Printmaking team wins
Papin Prize 2021

Fresh from the 2021 UK Higher Education Technician Summit, UCA Farnham’s Printmaking Team have won the Technician Team Papin Prize 2021.

19 Nov 2021

Léa Dalissier, Karl-Peter Penke, and Altea Vidal were nominated for their exceptional work in supporting students during lockdown. By reacting quickly, adapting out of a necessity, and passionately persevering the team were able to utilise their expertise and continue teaching.

Their ambition was to encourage and enable students to continue their learning through making, and tackle the inevitable lack of access to facilities, specialist workshops, and materials.

‘Project Bookdown’ was born and run online via a series of virtual sessions and practical demonstrations to engage students from across all four University campuses. Sessions taught students theory and fundamental practice of processes such as embossing, paper marbling, DIY screenprinting, monotype printing, kitchen lithography and cyanotypes.

Rather than being a ‘response’ to the lockdown situation, the team set out to ensure that these sessions were linked back to workshop practices which were waiting for students when they were able to return to campus and not just stand-alone, one-off experiences.

Over 800 students attended the sessions. And, at a time when UCA’s creative community was dispersed, due to lockdown, with uncharted learning experiences ahead, the Printmaking team at UCA Farnham not only gave students an incentive and opportunity to produce work, they also created a way for the students to feel connected.

Director of Technical Learning Tim Savage comments: “I am delighted that the achievements of our technicians have been recognised in the prestigious Papin Prizes. The pandemic challenged all of us, in so many ways, and the winning team exemplify how our technicians adapted their teaching practices shifting conventionally physical and material experiences online and retaining the creative and experiential nature of their teaching.”