Will Hayward
Will is an emerging artist focusing predominantly on printmaking. Despite only beginning life as a printmaker in 2023, he has a long connection to print through his father’s third generation printing business. In early 2024 he had a residency with Art Riot Collective in Coventry and his mixed media work ‘The morning after’ featured in the ‘My two brains’ exhibition inspired by the work of photographer Jason Scott Tilley FRSA. In June 2024, Will’s science-fiction inspired prints ‘Salute’ and ‘Fascinating’ were exhibited in the Derby Print Open and the ‘Under a blanket of stars’ exhibition at Sheffield’s Fronteer Galley, respectively. Will is originally from Nottingham and his current work draws on the lace-making heritage of the city, translating vintage Nottingham lace into linocut prints.
About Will’s work “Aubrey Resuscitated”:
Given the theme of the saving women’s lives I was eager to produce something from the work of a living female artist. I have had a long admiration for the work of Nikki McKay, a Nottinghamshire based artist whose paintings ‘use colour and the female form to create a language of mood and movement as expressed from the point of view of the subject rather than as a voyeur’ and ‘large ladies…portrayed as positive images of womanhood’. Thankfully Nikki agreed to collaborate and gave me permission to use one of her pieces.
I took Nikki’s original ink sketch ‘Languishing’ and translated it into a linocut print with a second block used to add the defibrillator and pads. Nikki and I both share a love of the work of Aubrey Beardsley, and his influence can be seen in the sweeping curved lines in her work and so Aubrey, which is now predominantly used as a woman’s name seemed a fitting title. The print is one of three in the limited edition.