Diversity is Beautiful (right) is just one of the rich posters and prints to come out of the new Cato Press in Easton, Bristol. The community-run studio puts on courses for all in printmaking. It makes huge, collectively-cut prints and places itself firmly in the political printmaking tradition of José Guadalupe Posada and the Mexican Taller de Gráfica Popular (and also the contemporary Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca), the German expressionists and the late ’60s Poster Workshop in Camden Town.
There have been sessions to make campaigning materials before the general election and for events such as a Landworkers’ Alliance demonstration. The press goes out to the people: ink, blocks and paper were at the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair for print-your-own Bread and Roses posters. Creativity at the press is not only in the image-making but in its strategies of inclusion: a six-week course for parents where you print for three sessions and look after someone else’s children for the other three sessions.
To get inky and practical, look up Cato Press, Myvart Street, Bristol BS5 6JF:
www.catopress.co.uk