Water, light & movement
We are very excited to be welcoming Megan Hall and her beautiful printmaking to our Gallery in Winter 2027. Devon-based printmaker Megan Hall, who’s practice is deeply rooted in the movement, rhythm, and quiet intensity of water. Working under the name Flotsam Prints, Megan creates traditional reduction linocuts that translate her enduring connection to the sea and coastal landscape into bold, layered works on paper.
“I am a traditional printmaker based amidst the rugged beauty of Devon,” she explains, and this sense of place is not simply background but the foundation of her creative voice. Living close to rivers, quarries, and the ever-changing coastline, she is continually drawn to the shifting surface of water in all its forms. It is within these environments that her ideas begin to form—through observation, immersion, and a sensitivity to light and movement.
Much of Megan’s practice begins outside the studio. Cold-water swims, shoreline walks, and time spent along the Devon coast all contribute to her visual language. These are not just moments of inspiration, but lived experiences that shape the emotional core of her work. “The ever-changing rhythms of the natural world shape my creative process, offering both inspiration and challenge,” she reflects. In this way, her prints become less about depicting a scene and more about translating sensation—how water moves, feels, and holds memory.
Her process is rooted in reduction linocut, a demanding and irreversible printmaking method that builds an image layer by layer from a single block. Starting with the lightest tones, Megan gradually carves away the lino between each stage of printing. “Once an area is cut away, it cannot be printed again—there is no going back,” she notes. This discipline introduces both precision and risk, where each decision permanently shapes the outcome.
The result is a carefully constructed image that evolves over time, each layer adding depth, contrast, and atmosphere. “The final image emerges slowly, shaped by a balance of planning and response to each new layer,” she explains. The process itself becomes meditative, echoing the repetition and rhythm found in the natural environments that inspire her.
Photography often plays a supporting role in Megan’s practice, used as a starting point rather than a fixed outcome. Working from her own images, she combines observation with memory and imagination, simplifying forms and heightening contrast to create works that feel both grounded and expressive. “Each print becomes a personal response to the places I know so well, shaped as much by feeling as by observation.”
This relationship between control and fluidity is central to her work. The carved marks of linocut naturally echo the movement of water—its currents, ripples, and reflective surfaces—allowing the medium itself to mirror the subject. “Each piece explores the meeting point of fluidity and control, echoing the push and pull of the tide,” she writes. It is this balance that gives her work its distinctive atmosphere: calm yet dynamic, structured yet instinctive.
All of Megan’s original prints are produced in very limited editions, typically ranging between five and fifteen impressions. Because of the reduction process, the printing block is gradually destroyed as the image is built. Once the final layer is printed, no further editions can be made, making each work both handcrafted and finite.
Through her work as Flotsam Prints, Megan invites viewers into a contemplative space where landscape is not simply seen but felt. Her prints hold moments of immersion in the elements—those fleeting encounters with water and light that linger long after the experience itself has passed.
