John Preston is an etcher and painter. He studied Architecture and History of Art at Cambridge, then worked in building conservation, including 23 years caring for Cambridge, latterly as Historic Environment Manager dealing with historic buildings and trees across the city. Throughout his career he has always painted and drawn, including watercolours on his travels, often in Italy and more recently in Georgia (Caucasus), and drawings of musicians. Wanting to be able to both keep and develop versions of the same composition, he looked for evening classes in printmaking; the availability of a class in Cambridge prompted his return here in 1980. Arriving 90 minutes before enrolment started, he was 10th out of 12 accepted for the printmaking course. The tutor suggested he try etching, and he has been etching ever since.
John continues to explore the many possible ways of creating images using this historic, ever-challenging technique. His images are representational and atmospheric, often in monochrome. He likes to work on the spot when possible - a real challenge as he has to draw a plate in reverse for the printed image to be correct. His subjects include architecture and landscape, here and on his travels (Italy and particularly Venice feature strongly), trees, and people (particularly musicians). He has been drawing musicians on and off since he was a Hesse student at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1976; recently he has been drawing the Proms (including a major new aquatint of the Aurora Orchestra's 2024 Beethoven 9 Prom), and singers of Georgian polyphonic music here and in Georgia.
John's prints have been selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (twice), the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (5 times), the Premio de Grabado Maximo Ramos (Ferrol, Spain, twice), and Norman Ackroyd RA selected his print 'Floodlit Lantern, Ely' for 'The Masters, Etching' at the Bankside Gallery in 2016. Most recently his print 'We do like to be...' was selected for the on-line Woolwich Contemporary Printmakers 2025.
