomorrow until May 5, 10am to 5pm.

Sarah herself is an acclaimed printmaker, and a member of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen at the Riverside Mill in Bovey Tracey, where her work can be seen.