For anyone trying to trace the roots of printing, Caxon and Guttenberg would be a excellent Starting point, although further investigation will lead them to China, millenia previous. Weighty Monster presses started showing up in the Victorian times, and evolved to produce the Albion Press, this gothic Victorian style was apparent in many later printing machines. This led to Engineers designing printing machines for artists not artists designing printing presses for themselves.
Artist were, for quite a while restricted and only able to print their work at print houses. Rarely were artists ever capable of buy the best from printing machines. The machine was the vital thing not what was being printed.
That’s where we were until Dave Gunning came along and designed a super fabricated machine that is really ‘hands on’ back in the late eighties. The immediate results were fantastic and the machine design has become honed and perfected during the last 20 years. Daves on-going adventure is to educate, so the art of etching and printing never dies. Dave has steel bashing in his roots, he was born into a long distinct pedigree steelworkers in Biston 55 years ago. His own art is in many private and public collections including National Museum of Wales, The Palace of Westminster as well as the Royal Collection.
Dave’s Presses are unique to other makes of presses and are all hand made in england. They print etchings, collographs, lino, bromoil and woodcuts. Printing results are superb and the main feature about Dave’s product is all machines are portable and give a lifetime guarantee.To date Dave Gunning has made over 1000 printing presses, many of which reside in schools, colleges and artists studios, making printing a whole lot simpler for everyone.One even takes a pride of place in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, an accolade any artist or designer would be proud of.
‘I saw a press in a museum in Paris that was Picasso’s, I never dreamed I would have a press I hade made in a museum as an exhibit!’ Dave Gunning 2009
This small article is a guest blog post written on behlaf of Ironbridge Fine Arts & Framing, Distributors of Gunningarts Etching Printing Presses and specialists in Bespoke Framing. For further info about Etching Printing Press, check out www.ironbridgeframing.co.uk