Gisborne Report June - August 2026
Torri Stewart
It’s been a busy Autumn for the Gisborne Printmakers as we prepare for our 50th Anniversary celebrations.
April and May were packed full of lots of extra printing sessions in our Lysnar House Studios. With the addition of Robin (our new Gunning Printing Press) to the family, we now have 3 presses active during our printing days, and have increased our scheduled printing days to 2 a month to accommodate our larger membership. We’ve also enjoyed extra printing days as we prepare work for our group exhibition “MAHI TAHI”, a celebration of 50 years of Gisborne Printmakers.
The Gisborne Printmakers group came together for a special print session and celebration at the start of May as we printed our collaborative tea cup print for the Exhibition. Our group likes to meet for a kōrero over a cup of tea, to discuss techniques and ideas, and learn from each other. We brought this to life for the exhibition with each member designing their own tea cup on a tetrapak plate. It certainly put Robin to the test when we printed all the plates at once, along with a blind embossed teapot that’s soon to be adorned with a touch of gold leaf.
Gisborne printmakers printing their teacup designs
Printing together was a good opportunity for us to celebrate our group, from our founders Jean Johnston, the late Norman Maclean, Phyllis Underdown and Penny Ormerod, through to our current and newest members. We were delighted that Lynn Taylor and Carole Shepheard - who are both an important part of Gisborne Printmakers from afar - were also able to send us their own tea cup designs.
MAHI TAHI opens on 12 June and runs through to August at Tairāwhiti Museum.
MAHI TAHI embodies collaboration, cooperativeness, shared responsibility, and unity. We hope our fellow printmakers across the country will have the opportunity to travel to Gisborne and see our work - let us know if you’re in town! We’ve got a special opening weekend planned, including a group morning tea and a Memory Palaces Workshop with Lynn Taylor. We promise to take lots of photos and tell you all about it in our next update.