*If you are looking to buy Gift Membership, please head over to this page: https://wypw.org/product/gift-vouchers/ and select Gift Membership from the drop down menu.

*Please note there is currently around a 3-week lead time for studio inductions.

Membership

Welcome to West Yorkshire Print Workshop! We are a friendly, supportive community of artists and printmakers. Our studios are light, bright and fully equipped for paper and textile screen printing, etching, aquatint, photo-etching and photopolymer gravure, linocut and woodcut, photo-plate and wood lithography, monoprint, drypoint, collagraph and letterpress. Anyone with experience of printmaking can become a member and access our professional workshop facilities, (there are tons of other benefits too), and we offer a welcoming creative space for all skill levels.

Benefits of Membership

• Time and space to develop your own independent printmaking practice through access to our specialist printmaking studios Tuesday - Saturday. 
• Bookable print sessions up to 5 weeks in advance, (online booking system in place).
• Support from our Print Technician available 3 days a week (Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays)
• 10% discount on printmaking materials from our shop
• 10% discount on courses and 1-1 tuition
• Member's email newsletter
• The option to store your own materials here (additional fee applies)
• Opportunities to exhibit and sell your work in our member’s exhibitions, through our gallery shop, and at selected print fairs and events.
• A dedicated page for each member on our website including artist bio, images and website/social media links.
• A dedicated Facebook group for members of 3 regional print workshops to share printmaking info, ideas, news and opportunities.
• Opportunity to take part in the annual 20:20 Print Exchange
• Use of the WYPW large format printer, for printing posters and transparencies for screen print and other photo-processes, up to A1 size.
• Use of the laser cutter facilities at The Art House, Wakefield (conditions apply)
• Member's projects to take part in
• Discounted rate to submit work for our annual Flourish Award exhibition
• Invitations to exhibition previews, events and artist talks
• CPD opportunities such as bookable tutorials with staff, studio holders or visiting artist

New to printmaking or a bit rusty?

We advise that you attend one of our print courses to level-up your skills before joining. (Sign up for membership within one month of attending a course and get a £5 discount!)

Experienced printmaker?

If you have some recent experience (ideally within the last year) and a good working knowledge of the technique you want to practice, you can sign up for membership today. You'll need to tell us a bit about your experience when you fill-in the signup form.

Not sure?

If you're not sure about the best route to take, please give us a call (01924 497646) or an email (kate@wyw.org) and we'll be happy to advise. It may be that you need to update your skills or build your confidence by attending a course or arranging some bespoke tuition before using the studios, or you may just want to make sure you book your first few sessions on a day when our technician is around. Going it alone in the print rooms for the first time can be a big step and we're here to make sure members feel welcome and supported.

Membership Costs

Studio inductions

All new members are required to complete an induction session, regardless of previous experience, before being allowed to use the print studios unsupervised. There is a charge of £25, payable on the day. Inductions are available on Wednesdays afternoons, Thursdays and Friday mornings only. Once you have signed up for membership online, you will need to get in touch with our technician to arrange yours - please email kate@wypw.org to do this. 

Inductions are 3 hour supervised, hands-on 1-1 sessions with our technician which focus on one print technique – ideally one which you already have some recent experience of. (There just isn’t enough time to cover multiple processes in a 3 hour session).

They are a way for us to:

• Get to know more about you and welcome you into our community.
• Communicate important information about how membership works and safe working practice in the print studios.
• Run you through how to use specific pieces of equipment, and help you get to know our unique space and how it works, (we might do things differently to how you’ve done them before elsewhere).
• Help get you up and running, orientated and feeling confident to book and use the studios going forward.
• Answer any questions and troubleshoot any printing issues you may have.

Structure (3 hours):

• 30 mins - Introductions, run through of member handbook incl. H&S info, instructions on how to book studio time, tour of studio/orientation.
• 2 hr – Hands-on print session in chosen technique with 1-1 support and troubleshooting.
• 30 mins – clean up, signing induction forms, payment.

Please be aware that inductions are not teaching sessions. It is expected that members will already have a good working knowledge of the process they wish to use – this could be through attending a course here at WYPW or elsewhere, a recent university course, or self-teaching. If you do not have experience of printmaking but would like to learn, or if you’d like to refresh or update your skills, we would advise signing up to one of our courses first, or booking a bespoke 1-1 tuition session with one of our tutors.

If you are a renewing member and have not used the workshops for over a year, you will need to arrange a refresher induction.

Opening times

Monday *closed*
Tuesday 10-5 (no tech support)
Wednesday 10-5 - tech support day
Thursday 10-5 - tech support day
Friday 10-5 - tech support day
Saturday (no tech support) 10-3
Sunday *closed*

Materials

Your session fee includes:

• Use of all workshop equipment and chemicals (although to cover our costs an additional fee applies for screen emulsion coatings of £1.55 per screen per day, plus any additional coatings at 55p. There is a charge of £1.10 per screen for members coating their own screens.)
• Communal scrim and blotters
• Black ink for etching and relief printing (we use Hawthorn stay-open oil-based inks).
• Scrap and donated paper 

Your session fee does not include the following, all of which can be bought as extra from our shop.

• Screen printing inks and print medium
• Tissue and newsprint
• Proofing and editioning papers
• Printing plates
• Masking tape and other sundries. 

We encourage members to buy these from our shop - all profits we make from shop sales go back into the running and maintenance of the studios.Our shop is on-site and stocks a range of printmaking materials including papers - from newsprint, tissue and cartridge to cotton rag printmaking papers such as Fabriano, Somerset and Hahnemuhle. We also sell screen printing inks (Daler Rowney System 3) in 150ml and 300ml pre-mixed pots. Members automatically receive a 10% discount in our shop. Download our price list here: WYPW_Shop_Price_List_Feb_2022.pdf

Personal Protective Equipment

Some print processes may involve the use of personal protective equipment such as gloves, goggles and masks. Post-COVID, we no longer provide shared PPE in the studios. Members will be advised what they need in their induction and will be required to bring their own kit for print sessions. 

Booking Cancellations

Our membership is heavily subsidised through our grants and other activities. As we wish to keep our membership prices at a reasonable level, please note all bookings cancelled with less than 24 hours notice will be charged for.

Click here to read the Terms and Conditions of membership Membership Terms and Conditions.pdf

WYPW Friends

Become a Friend of West Yorkshire Print Workshop

West Yorkshire Print Workshop is a friendly, social community of artists and printmakers and those who simply love visual art. Our gallery showcases a beautiful array of works from acclaimed local and far-reaching artists and we host a yearly calendar of exhibitions and events both in Mirfield and in our gallery space in Huddersfield. We’d love more friends (who wouldn’t!) to join our cause, grow our community, have fun with us, learn with us and support our cause.

Benefits of being a Friend

• Invitations to exhibition previews, events and artist talks
• 10% discount on course bookings
• Quarterly Friends email newsletter
• Friend' social evening and workshop tour
• PLUS a free 20:20 print or ‘Misprint’ when you sign up

Costs

Friend membership costs just £25 per year – that’s just over £2 a month to take advantage of our ‘friends of’ benefits as well as supporting an independent charity, supporting artists and bringing printmaking and art supplies to the local community.

WYPW is a private company limited by guarantee (7429968) and a registered charity (1147601), and is supported by the Arts Council England. WYPW is an equal opportunities organisation.

Did you know we are a charity which supports the arts?  Please support us by clicking on this link: DONATE