Simon Ripley

    


Biography

Simon Ripley is a Director of the Double Elephant Print Workshop. Founded in 1996, the workshop is an open access facility based in Exeter, South west England. Simon has a particular interest in printmaking in healthcare settings. He has recently completed a residency exploring a response to dementia and mental illness through his own relief printmaking. His work aims to express a positive response to extreme life situations.

Illustrated Talk

‘Print on Prescription’ – printmaking in mental health
“You don’t expect to come to a psychiatric unit and have one of the best evenings of your life.”
(Participant at a Double Elephant monotype workshop at The Cedars, Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital)

Print on Prescription is a project at Double Elephant Print Workshop that enables adults recovering from mental health issues to access high quality printmaking on a long-term basis.

Double Elephant has been working with mental health service users for over 15 years, delivering printing sessions at our studio in Exeter and outreach workshops in hospitals, eating disorder units, psychiatric units and supported housing using our portable presses and mobile print workshop. Ensuring community groups can access printmaking has always been part of the organisation’s ethos since it was founded in 1997. We work with over 3000 people each year taking our portable presses to schools, community groups, festivals, hospitals, galleries and museums.

Why printmaking?
Printing is a medium that particularly lends itself to building confidence in art making. There is safety in a process that allows for unexpected outcomes and effects. Printmaking also bridges the gap between art and craft – providing several benefits that unstructured art does not. It sets out clear parameters and boundaries; it gives comfortable safety in repetition – using a process that others have done before throughout history. By focussing on the process printmaking allows the participant to engage without having to expose a personal pathology. The production of multiples is integral too as it allows experimentation and repetition with subtle differences. However, despite these beneficial features, printing can simply remain a frustratingly tantalising medium that is simply out of reach for many people – for either geographical or financial reasons.