In Good Company

Being Neighbourly talks to Lucy Parris about the art community she's building.

Author/ Being Neighbourly
20 May 2026

I initially trained in graphic design and also have a PGCE teaching qualification. I enjoy teaching, mainly adults, but do also do occasional school workshops,” says British artist Lucy Parris, adding that she mostly teaches a range of printmaking techniques.

“I only really have experience of community within the printmaking world, rather than the broader art world,” she says modestly, undercutting the important role she plays in leading hobbyists and amateur artists to creating with greater confidence, while making new friends.

According to Parris, who first came to Hong Kong in 1980, before returning to the SAR in 2006 (and who studied at Liverpool polytechnic, now John Moores university), due to printmaking equipment being large and expensive, it is common for printmakers to share facilities to create work creating an organic community based around the facility.

“Artists who are not printmakers also often collaborate with specialist printmakers to help realise their paintings or drawings as artist prints,” Parris adds.

Community in Action

A trained graphic designer, Lucy Parris’s career has seen her pick up multiple skills related to the arts including: designer, book illustrator, artist, educator and print maker. In her latest incarnation, she is the organiser and curator of the Hong Kong Print Makers Showcase. Its first edition in January 15-19, 2026 at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre was a resounding success with 37 participating artists and over 120 pieces of work, underlining a little known fact about the strength and talent of local printmakers.

“Print studios, being communal, often lead to sharing of methodology and technical expertise. This is where I see my studio —a place where people can learn not just from me but from each other while working in a shared space.

Said studio is the eponymously-named Lucy Parris Studio at the top of Lan Kwai Fong. Opened in 2025, Parris previously worked out of Wild At Art on Elgin Street, until the popularity of her classes necessitated her renting own space.

“I only actually teach two mornings a week and supervise open sessions at my studio where I do my own work, alongside helping others out with technical issues,” she shares, adding that she offers instruction in Japanese woodcut, Lino print, collagraph, tetrapak and dry point. “I cover a wide range of printmaking techniques and teach skills that are hard to come by in Hong Kong.”

The location of the studio is ideal for her ‘Learn to Sketch’ classes, which combine

theory and practice in air-conditioned comfort, before she and her students head out to nearby places such as Soho, Tai Kwun or the alleyways of Central or Sheung Wan for en plein air practicals.

“My sketching group has come directly from my ‘Learn to Sketch’ classes, which I run on a weekly basis,” Parris says, adding that the group sometimes meets outside of the lessons to sketch together.

“This creates a supportive and enjoyable environment for people to practise what they’ve learnt with me.” Parris occasionally organises sketch trips around Hong Kong and overseas to Thailand and other Asian destinations; Japan is planned for 2026.

January 2026 marked a new initiative at the

Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre to stoke the fires of the community she has built and cultivated, and to bring new, local creators into the printmaking network in Hong Kong. Thirty-seven artists responded to the open call and over 120 pieces of work were hung. “The standard was extremely high and featured work from established printmakers as well as new artists,” she shares, proudly.

“The exhibition at the VAC was the first of its kind and it was so interesting to be able to make contact with so many local printmakers who weren’t aware of each other and to bring them all together in one show,” she enthuses.

“I am hoping to make it an annual exhibition and plans are afoot for a repeat show next year in 2027 already.”

Lucy Parris Print Studio
Apt 5, 37 D’Aguilar St, Central, Hong Kong.