As a not-for-profit organisation that is run and maintained by volunteers and which has never had regular full-time staffing, the project strand of our activities plays a vital role in our growth and impact as a creative organisation.
These projects have been made possible through funding grants from a number of different funding bodies including the Arts Council of Wales, Swansea Council for Voluntary Services and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. A list of all our funders can be found on Our Supporters pages.
In developing each project, we look to build on the expertise and experience of SPW as an organisation, our membership and the artists connected to us.
At the heart of SPW is the desire to educate and promote printmaking as an accessible art form. With some of these projects we have taken our expertise into the community, worked with young people in schools and colleges through our Outreach programme and delivered opportunities for life and work skills alongside artistic development to young people aged between 16 and 25.
Our artist-members benefit from projects which support programmes with invited and visiting artists and artists in residence sometimes from different countries and cultures. With their different approaches to printmaking, each artist brings a fresh dynamic to SPW, enriching our members’ artistic practice and development. These projects also offer greater exposure for artists and opportunities to exhibit and sell their work.
Equally important, are projects which support the infrastructure of SPW as a business, enabling us to work strategically, to embed frameworks for long-term procedures and systems; to develop SPW’s technical expertise in the field of printmaking and to support improvements to the premises and purchase of equipment required to for the printmaking techniques and approaches we offer.
A summary of a selection of projects delivered since we were founded is below. A PDF of our legacy brochure can be viewed here with information on 15 projects delivered between 2000 and 2015. This accompanied a retrospective exhibition showcasing the artistic breadth, creative impact and business development that projects had contributed to SPW.
We would like to thank all our past funders for their support.
Created: 5th February 2024
This was our first significant project following the impact of the Covid pandemic. With the focus of future-proofing not only SPW and our facility, but...
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Created: 24th November 2015
In 2015 we celebrated 15 Years of being open to the public. Through a year-long programme of events we commemorated our achievements over the past...
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Created: 16th October 2014
Printmaking is always evolving – responding to modern materials and approaches – and SPW always strives to review and develop the techniques and practices. Since...
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Created: 9th June 2013
In 2014, came an important and celebratory anniversary for Swansea – a hundred years since the birth of Swansea’s most famous and admired poet in...
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Created: 14th June 2012
The relationship between drawing and printmaking offers great creative potential and plays an important role in the Workshop’s activities. This project brought new technologies, printmaking...
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Created: 14th April 2011
imPORT/ exPORT The Import/Export project was conceived to give eight printmakers the opportunity to develop both professionally and practically within the context of a cultural...
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Created: 14th October 2010
Building on a previous project for young people, the Young Volunteers Community Arts Project offered a small group an in-depth and focused experience. At its...
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Created: 16th April 2010
Knowing how to work with digital images is increasingly important for printmakers – not only within printmaking processes such as photo etching, photo screenprint and...
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Created: 16th January 2010
A conceptual approach brought a new perspective to printmaking practice for our members and our freelance artists working in the community and educational establishments. The...
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Created: 14th May 2009
Designed to explore the role of the artist in contemporary society, this year-long project built up a ‘snapshot’ of Swansea from the individual perspectives and...
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Created: 16th November 2008
As a small business we believe that our expertise and experience has a wider relevance than just the art form we promote. We offered thirty-two...
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Created: 14th June 2008
We promote printmaking as an accessible art form and this project demonstrates that assertion perfectly as the many of the participants had little or no...
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Created: 16th October 2007
A consolidation project designed to bring together all the technical and process expertise we had accrued over the previous years into a coherent and accessible...
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Created: 16th July 2007
Under the Empowering Communities cluster, a dynamic print programme was designed to promote learning through the medium of fine art printmaking. The initial two months...
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Created: 14th May 2007
Twenty-two Wales-based printmakers were represented in this international exhibition in 2007 including work by the late Bert Isaac. The original prints reflected aspects of culture,...
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Created: 16th March 2007
Supporting the funding of the key role of Studio Manager for the organisation over a period of three years, this grant gave SPW a period...
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Created: 14th March 2006
In May 2006, printmaking workshops were offered to women of Pakistani origin living in Cardiff through a pilot project sponsored by Artes Mundi in partnership...
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Created: 16th November 2005
This project established SPW on an international platform with cultural exchanges between Wales and Pakistan. It connected the Workshop with the Muslim community in Swansea...
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Created: 14th June 2005
We welcomed the exhibition, Contemporary Pakistani Printmakers in 2006 as part of our wider Festival of Muslim Cultures Print project. This project was under the...
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Created: 14th April 2005
The ‘All About Me’ Photographic Project was an exploration of identity devised and taught by Gaynor Hansen-Jones and facilitated by SPW. The 8-week-long project worked...
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Created: 19th March 2005
The involvement of volunteers has been integral to the development, ethos and survival of the Workshop. Through this grant we were able to imbed a...
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Created: 16th September 2004
Five local artists were invited to work with Sameera Khan, Studio Manager to develop an aspect of printmaking new to them. Printmaking, although accepted as...
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Created: 16th July 2004
The project facilitated the upgrading of skills of four participating artists in photo screenprinting techniques with the aim of increasing the knowledge base and expertise...
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Created: 9th April 2003
This project demonstrated SPW’s capacity to support a group of artists working collaboratively to create a prestigious collector’s item and touring exhibition. It raised the...
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Created: 16th January 2001
This Outreach-focused project provided the foundation in teaching skills, equipment and technical knowledge for our Outreach programme which continues today. It connected Swansea Print Workshop...
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Created: 19th October 2000
Newly refurbished, this project demonstrated SPW’s capacity in studio facilities and expertise for supporting a significant artist in a high-quality art project. It was also...
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Created: 16th January 1999
Our commitment to take printmaking out to the community was strengthened early on in our history with this award. While the main studio was being...
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