Moving its East London studios to Somerset House this week, members of Print Club have been using a selection of artist’s prints and printing beds set up on site to produce prints live for the visitors of Pick Me Up.

Legendary British designer Anthony Burrill is taking residency in the Somerset House Open Studio as part of Pick Me Up, the UK’s first and foremost contemporary graphic art fair. As part of his ten day residency, Anthony will be inviting long-time collaborators such as Wilfrid Wood and Emily Forgot to produce new work from a variety of different mediums. ARTS THREAD was privileged enough to ask Anthony a few questions during his busy schedule.

You heard it right! The most talked about graphic art fair at Somerset House is back with an exciting line up of artists, collectives and galleries for this year’s Pick Me Up!

Running from 17-27 March 2011, the art fair will bring you the UK’s most original and cutting edge graphic design talents to galleries along London’s Embankment.  This year’s exhibition, Pick Me Up Selects consists of 24 rising stars of the graphic/illustration world, who will showcase their work in a selling exhibition curated to reflect recent themes within the field.

Rosie Irvine’s work has an intriguing, nostalgic charm that hints at stories just below the surface. She has had considerable success with her editorial work and her designs for book jackets. We loved her distinctive pieces, created with a combination of drawing, stencils and stitching, Rosie says, “I like to work by hand and make a mess.” However, she does use a computer to scan and piece together some of her pieces. We loved the slightly fractured ‘coloured in’ feel and the bright colour and merged tonal effects reprising faded family photographs.

The quality and variety of the work on show at Pick Me Up, the new Contemporary Graphic Art Fair at Somerset House is a big element of its success. Decorative, bold, delicate and surreal pieces are all included in the great mix of styles on display – there really is something for everyone. One of our favourites include Lorenzo Petrantoni’s black and white wall of cut paper.

Landfill/Manymono brought its Risograph printer to Pick Me Up Graphic Art fair, creating limited edition prints for an affordable £12.

Alongside a selection of work from its designers, the East London collective Peepshow has brought its £3 create-your-own wood block print to the Pick Me Up graphic art fair.

ARTS THREAD loves Ryantown at Pick Me Up. Rob Ryan has re-created his studio at Somerset House, London for the duration of the graphic art fair. Catch it while you can – to view his beautiful, fragile work as well as getting an insight into the atmosphere of his workroom, normally based in London’s East End.

Print Club London has set up its screen printing workshop at Pick Me Up, Contemporary Graphic Arts fair and every morning and afternoon of the fair has live screen printing with one of its team of graphic artists, from up-and-coming names to established names, such as James Jarvis, who was screen-printing Friday afternoon.

A steady stream of enthusiastic visitors made their way to the first day of Pick Me Up, the Contemporary Graphic Art Fair at Somerset House on London’s Embankment. Selected exhibitors included both well-known and emerging cutting edge illustrators and graphic artists. Brisk trade was taking place in the shop downstairs from the exhibition, where visitors were able to buy affordable prints, limited edition books, T-shirts, china mugs and fanzines.