The Great Print Exhibition is back at Rheged for a fifth year.

The largest exhibition of printmaking in the UK opened today and is the first take up residence in the centre’s new state-of-the-art gallery space.

The show has grown in the number of artists and artworks on show and in reputation.

This year’s exhibition features 77 artists, 500 framed artworks and over 1,000 prints including unframed pieces and available to buy.

It features work from some of Britain’s most highly-respected printmakers including Printfest’s ‘Printmaker of the Year’ Anita Klein and Royal Academician, Anne Desmet.

There are also 32 newcomers to the exhibition including works by Bronwen Sleigh, Angie Lewin and Ade Asena.

Born in Sydney, Klein studied at Chelsea School of Art and the Slade School of Art.

In 1985 she was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers and was later elected their President in 2002.

Her personal celebrations of everyday living rendered with humour, sensitivity and beauty reveal a joyful delight in the ‘dailiness of life’

Next to the gallery, visitors will find a new-look ‘making studio’ encouraging visitors of all ages and abilities to see great art and then try some of the techniques they’ve seen for themselves.

Rheged Arts Manager John Stokes said: “In a digital age where everything is on-demand, print, in all its forms can offer welcome respite.

“More than just wonderful art, The Great Print Exhibition offers people a chance to contemplate, reflect, escape and rationalise the constant online noise we are subjected to.

“And who knows, perhaps you’ll even find a piece of artwork you never knew you wanted or needed!”

Hung in a salon style, with floor to ceiling prints filling the gallery, it promises to be a celebration of British printmaking.

The Great Print Exhibition is open daily from 10am-5pm except for Christmas and Boxing Day until March 8. Admission is free.