Giant Print at Inked Print Festival – with Jemma Gunning

 

'The Forest' giant print on Somerset® Book 175gsm

At this year’s INKED Print Festival in the Forest of Dean, UK, members of the Bristol Print Collective came together to create an ambitious large-scale collaborative relief print that celebrated the forest as a rich, living environment. Led by printmaker Jemma Gunning alongside fellow collective members Victoria Willmott, Sonja Burniston, John Coe and Theo Wang, the project invited festival visitors to take part in carving a giant lino block inspired by the textures, wildlife and layered canopy of the surrounding woodland.

The result was a print shaped not only by the artists’ vision, but by the many hands that helped bring it to life over the course of the festival.

In this interview, Jemma shares how the collective planned and carved the large relief, the technical considerations involved in printing at such scale, and how collaboration and community played a central role in the project. The finished work, 'The Forest', was printed on Somerset® Book 175gsm White paper, which helped capture the depth of the carved marks and the atmosphere of the forest landscape.

Can you describe the concept or story behind the relief piece you created for INKED print festival?

For INKED Print Festival in the Forest of Dean, we wanted to create something that genuinely responded to place. The concept behind the relief print was to celebrate the forest as a living, layered environment. 

Collective members Jemma Gunning, Victoria Willmott, Sonja Burniston, John Coe and Theo Wang, designed a composition that wove together trees, foliage, mushrooms, forest floor textures and glimpses of wildlife. We were interested in capturing both the physical density of the forest and its quieter, more atmospheric qualities, the sense of immersion you feel when walking beneath the canopy.

Because the piece was collaborative, shared making was central to the project. The Forest of Dean is shaped by both nature and the people who live and work within it, so inviting festival visitors to carve the lino felt entirely fitting. The finished print includes marks made by many different hands, making it a true collective artwork. In that sense, the process directly reflected the subject, a landscape formed through connection, contribution and time.

What was your process in planning and carving such a large relief? Did you approach it differently from smaller prints?

We began by developing the design collectively, carefully considering how it would function at scale. With a giant lino, you have to think a little differently about composition, bold shapes and strong contrasts become much more important, as fine detail can get lost when viewed from a distance.

We mapped out the image so that it would feel cohesive but also allow multiple people to work on it simultaneously. Areas were designed with varying densities of mark-making so that contributors of all skill levels could participate meaningfully.

Carving at this scale is physically different from working on smaller prints. It requires stamina, rhythm and a certain flexibility in decision-making. You also must trust the process more, stepping back frequently to assess the overall image rather than focusing too closely on one section. It felt less like making a single print and more like building a landscape together. There’s also an element of letting go, as you can’t necessarily control what people do and what people carve! 

'The Forest' giant print on Somerset® Book 175gsm

Were there any specific technical challenges you encountered during the creation of this large-scale relief, and how did you overcome them?

Scale always brings technical challenges. Maintaining consistency across a large surface was key, ensuring the marks felt unified despite being carved by many different hands.

Another challenge was printing such a large block evenly. Achieving good ink coverage without losing the clarity of the carved lines required careful inking. Working with high-quality paper made a significant difference, it needed to be robust enough to handle the scale and pressure of the print while still capturing the subtle textures of the carved marks.

We managed these challenges by staying organised and working collaboratively throughout the process. During printing, we divided responsibilities to keep everything consistent, carefully controlling the inking, checking alignment and applying even pressure. That shared focus and clarity of roles helped us achieve a clean, cohesive result at such a large scale.

How does collaboration or community play into projects like this, especially in a festival environment?

Collaboration is at the heart of Bristol Print Collective, and a festival environment amplifies that spirit. Printmaking can sometimes feel solitary, but projects like this shift the focus to shared experience.

Inviting visitors to carve transformed the lino into a communal artwork. People who had never held a carving tool before became part of the finished piece. That sense of ownership and participation was incredibly powerful.

In a festival setting, there’s an openness and curiosity that encourages experimentation and connection. The artwork becomes more than an image, it becomes a record of an event, a moment in time, and the people who gathered there. For us, that felt completely aligned with the ethos of both the collective and the Forest of Dean itself: layered, generous and deeply rooted in place.

We’re incredibly grateful to St Cuthberts Mill for generously sponsoring the paper for this project. Working at such a large scale demands a paper that is both strong and sensitive, able to withstand the pressure of a giant relief print while still capturing the richness of carved marks and ink texture.

The quality of Somerset® paper truly elevated the final piece, allowing the depth and detail of the forest-inspired design to come through beautifully. Their support made it possible for us to realise the work at this scale, and we’re thrilled with the finished result.

Links

Bristol Print Collective

www.bristolprintcollective.com 

www.instagram.com/bristolprintcollective

bristolprintcollective.tumblr.com

Inked Print Festival

www.nicholagoff.com/inked-festival-of-print 

www.instagram.com/inkedprintfestival 

To find out more about our Somerset® papers range, visit our website.