A new Kelly etching is released.
Date Posted: 15th August 2024
KIRKGATE COCKERMOUTH
This is a new print taken from one of Percy Kelly’s etching plates by Master printer Robert Adam (MA Hons Cantab, BA Hons ECA, HDFA Slade) of Graal Press in Edinburgh.
When Percy Kelly died in July 1993 his printing press was lying in the long grass in the garden of his cottage in Norfolk. I offered to get it brought back to Cumbria and persuaded his son Brian to donate it to the print department of Carlisle College of Art where his father had learned the art of printing. I hired a van and my son and friends collected it and brought it back to Castlegate House where it lay in the wash house in the back yard for about 2 years until the college eventually came to collect it. I went out to tidy up after it had gone and saw a heavy wooden box that had been hidden underneath. I tried to pick it up but it fell apart scattering more than 40 dirty, rusty, metal etching plates everywhere. I was very excited and rang Robert who drove down from Edinburgh immediately. He took them to his print studio, cleaned them up and took a pull of each one. He followed PK’s guidance and printed an edition of 75 (+ 7 A/Ps*) of a selected few. These have sold very well especially in the last few years when Kelly’s paintings and drawings have become more expensive and scarce. These posthumous original prints are signed in facsimile and authenticated. When the full edition is printed the plate is rendered unprintable usually by scoring the metal plate.
* A/P stands for Artist’s Proof allowing the printmaker to print an additional 10% of the edition usually at the beginning of the run.
So I have decided it’s time for the release of a new etching so Robert has printed an edition of this superb etching of Kirkgate Cockermouth which has not been seen before. Kelly made the metal plate when he was at college in the 60s deploying several different methods. The interesting building in the foreground was once a popular Bistro run by Jonty and his wife Edwina who lived in the flat above. We always used to go for supper there on a Wednesday evening when the gallery stayed open until 7pm often taking friends who had come straight from work with us. When my husband became terminally ill from cancer in 1994, Jonty turned up at our front door one Wednesday evening in chef’s apron with a tray laid out with flowers and our supper. He had just heard the bad news. It was a lovely surprise and he kept it up every Wednesday until the end. I will never forget that kindness.
I have loaded the Kirkgate etching on the web site under works for sale/prints. If you tap the centre of the etching you will see the details. The price is £350 unframed (with special delivery included). There are others available on the web site too. You can get in touch through CONTACT in the menu at the top of the page. to place an order or ask for more information. I think this one will be a big seller. It is perfectly balanced and geometrically pleasing - pure Percy!
Kirkgate was an appropriate choice. If you turn left at the bottom of Kirkgate into Cockermouth Market Place you will find a new enterprise has opened between Coffee Kitchen and the cycle shop on the corner. This belongs to a pair of enthusiastic printmakers Jack and Emily who are great admirers of Percy Kelly’s print work. They got in touch with me recently to tell me about an exciting hands-on 2 day course they are setting up in October which is based on Kelly’s work. You will learn how it is done and have a go yourself. You will find more details at https://marketplaceprintstudio.co.uk/shop/p/etching-percy-kelly. I wish them well.