Women in Print: Manchester art exhibition preview

Find out more about some of Manchester's iconic women including Emmeline Pankhurst and Victoria Wood, whose achievements are brought to life by some equally compelling creatives in this group exhibition at Rudy's Pizza.

Feature by Jess Hardiman | 18 Jul 2016

Aiming to shine light on the role that women have played in Manchester’s past and present, Women in Print is a new exhibition curated by freelance designer and illustrator Jane Bowyer.

Comprising 16 works by 16 local designers, print-makers and illustrators, each piece functions to celebrate the life and achievements of an iconic female figure – including everyone from British political activist Emmeline Pankhurst to the late comedian Victoria Wood.


Emmeline Pankhurst

“I’m really passionate about the creative industry within Manchester; there are so many talented designers, illustrators and print makers setting up businesses here, it’s a really exciting time to be a designer in Manchester,” explains Bowyer.

“The mantra that has formed my decision-making throughout this entire project is: when women work together incredible things can happen’. I really believe that if women support each other we’ll be more likely to take risks, build businesses, start projects and create a more equal world for us to thrive in.”

Proceeds from the sale of prints will also go to Manchester Women’s Aid, and at the launch there will also be a donation box for The Monthly Gift, which aims to drive donations of sanitary products to the homeless and those in need.

Who's behind it all? 


Clockwise from top left: Kat Loveday, Anna Mullin, Sarah Cowan, Tash Willcocks, Rachael Whale, Laura Boast, Angela Roche, Nell Smith

Kat Loveday

Graphic designer specialising in digital design and front-end development

"My idea of glitch art is that I know a lot of women feel overlooked and misunderstood, just like a lot of women in history have had their accomplishments overlooked by their male counterparts. Alice Margaret Cooke was responsible for indexing the John Rylands library which was pretty technical and hard-going! She was the first woman to obtain a masters degree so overcame a lot of barriers that women have previously faced. I'm a lecturer too and Cooke started teaching and opening up opportunities for other young women, which I look up to so much!"

Anna Mullin (aka Sneaky Raccoon)

Yorkshire-based graphic designer, illustrator and designer, specialising in bespoke illustration with a focus on animals and nature

"I personally didn’t know that much about the complex life of Marie Stopes, however it was interesting to find out more about her work in different fields. The more I researched her life and achievements, I realised that she was quite brilliant in many ways despite her often out-spoken and radical views. Intrigued, I listened to the audio book of her published literature entitled ‘Married Love’, which provided guidance for women and explained their rights within their marriages to glean a greater understanding of her goals for women’s rights."

Sarah Cowan

Designer, illustrator and notorious owl enthusiast

Sarah's been working on something for Leigh-born Dr Kathleen Drew-Baker, known in Japan as the 'Mother of the Sea' thanks to her research on edible seaweed! Follow Sarah on Twitter here.

Tash Willcocks

 "Letter lover, wolf mother, design junkie, education enabler" at Hyper Island

For Women in Print she's rustled up something suitably loud and proud...

Rachael Whale

Designer and illustrator, currently working at DS.Emotion

Browse her work here or see what she's up to over on Twitter.

Laura Boast

Independent graphic designer working across multidisciplinary platforms

"The poster was designed to highlight (businesswoman Elizabeth Raffald's) many entrepreneurial skills," Laura explains. "She was a woman of many entrepreneurial skills; not only did she establish a cookery school, shop and domestic service agency, she was also a cookery book author and publisher of the first Manchester trade directory."

Angela Roche (Design By Day)

Creative director and co-founder of design and digital agency Design By Day

Angela was asked to work on Salford playwright Shelagh Delaney, known in particular for her debut A Taste of Honey: “I was thrilled to be asked to celebrate an iconic woman of which I had previously been unaware. The opportunity to get to research and know about Shelagh Delaney was as enjoyable as designing the poster itself! Manchester has produced so many talented women worth celebrating – I’m really proud to be a part of Manchester and the Women in Print exhibition."

Nell Smith

Designer and printmaker based in Manchester Craft and Design Centre

Have a read of her blog here or browse her products here.

Clockwise from top left: Vicky Carr, Amy Rodchester, Helen Musselwhite, Memo, Ellie Thomas, Eve Warren, Jane Bowyer, Emma Reynolds

Vicky Carr

Designer, lecturer and co-founder of the Textbook studio

"I was really happy to be presented with somebody that I knew nothing about, because it gave me a chance to research into Amy Lai’s life, and also to communicate her achievements to other people who may not have heard of her," Vicky explains.

"I wanted to make something that she would agree with if she saw it – something that would communicate her role in establishing the CFCCA and creating a platform for dialogue and exchange between Chinese and British cultures through art, so I took a simple typographic approach to show the sequence of events from Amy setting up Chinese View ’86 – the first Chinese festival in Manchester – to the scale and work of CFCCA today."

Amy Rodchester

Freelance designer and creator of Amy Rodchester Designs

Browse her collection of illustrative and typographic cards and prints via her Etsy shop here (we like these guys, while we're on the subject), before going to check out her piece for Annie Horniman.

Helen Musselwhite

Designer specialising in paper models, sets and scenery inspired by the British countryside

Read more about Helen's work here.

Memo

Design practice founded by Victoria Simpson and Charlotte Hitchen

They're on drawing duties for Amy Ashwood Garvey: "We are really excited to take part in the exhibition. Our chosen lady, Amy Ashwood Garvey was a Jamaican Pan-Africanist activist. Our portrait is a colourful celebration of the strength and courage of a women who overcame adversity to become an inspiring and influential individual."

Ellie Thomas

Designer at Instruct studio, working in colour, pattern and experimental typography – follow Ellie on Twitter

"It’s so great to be able to celebrate the amazing lives and careers of all these women – and the work of so many talented Manchester artists and designers," Ellie explains. "I’d already researched Louise Da-Cocodia’s life while working on Womanchester Statue Project, so I was really excited to design a piece about her. Reading up about her life, I loved how relentlessly optimistic and determined she was. As a black woman and an immigrant, she faced oppression from so many different sides but she never let it dampen her resolve. She believed Manchester could be better and she kept working until it was."

Eve Warren

Graphic designer at Fieldwork, with a focus on building identity systems

Swoon over her Instagram feed here, before heading down to check out her piece for Ethel 'Sunny' Lowry, the woman who dared to don a two-piece bathing suit! 

Jane Bowyer

Exhibition curator

Jane's also been busy working on her piece for Mary Stott, utilising her signature playful style to bring the Mancunian to life – no easy task, given her prominence as both journalist and feminist before her death in 2002.

Emma Reynolds

Freelance character designer, illustrator and designer working in animation

"For me this is a really important exhibition as women's achievements are often written out of history, and all of these amazing people have been introduced to me because of this. I'm delighted to be a part of it."

She was tasked with artist Helen Bradley: "I wanted to depict moments of her life and characters from her paintings and breath new life into them. Reading about Helen Bradley is further proof that it's never too late to follow your dreams; she didn't start her painting career until she was 65. She also had a really cute cat named Cuckoo."


Women in Print
Rudy's Neapolitan Pizza, Manchester
Launches Mon 18 Jul; exhibition runs Tue 19 Jul-Tue 30 Aug

All prints are available to buy via www.womeninprint.uk