Centre for Fine Print Research University of the West of England Centre for Fine Print Research
 

Dr Paul Thirkell

Visiting Research Fellow

Paul Thrkell portrait image

Paul’s research is principally driven by a keen interest in print, developed through a long and active career as a fine art print practitioner and researcher. His quest to extend the expressive range of print has led to a rigorous investigation into the use of techniques that fall beyond the traditional borders of fine art print. These have focussed on both old and new processes that indicate a high capacity for rendering both graphic and photographic imagery with little or no colour or tonal distortion from the source. This seam of research has proven to hold rich implications for artists and industry alike and has assisted in generating major project funding for the Centre for Fine Print Research in the past.



The area of specialism that has emerged from Paul’s research initially centred on the re-evaluation of a number of high quality 19th Century photomechanical printing techniques that were either marginalised or made industrially extinct in the early part of the 20th century. Through examining the technique and capabilities of processes such as photogravure, woodburytype and collotype and the prints they produced, valuable insights and approaches lost to mainstream print practice have emerged. Paul’s sustained involvement with the process of collotype has established his status as a leading expert in the field.

One of Paul’s main contributions to the field is the integration of digital imaging with collotype in order to bring about a new creative flexibility whilst at the same time exploiting its unique traditional strengths in rendering high fidelity colour and tone. As well as its technique, Paul is also fascinated by the theoretical implications of intermittent use of collotype by a small number of cutting edge artist’s throughout modern and post modern art history . One of his reflections on this strand of research – an essay, “Typo Topography- Duchamp and Hamiltons Dialogue in Print”- has been published on the Tate Gallery website through Tate Papers.

Besides producing print based artwork of his own for exhibit on a national and international level, Paul’s insights into the history and practice of printmaking has made him a keen commentator on print. This strand of interest has led to the curation of several nationally important exhibitions illustrating ideas about past and future directions in print.