If you like your weekends with a side of ink under the fingernails and a whiff of history in the air, the 2025 Wimble’s Wayzgoose at the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) was the place to be.
Movable Type Studio rolled into Armidale loaded with our popup Press full of wood type, big ideas, and a research project that’s got a touch of colour. Over three packed days, we dished out hands-on printmaking, poured a few drinks, and cracked open a slice of Australian printing history that’s been sitting quietly in the archives for too long.
Ink & Drink — outdoor printing, Black Gully style
Our Ink & Drink workshop kicked things off in proper Movable Type fashion , under the open sky, deep in the Black Gully, surrounded by printmakers who know their way around a brayer. There’s nothing quite like running a press outdoors, birds overhead, a drink in hand, and ink rolling smooth. We got participants working with our laser cut experiments with a no-fuss attitude, stripping it back to ink, paper, and elbow grease. No white gloves. No glass cases. Just the joy of print and a few healthy debates in the shade with the setting sun.
NERAM and the Black Gully Printmakers made it all possible, creating a space that felt less like a museum workshop and more like a backyard gathering of serious makers. That’s how we like it.
Wimble’s Ink Reimagined — serious research, delivered our way
Now, let’s talk about the research – Movable Type Studio is currently deep into a prestigious research fellowship with the Powerhouse Museum Sydney, digging into the archive of none other than F.T. Wimble himself.
For those not in the know, Frederick Thomas Wimble wasn’t just Australia’s first commercial ink manufacturer, he was a rogue, a pioneer, and a man who brought colour to the colonies when black-and-white just wouldn’t do. Our presentation at the 2025 Wayzgoose was a progress report straight from the frontlines of that research. We’ve been wrist-deep in the Powerhouse’s collections: original correspondence, ink recipes, sales materials, and all the delicious ephemera that shows how Wimble shaped Australia’s printing industry.
This isn’t academic navel-gazing. Our goal is to reconnect contemporary printmakers with the materials and methods that made our industry sing 150 years ago — and to imagine how those recipes and processes could spark new ideas today. Sharing that work-in-progress at NERAM, right beside the Museum of Printing’s remarkable press collection, was more than fitting — it felt like the perfect intersection of past, present, and future.
Big Woodblocks & Even Bigger Grins
Of course, we couldn’t visit without pulling some big prints. We hauled out one of our large-format woodblocks and got the community involved in laying down some serious impressions. There’s a primal satisfaction in seeing those bold shapes hit paper — loud, physical, and unashamedly analogue. The Museum of Printing’s historic presses and type drawers standing nearby only added to the atmosphere. History wasn’t behind glass this weekend, it was inked up and getting printed.
A nod to the legends
None of it would have happened without Emily Simpson and the tireless Black Gully Printmakers, who ran the show with grit and grace. And a huge thanks to the teams at NERAM and the Museum of Printing for not just opening their doors, but handing us the keys and saying, “go for it.” We did.
We left Armidale with ink stains, frostbite, and the satisfaction that something important is bubbling up, a reconnection with Australia’s printmaking roots and a fresh spark for future experiments. That’s what Wimble’s Wayzgoose is all about.
