Leonie Bradley's work is in a constant state of flux: a balance between formal structure and experimentation, between repetition and one-offs. She plays at the intersection of processes, always with an urge to communicate ideas. Constantly pushing at what a print can be, her work includes installation, animation, writing, film and production. She often collaborates with scientists, musicians and other artists to translate and distil research into simple concepts.
Bradley uses a wide range of materials and techniques: cutting, folding, creasing, pushing and pulling. But she usually starts a body of work with wood engraving as it requires absolute concentration and allows her to be completely absorbed in the subject. She uses this very slow, traditional and analogue medium to investigate the impact of rapidly evolving, contemporary, digital technologies, such as AI-generated art and social media. After that intense period of thinking, researching and making, she takes her ideas into different and unexpected directions.
Collections
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK; University of Warwick, UK; University of Lancashire, UK; Manchester Metropolitan University, UK; University of Bath, UK; Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers Diploma Collection; Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, USA; La Liga de Estudiantes de Arte, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Terra - the Sustainability Pavilion, Dubai, UAE; World Wildlife Fund, Abu Dhabi, UAE; Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China; and, Heilongjiang Museum of Printmaking, China
Awards
Flourish Award for Excellence in Printmaking (shortlisted), 2024
Intaglio Art Prize, RE Originals, 2024
Bewick Prize, Society of Wood Engravers, 2024
Climate Art Installation Award, Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, 2022
Print with a Point Prize, SWE, 2021
Peter Reddick Bursary for Innovation in Relief Printmaking, Spike Print Studio, Bristol, 2018-19
Visions of Science Bursary Award, Edge Arts Bath, 2018
Rawlinson Bequest, 2017
Royal Birmingham Society of Artists' Print Prize: Hawthorn Printmakers' Prize, 2016
National Original Print exhibition: The John Purcell Paper Prize, 2016
SWE's 79th Annual exhibition: The Rachel Reckitt Open Prize (joint winner), 2016
SWE's 71st Annual exhibition: The Rachel Reckitt Prize for a wood engraver under 35, 2009
Selected recent exhibitions
Reflect: Uncommon Ground, Black Swan Arts, Frome, 2025
13th Ulsan International Woodcut Print Art Festival, Korea, 2025
Tim Marlow Selects, London, 2025
The Future is Today, Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, 2025
Other Worlds, Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Devon, 2025
AI Print Workshop portfolio, SGCI conference, Puerto Rico, 2025
Flourish Award for Excellence in Printmaking, 2024-25
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London, 2024
12th International Woodcut Print Art Festival, Ulsan, South Korea, 2024
Art, Science and Creativity, Liverpool Central Library, 2024
Don't Give Them Fire! UWE, Bristol, 2024
Royal Birmingham Society of Artists' Print Prize 2024
Alone Together, touring print installation 2022-23 (Impact conference, Bristol; Canwood Gallery, Hereford; MAKE Southwest, Bovey Tracey; Oriel Môn, Anglesey)
Small But Mighty, Bankside Gallery, London, 2023
The World in the Palm of your Hands, Heilongjiang Museum of Art, China, 2023
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London, 2023
Split Graphic, IMPACT 12, The Island, Bristol, 2022
New Prints 2021/Summer: Lonely Hearts, International Print Center New York, 2021
MakeReady, SGCI Printmaking Conference, online, 2021
Bristol Artists' Book Event (BABE), Arnolfini, online, 2021
The World is a Handkerchief, Blackburn 20|20 Gallery, NYC, 2020
Analogue Interference solo exhibition, Spike Print Studio, Bristol, 2019
RE Masters: Relief, Bankside Gallery, London, 2019
National Original Print Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London, 2019
Beyond 72dpi, the postdigitalprintmaker, SGCI Texas, USA, 2019
Wells Art Contemporary, Wells, 2019
Print: A Catalyst for Social Change? Bury Art Gallery & Museum, 2019
V&A Museum, London: Print of the Month, 2018
New Prints 2018, International Print Center, New York, USA, 2018
Collaborative Artists' Books, IMPACT 10, Santander, Spain, 2018
Visions of Science, Edge Arts, Bath University, 2018
Interruptions, Felios Foundation, Athens, Greece, 2018
National Original Print Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London, 2018
Print Prize, RBSA, Birmingham, 2018
MAMDP Mini Print Exhibition, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2018
Wood Engraving Invitational, Davidson Gallery, Seattle, 2017
The Age of Enlightenment, project and touring exhibition funded by The Arts Council, The Baring Foundation, Devon Guild of Craftsmen and DAISI, 2017
Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, 2017
RE Masters: One-off, Bankside Gallery, London 2017
Talks
Climate Change and the Printmaker, Regional Print Centre, Wrexham, 2025
Other Worlds: In Conversation with Hilary Paynter MBE and David Robertson ARE, Burton Art Gallery & Museum, 2025
AI-generated art at Don't Give Them Fire symposium, UWE, Bristol, 2024
Regular programme of hosting artist's talks for Spike Print Studio: Lucy May Schofield, Ian Chamberlain, Sumi Perera and Catriona Gourlay, Assistant Curator, Words & Image, V&A, ongoing
Artist's Talk, Spike Print Studio, 2022
In Conversation with Hilary Paynter, Northern Print, 2020
Chaired Q&A with Emma Stibbon RA & Amy-Jane Blackhall, Bankside Gallery, 2019
Socio-political Artist's Book Practice, Masters' series, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, 2019
Artist's Talk, Department of Fine Art, University of Salford, 2018
Collaborative artists' books to develop research practice, IMPACT 10 ENCUENTRO, Santander, Spain, 2018
British Printmakers, SGCI Conference, Atlanta and accompanying exhibition British Printmakers in the American South, Decatur, Georgia, USA, 2017