The New Arcadian Press was launched
in 1981 by Patrick Eyres, Ian Gardner and Grahame Jones. The foundations
had been laid through the collaborative works of Eyres and Gardner, which
had been published by Gardner's Blue Tunnel press in 1978 and 1980.
Since 1986, the publications of the New Arcadian
Press have been developed under the sole direction of Patrick Eyres.
The principal collaborators, in the production of New Arcadian works, are
Chris Broughton, Howard Eaglestone and Wendy Frith.
The logo of the New Arcadian Press encapsulates
the aim to generate a continuous programme of artistic, scholarly and poetic
research into cultural landscape. The outcome of each project is published
in the New Arcadian Journal. The
issues engaged are both historical and contemporary, and are concerned
with the "Meaning" with which "Place" is imbued. New Arcadian projects
investigate the design of such Arcadian and Utopian environments as landscape
gardens and model communities, and explore landscapes alleged to be "wild".
The approach of the New Arcadian Journal is always contextual, whether
it comprises lyric celebration, polemical critique or iconographical analysis.
New Arcadian collaborations tend to be:-
- Historical:
- Contemporary scholarship which investigates the cultural politics of the
English landscape garden, parkland and country estate of the 18th century.
The emphasis is upon the representation of political contexts through landscape
and monumental design. This has included the design of model communities
to house agricultural and industrial workers (18th and 19th centuries).
Textual analysis is animated by artistic interpretation of extant monuments
and sites.
- Contemporary:
- Lyric celebration of "Place", largely encountered through walking; and
polemical critique of current issues. The text-image collaboration is encompassed
by poetry and prose, and by artistic response to "Place" and "Issue". On
occasions these two strands (of the historical and contemporary) are incorporated
within the same edition of the New Arcadian Journal.
While the New Arcadian Press has produced
cards, small books, print portfolios and broadsheets, the principal publication
is the New Arcadian Journal. This
unique, limited edition is informative, entertaining and is a collector's
item. Originality of content is complemented by quality of production,
which is ensured by the design, integrating text and image. The illustrations
comprise drawings-for-print, digital prints, lino engravings, lino prints,
paintings and photographs.
Patrick Eyres
PJN - Leeds - 18/10/2007