Return of the Archive at Megalo Print Gallery celebrates 40 years of the print workshop
26 October 2020: Megalo Print Gallery, a member-based arts organisation in Kingston, Australia, turns 40 years. As part of its anniversary celebrations, the Gallery is hosting an exhibition to showcase some of the highlights of its four decades of existence. The title for the exhibition is named as Return of the Archive, rather than From the Archive. The archive of more than 1,000 prints plus documentation was prepared and lodged as a donation to the National Gallery of Australia in 2013.
Megalo was set up as the Megalo International Screen Printing Workshop based at Ainslie Village in Canberra with the legendary co-founders, the late Colin Little and Alison Alder, the current head of the Printmaking workshop at the ANU School of Art and Design. As the collective grew it relocated to Hackett Primary, then Watson and finally in 2013 to Kingston our current location. Megalo Print Studio + Gallery boasts a comprehensive suite of printmaking facilities in screen printing (fabric + paper), lithography, relief + etching, all open access and all under one roof.
Megalo promotes, presents and practices printmaking as an art form accessible to all levels of our community. Since its foundation, Megalo has provided artists and the broader community with access to specialised printmaking facilities, equipment and expertise. Megalo Print Studio offers: artist residencies; education programs; printmaking advice to members, the arts sector and the broader community; a gallery program showcasing contemporary prints; commission and edition printing; and studio access. Megalo also sell a range of printmaking materials including inks, paper and tools, as well as printmaking books, prints and merchandise through its shop The Megalo Print Emporium.
Since its beginnings Megalo has provided artists and the broader community with access to specialised printmaking facilities, equipment and expertise. Megalo also has a long history of running workshops for community groups and schools and runs regular printmaking courses for beginners through to masterclasses.
Megalo has also nurtured many younger artists who now are emerging as important printmakers in Australia, including Annika Romeyn with such powerful and sophisticated work as the etching Faults and Facets (2011). There is this sense of energy and social commitment that runs throughout the exhibition.
