Behind the Green Door

This Spring, Derby’s Royal Hospital is set to showcase artwork from members of Green Door Printmaking Studio. Green Door is Derbyshire’s only open access, environmentally-friendly printmaking community – with a social conscience. The exhibition will run for the Spring/Summer term 2012.

Patients, staff and visitors can expect to experience some unique and thought provoking hand-printed images this April-September, with artwork being displayed in multiple areas throughout the hospital. The exhibition has been facilitated and produced in association with the Air Arts programme, co-ordinated by Juliet Cooper.

Green Door Studio has often been referred to as Derby’s ‘best kept secret’, it offers members of the public a chance to learn the mysterious art of printmaking. The studio offers a wide range of courses, acting as a hub for Derby’s arts scene and is based in Normanton, in close proximity to the City Centre. The exhibition’s creators aim to highlight the importance of art in public spaces as a means of nurturing both social positivity and therapeutic wellbeing. Whilst also aiming to promote the much neglected craft of printmaking as an innovative and valid art form.

Green Door’s co-founders, Anna and Pandora Johnson (a mother/daughter team), will be displaying work alongside eight other printmakers; which will include Louse Boyland, Tony Hall, Heather Horsley, Martin Hyde, Kevin A. Pickering, Geraldine Yvonne Smith, Chrissy Stangroom and Susan Steele.

Although the Studio currently has a membership of almost 100, it aims with open arms to welcome new members of all ages and abilities – from Derby and further afield – to our diverse and enthusiastic community. With the aid of our trained professional printmakers, our aim is to continue expanding into a high-quality national resource.

Members of Green Door are always quick to offer plaudits, fellow member and exhibiting artist, Tony Hall said, “The community which Anna and Pan have created lets us all see, think about, learn from, and be enlightened and inspired by what our fellow artists are up to.” Moreover, he added, “For it to exist as long as it has, with the only source of funding coming from its membership, with no input of any kind from any other public body, is bordering on the miraculous.”
Aritst Susan Steele goes on to say, “The studio provides a friendly progressive environment in which one can benefit and take advantage of the enthusiasm and knowledge that Anna and Pan give so generously. It has become apparent that open access facilities are closing and becoming hard to find. Without selfless and
passionate people like Anna and Pan, a rich, skill-full and traditional art form will cease to evolve and progress, or even survive.”

Creative Director, Anna Johnson stated, “I hope this collaborative exhibition provides an insightful window into the magical alchemy of the process that lies behind the art of printmaking. Whether we are aware of it or not, art is the invisible cord that unites and binds us all together.”