Meet the Printmaker: Lucy Cooper | Artist in Focus Southbank Printmakers | 28th September - 11th October 2026
Lucy Cooper is displaying a selection of her silkscreen prints in the front corner of our gallery as Artist in Focus from 28th September until 11th October. Here she tells us a bit about her process and practice.
Tell us about your creative process
I’m a printmaker who specialises in limited edition screenprints so there are several stages to my process: from the initial concept, through the development of the design and composition, the creation of stencils, the preparation of the screens, the mixing of inks, and then to the printing itself.
Screenprinting is a stencil-based printing technique during which colours are built up in layers to create a final image.
The starting point of many of my prints is often a photograph that I’ve captured which I then work on digitally, also bringing in hand-drawn marks and other abstract elements. At this point I’m deconstructing, simplifying, reinterpreting, distorting, enhancing and generally playing with composition and colour.
I also need to break down the image into a small number of layers, each of which will print as a separate colour. Once I’m happy with the overall composition I output the artwork for each layer to create stencils by exposing them onto a mesh screen coated with light-sensitive emulsion: one stencil for each colour to be printed.
After printing separate layers for each colour, the final print emerges!
What attracts you to the medium you work in?
I love the physicality of printing, the technical aspects of the process and the way the process itself informs the final result. I like the fact that the design and preparation of a screenprint forces me to interpret, and then communicate, things in a simplified way: the need to deconstruct and then recreate, bringing a new interpretation to the original sight. Being someone who is excited by colour, the endless possibilities of combining, overlapping, and overprinting colours always appeals to me.
What are the key themes in your work?
Many of my prints are inspired by places I’ve visited or sights that are special to me in some way. I’m particularly drawn to the light and feel of sunny locations and I enjoy interpreting these in a colourful, minimalist and hopefully uplifting way. I also love organic forms found in nature – particularly plants and trees – as well as shapes of familiar household objects such as pots, vases, and jugs.
I always take hundreds of photos wherever I travel which I then use as reference material so very often my prints evoke memories of much-loved places. Recently I’ve been focussing on a body of work based on the theme of ‘Looking out’, inviting viewers to look outwards, perhaps in a promising or optimistic way.
What would you like people to notice in your work?
Whatever resonates with them! I’m sure different people see different things, and that’s absolutely fine with me. My work tends to be characterised by strong colour palettes and I like playing with both colour and composition to reinterpret familiar sights. I would be very happy if this nudges people to seeing the world in just a slightly different way.
What made you decide to become an artist?
There’s a saying that you don’t choose art, art chooses you. And that’s how it feels for me. Rather than there being one particular point in time when I decided to be an artist, it’s something that evolved over the years as it became increasingly clear to me that it’s what I wanted - indeed, needed - to focus on at this stage in my life. During that time I made incremental changes to my lifestyle and priorities - such as changing my work patterns, going freelance, moving house, finding a studio, exhibiting my work - which have brought me to the place I am now.
Who or what inspires you?
As is the case for most artists, I’m continuously inspired by the world around me. Anything from a reflection in a puddle, a bottle on a table, or the glimpse of a view through a window. The constantly changing patterns and colours of water always attract my attention, as do shapes and negative spaces seen both in natural forms and in man-made objects.
In terms of artists who inspire me, I’m a mega fan of Bridget Riley. I’m also of course inspired by a wide range of artists and movements, old and new, and particularly admire the work of Patrick Caulfield, Paul Huxley, Josef Albers, Annie Albers and Tess Jaray to name a few. People often remark that there’s a Japanese flavour to many of my prints so there’s clearly an influence there too even though it’s not one I can specifically pinpoint.
(Adapted from an interview originally given to WIA Gallery in Lewes.)
Lucy's Artist in Focus will be showing in the gallery from the 28th September - 11th October 2026.
You can browse more of Lucy's prints through our online shop.
Lucy Cooper Prints www.lucycooperprints.com
Instagram @ lucycooper_prints
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