Visiting the LAF artists: Barry Woodcock, wood engraver

This is the month when I start travelling all over East Anglia visiting the artists and makers who will be exhibiting at this year’s Lexden Arts Festival.

On Wednesday, Graham and I went down to Brightlingsea to visit Barry Woodcock, a wood engraver. Barry is an elected member of the prestigious Society of Wood Engravers with whom he has exhibited regularly since 2003.  After studying fine art at Ipswich School of Art, he worked in the world of advertising as an artist/visualiser, before taking a post as a in-house graphic designer at Essex University. During this time he was continuing to work on his own fine art work. In 1996 he left full time employment to concentrate on his wood engraving. His work has been exhibited throughout the UK, including at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition.

We had coffee with Barry in his kitchen, and we really enjoyed looking through a portfolio of his work, while he told us a little about the technique.

Barry Woodcock in his kitchen in Brightlingsea with some of his wood engravings

He uses lemon wood – not the wood from a lemon tree, but a tropical hard wood – to engrave with his wonderfully intricate designs, before the blocks are printed in editions of 75 or 100. We particularly liked the engravings of local river scenes, and of tropical fish and birds.

Barry will have framed and unframed work in our show, and I am confident that it will be popular with our Festival visitors.