UK
Batchelor of Fine Arts (Hons) U.W.E (Bristol) Printmaking
Print Tutor Bluecoat Print Studio, Liverpool 
Trained Photographer in Film & Digital Photography Studios (UK) 1996 - 2005
Bev Hayes Photographic Studio  2005 - 2012
Member of Hot Bed Press, Salford, UK, 2021
Member of The Bluecoat Print Studio 2023

Sweden
Printmaking Studio Practice since 2017
Member Ålgården Konstnärernas Verkstäder & Galleri, Borås 2020
Member Konstnärernas Kollektiv Verkstad KKV BGB  2020
Ansvarig för Koppargrafik ​ ( Delat ) Jan 2022
Print workshop manager KKV GBG Since Jan 2022
 

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“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head.”

– Henri Cartier-Bresson

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Creative Biography

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British born Visual Artist Bev Hayes is based in Sweden and working in the media of Visual Arts, Digital Photography and Analogue Printmaking from a studio in Gothenburg. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from England, (BFA Hons in Studio Arts and Printmaking) and since graduating she has continued to work in arts and education sectors, taking on roles as gallery manager and photography director, running a portrait studio before moving with her family to Sweden in 2012. 

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​In 2020 she became an active member of Grafikverkstaden at Konstnärernas Kollektivverkstad in Göteborg and joined Ålgården Grafikverkstad in Borås, two fully equipped Print Studios on the West Coast of Sweden. As a full time artist, Bev divides her time making collections of Photopolymer Gravures from a body of photographic images and forming collaborations with Gothenburg based and International Artists for exhibitions and film projects. She regularly sells work at art fairs locally and Internationally. 

Recently has gained representation and exhibited at a printmaking gallery, Grafik I Väst  in Göteborg.  

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​Studio Practice 

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Focusing on Printmaking and Photography, she also plays experimentally with moving images, in digital form.  Within these media lies a curiosity of all forms of mark making translated as a tactile presence in a material form. Through a camera or a hand drawn sketch, the same process exists, an interweaving of the digital into analogue, through many stages of reiteration and deconstruction. The methods she uses to make printing plates have a low toxic material content, like the water developer for Photopolymer Gravure and Saline Etching mordant for Aluminium and Zinc. Whilst she is keen to keep traditional print methods alive, her chosen way to work in print workshops are techniques that are free from harsh corrosive substances and chemicals, for health and environment reasons. 

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Some photo collaged works are made from discarded prints that over time allow for new layers of possibilities to come through. Some themes can run parallel with one another and aim is to create fluid media that has no singular genre or trope pinned to it. This makes way for crossovers and images to go on re morphing and repeating in pattern. There is a common thread revealed in her imagery that is rooted in nature. Finding new ways of reusing and reworking an image is a cost saving and resourceful effort. 

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Alongside her practice there is curiosity for deeper research and field notes to support her body of work. Gathering content around man's relationship with the natural world, how we respond and manage our sense of place in it and our wellness within the changing environment, comes into play during deep immersions in nature.  Digital recordings play visually with scenes of the sensory kind, exploring in a juxtaposed micro and macro manner.  

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​When treading carefully through forests, climbing coastal rocky crags to retracing routes in localities, it is her concern to highlight the landmarks of our time.  Sounds and signals we once were in tune with, often go unnoticed or overshadowed and at worst case ignored. Therein lies a question about man's advancement of new technology. If all our digital experiences and needs are continually met at a press of a button - or intelligence of the artificial kind threatens to dull our sense of reality and skill base, can we still connect and learn from nature at a pace in which we can sustain it ?  '

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​Can we hold on to real-time instincts for nature to remain present within us ?

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​Her images take reference from this and the positive aspects of harmonies occurring in nature. Small deep wonders in seasonal ebb and flow, and evidence of interconnectedness. This kind of engaged reciprocity is true in a Symbiotic existence. This is the key to turning around a disastraous fateful future. One visual representation from a collaborative project made in 2020, entitled HYPHAE, relates to man's connectivity with nature. Read and see more about HYPHAE . 

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A print practice comes full circle in relation to titles of works made during degree studies, 

`Translations I, II, II'   'A Poetry of Place'  and 'Leaving a place you are connected to ´ and the more recent 'Elements (of the long season)  Series' and 'A Short Tale of Two Cities.'

 

Bev Hayes 2024

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PRINT BACKGROUND

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BA Hons in Fine Art and Printmaking. 

Ground Knowledge in traditional printmaking forged at Print Departments; University Of the West of England, Bristol, and along side the reputable, Centre for Fine Print Research.

John Moores University, Liverpool.

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Printmaking Tutor at The Bluecoat Arts Centre, Print Room, Liverpool UK

 

Photopolymer Intaglio courses at Konstnärernas Kollektivverkstad, Gothenburg 2021

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Print practice at print workshop Hot Bed Press UK.

 

 

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