Imprinting a legacy
Printmaker Barbara Kennard will continue to inspire new generations as printing press finds a home at Northern Print
The creative legacy of North East artist and teacher Barbara Kennard is set to inspire future generations, following the donation of her printing press to Northern Print’s new inclusive learning space in the Ouseburn, Newcastle.
The press - central to her 30-year printmaking career - will now help children, adult learners and artists with additional needs discover the same joy she found in the medium.
Barbara, who died in September aged 76 after a fall, developed a deep love for the region after moving from Hampshire to Woodside, Ryton, in 1987. While working as a primary school teacher and special educational needs specialist, she became increasingly drawn to the culture, industry and landscapes of the North East, later capturing them in her work after completing a Fine Art degree at Sunderland University in 1993.
Her prints reflected everything from the area’s mining heritage to Iron Age rock art in the Cheviots, the expanse of Hadrian’s Wall and the modern lines of Sage Gateshead – as The Glasshouse was formerly known. She was particularly captivated by the industrial strength and beauty of the Angel of the North, which became a recurring motif in her work.
Now, thanks to her family, Barbara’s printing press will continue its life at Print Space, Northern Print’s new teaching hub designed for all ages and abilities. Her son Ben transported the press 350 miles from Hampshire, reconnecting it with the region that shaped so much of her artistic identity.
Her daughter, Julia Bullas, said the donation perfectly captured her mother’s spirit: “Mum would have loved the fact her press was going to help inspire future generations in the North East which inspired so much of her own work - she’d be absolutely tickled by it.
“As a teacher she was dedicated to giving all the children she worked with the very best chance, finding creative ways to engage them in sometimes very challenging environments… She took that love of teaching into her art and never missed an opportunity to impart a bit of her knowledge and passion for it to all who came to her exhibitions.”
Barbara was a long-standing and much-loved member of Northern Print, contributing to the organisation’s 2016 Guinness World Record linocut, and volunteering to teach wood engraving at Cherryburn, the birthplace of Thomas Bewick. She was known among fellow artists for her warmth, enthusiasm and willingness to share her craft.
For the organisation, the gift carries both emotional and practical significance. Anna Wilkinson, director at Northern Print, said: “The arrival of the press with Ben was a special moment. There are lots of us who knew and worked with Barbara over many years - she was well thought of and a good friend to many.
“The donation of Barbara’s press is a wonderful addition to the specialist facilities in our new learning space. It will mean that many more people will have the opportunity to be inspired by the art-making experiences that Barbara loved so much.”
Barbara herself described her transition from teaching to full-time art as transformative. Speaking to me for a story in The Journal in 2009, she said: “I’ve loved being a teacher and got so much satisfaction out of it. But I love the fact now, that I can spend whole days and weeks in the studio. It really is like a new start.”
That passion for new beginnings was shared - and often shaped - by her husband Roy, with whom she had a lifelong creative partnership.
A mathematician and dedicated hill walker, Roy channelled his love of the outdoors into a second career as a hill guide, founding his business Head For The Hills after retirement. His research trips to the Cheviot Hills unearthed Neolithic rock art that became the inspiration for several of Barbara’s printmaking series.
Their interests intertwined naturally: Roy discovering stories etched into the landscape, Barbara translating them into visual form. Their shared curiosity for the region’s past and present fuelled decades of artistic and intellectual exchange, grounding her work deeply in place.
The couple shared 58 years together before Roy’s death from a brain tumour earlier this year, eight months before Barbara’s. Their family says the donation of the press feels like a way of reuniting them with the region they loved.
“We’re delighted that her press has found a good home,” said Julia. “Through Northern Print’s excellent teaching initiative, there will be a bit of her forever championing art and encouraging everyone to give it a go. That’s a wonderful legacy to have.”
Barbara’s artistic journey was one she had long dreamed of. Though she initially pursued teaching after her father dismissed art as “not a proper job”, her desire to create never faded. After studying at Goldsmiths - where she met Roy at 19 - she spent years balancing her career in education with her creative ambitions. It wasn’t until the 1990s, in her forties, that she finally embarked on a Fine Art degree and established herself as a printmaker.
When she retired in 2009, Roy built her a dedicated studio by renovating an old miner’s cottage attached to their home in Woodside. It became the place where she produced some of her most recognisable work.
With the donation of her printing press to Northern Print, her family hopes others will feel the same spark of possibility she described in her later years - and that the stories, landscapes and histories that shaped her practice will continue to inspire.