Conor Gallagher (Graphic Studio Dublin) was awarded the PNI Inter Studio Residency at Black Church Print Studio which took place in Spring 2026.
“The PNI Residency at the Black Church Studio was an excellent opportunity to try out new printing techniques and to use plates that I had made but never got round to using at Graphic Studio Dublin where I have been a member for almost two years. I am also a graphic designer and The Black Church were very accommodating letting me stagger my residency over a period of four weeks.
I spent most of my time in the etching room on the 3rd floor and there I made various experimental plates using foam boards, tetra paks, gesso board, lino board, cardboard, card and corri board. As well as the etching presses I tried the ‘hybrid’ Hunter Penrose etching press which had an earlier life in the Graphic Studio Dublin. As the rollers are raised on two strips of wood, I was able to print heavier boards like gesso board and also managed to print some “Mór” t-shirts using etching inks with a woodcut laser plate that had been made last year on the laser machine at Creative Spark in Dundalk.
It was a pleasure to meet members of the Black Church Studio eg Nick, Dorotha, Joan, Liza, Clare, Maureen and Vincent who were happy to talk about their work. David McGinn and Hazel were very accommodating and I often lent on David for advice and he was very generous with his time.
I also got the opportunity to work on my submission for the Graphic Studio at Ballinglen Exhibition which I printed back at The Graphic Studio.
Going forward with my printmaking, I plan to keep experimenting with new techniques and also would like to do more collaboration with other printmakers.
I would like to thank PNI for organising this residency and would highly recommend such a residency to other printmakers.“
