“I know not a fine art discipline that offers such a multitude of creative possibilities as etching. Mini print Wales gives me the opportunity to open the door for artists to explore this wonderful process.”

As a professional artist and printmaker for the last 36 years, Andrew Baldwin’s practice has fallen into two main directions: as a practising artist and as a researcher and teacher of safer printmaking. Throughout his prominent career, he has contributed to notable exhibitions at the Mall Galleries, London and St. David’s Hall, Cardiff.

In 2006, Andrew received the Most Exceptional Artist Award by the Federation of British Artists and in 2007, the Welsh Artist of the Year Award in Printmaking. He has also exhibited internationally with solo exhibitions in Australia, USA, Germany and UK. 

Over the last decade, Andrew has developed and produced an innovative safer etching ground as part of a drive to reduce some of the more hazardous processes in etching. To accompany the ground he has also developed many safe ways to make an etching to produce a wide range of effects.

His research into non-toxic printmaking has generated invitations to teach printmaking all over the world, including the international printmaking conference ‘Impact’ on three occasions, many studios in USA, Canada, Italy and the UK. In addition to in-person teaching, Andrew has also recorded demonstrations of his non-toxic approaches to printmaking. These recordings have amassed over one hundred thousand views on YouTube and continue to promote his safer etching processes today. 

Traditional etching grounds contain arsenic, lead, mercury and many other toxic elements that are harmful to the human body. The common problem many printmakers face when trying to find alternatives is that the ground will often lack quality and practicality. As such, Andrew developed his own versatile and non-toxic alternative called Baldwin’s Ink Ground (BIG), currently available for purchase in many printmaking and art stores.

“The main constituent is an ink, which allows the printmaker to experiment with many different effects on their etching plate. Techniques ranging from soft and hard ground, photo etching, marbling, relief etching, sandpaper aquatints and coffee lift are some of the options which can be explored.” – Andrew Baldwin

Andrew Baldwin is now based at Trefeglwys Printmakers in Mid-Wales and continues to teach printmaking at Aberystwyth University, School of Art.

https://www.printmakingstudio.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/trefeglwys.printmaking/?locale=en_GB