Bill Blacker

The development of the Ingram Street premises and its layout

Clip Title	The development of the Ingram Street premises and its layout
Interviewee Name	Bill Blacker
Interviewee Role	Founding Member of Glasgow Print Studio in 1972. Worked in the St Vincent Crescent and Ingram Street locations.
Interviewer Name	Kerry Patterson
Interview Date	6 November 2018
Clip Length	2 minutes 12 seconds

Transcription

BB: St Vincent Crescent was alright as far as it went but there wasn’t an awful lot of scope, to develop things, or add new equipment or anything like that. So, we decided to look for bigger premises and these ones, the ones in Ingram Street they belonged to… I think it was Glasgow Corporation, at the time. And it was a clothing factory. But it was quite suitable because it was huge! I don’t know if you were ever in it at all? No?

KP: No.

BB: Absolutely huge, massive place. Erm… we set up to the front of the building looking on to Ingram Street. Most of the printing was done, etching was there, litho was there, screen-printing was there. We sublet an area to Bill MacNamara who was a potter, and his pal Colin [Walker] – I can’t remember his second name. So they took that on and they brought kilns in, and pugmills, and wheels and stuff. And then, John – I think John Taylor rented a piece at the back for a big studio because he was doing, really, some big abstract paintings at the time. And it was ideal for him. So, he took a space there as well. And on the other side there was a close going up, the other side was still part of that factory and we didn’t know what to do with it immediately, but then Calum [MacKenzie] thought it would make a good gallery. So, we kind of tidied it up and did some work in it, you know to make the walls a bit more presentable, cleaned it all, and that became the gallery.

KP: That was the first time you’d had your proper dedicated [gallery] space?

BB: Yes, yes, absolutely. You know, we could hang a few things in St Vincent Crescent but you’re really talking about, you know, not much more than a dozen things you could get on the walls, really. So, yeah and it was great to have that gallery.