Tommy Emmanuel: Fingerstyle guitarist with Certified Guitar Player status
AUSTRALIAN guitarist Tommy Emmanuel will play the Grand Opera House, York, on March 6 2022.
This will be the only Yorkshire show of next year’s 12-date tour from February 25 to March 13 with special guest Jerry Douglas, the Ohio dobro master.
Emmanuel, 65, who last played British shows on the Transatlantic Sessions Tour, has performed in public from the age of six, when he first toured regional Australia with his family band.
By 30, he was a rock’n’roll lead guitarist, playing European stadiums. At 44, he became one of only five musicians to be named a Certified Guitar Player by his idol, Chet Atkins. His concerts take him from Nashville to Sydney, London to York next February.
Twice nominated for a GrammyAward, Emmanuel has received two ARIA Awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association and repeated honours in the Guitar Player magazine readers’ poll. In 2017, he was the cover story for the August edition.
Emmanuel is a fingerstyle guitarist, frequently threading three different parts simultaneously into his material as he operates as a one-man band who handles melody, supporting chords and bass all at once.
He never plays the same show twice, improvising big chunks of every gig. In doing so, he “leaves himself open to technical imperfections, although they provide some of the humanity to an other-worldly talent”.
Tickets are on sale at atgtickets.com/venues/grand-opera-house-york/
Between Rock And A Hard Place, mixed media, by Lesley Birch
EMILY Stubbs and Lesley Birch are teaming up for Muted Worlds, a lockdown exhibition launched tomorrow by Pyramid Gallery, York.
Pots & Paintings will begin as a digital show from the York artists’ studios before moving to the Stonegate gallery once Lockdown 3 strictures are eased.
“We’re delighted to have been invited by Pyramid Gallery owner Terry Brett once again to create another Pots & Paintings show for 2021,” say exhibition curators Emily and Lesley.
A pot by Emily Stubbs for Muted Worlds, her joint exhibition with Lesley Birch
“This time we shall be online and it’s a more muted edge – winter is here and with it, Covid, and another lockdown – so we feel the need for simplicity. We have collaborated to produce monochrome pieces inspired by the winter season.”
Terry says: “Expect exciting expressive mark-making, beautiful soft greys, earths, charcoals and sage greens with occasional pops of colour in winter landscape and abstract pieces with the forms and lines of the natural world.”
Emily works from Pica Studios, in Grape Lane, where she creates contemporary ceramic vessels that explore the relationship between colour, form and texture.
Lesley Birch at work in her York studio
Fascinated by the juxtaposition of contrasting elements in her work, Emily makes conversations between vessels by placing them together or in groups.
Constantly sketching, drawing and collaging to experiment with line, colour, texture and mark making, Emily translates this process into clay, building up layers of ceramic slips, glazes and stains.
“Stepping away from my usual brightly coloured glazes, Muted Worlds has allowed me to really focus and concentrate on creating rich layers of mark making,” she says.
Flood, mixed media monotype, by Lesley Birch
“Bold brush strokes, blocks of monochrome and areas of scraffito, inspired by the wintery walks around York through lockdown, feature in a new collection of vessels created alongside and inspired by Lesley’s paintings.”
Scottish-born painter and printmaker Lesley interprets feelings and emotions connected to time and place in her works. Calligraphic scribbles and expressive, sweeping brush marks flow on paper and canvas, straddling the boundary between abstraction and figuration.
“The fact that certain combinations of colours, certain marks and movements can convey an atmosphere, that is the joy of painting for me: that exciting moment when materiality and emotion meet,” she says.
“Muted Worlds has allowed me to really focus and concentrate on creating rich layers of mark making,” says Emily Stubbs
The Pots & Paintings go on sale from tomorrow and purchases will be delivered by courier or by the artist if the buyer is in York. Anyone needing further information can contact Terry on 07805 029254.
Looking ahead, Emily will be taking part in the 2021 York Open Studios, showing her ceramics at 51 Balmoral Terrace, York, on April 17, 18, 24 and 25, from 10am to 5pm.
Exhibiting there too will be textiles artist Amy Stubbs, making her Open Studios debut after relocating to York.
How the Great Yorkshire Pantomime tented palace will look on Knavesmire, when Aladdin is staged in December
THE Great Yorkshire Easter Pantomime is off, but York’s first ever “tentomime” in a Knavesmire big top will go ahead in the Christmas season instead.
Producer James Cundall and writer-director Chris Moreno made the decision to call off Aladdin’s March 19 to April 11 run at a meeting to “discuss our options” this morning.
Afterwards, Moreno said: “Sadly, we are going to have to postpone the show until Christmas. The way the Government is, with the pandemic lockdown, and the way things are looking for the next few months, I just don’t think we can get there in time to go ahead. We can’t take it close to the wire and then be forced to cancel it at the last minute.”
Moreno would have needed a return to Tier 2 regulations in York for socially distanced rehearsals to be able to take place in March, followed by the performance run.
“If there were any certainty, it would be different, but that’s not the case, and so I’ve also had to cancel Sleeping Beauty And The Socially Distanced Witch, which I was writing and directing for the Grimsby Auditorium for an April run.”
Billed as “a dream come true”, Aladdin would have played in a luxurious heated tented palace to an audience capacity of 976 in tiered, cushioned seating.
The 36 performances of Cundall and Moreno’s “tentomime” would have been socially distanced and compliant with Covid-19 guidance, presented by a cast of 21, including nine principals, and a band on a 50-metre stage with a Far East palace façade, projected scenery and magical special effects.
Moreno has confirmed the Great Yorkshire Pantomime production this winter will still be Aladdin at the same York Racecourse location, with the promise of “a beautiful love story, a high-flying magic carpet, a wish-granting nutty genie, the very evil Abanazar and a magic lamp full of spectacular family entertainment”.
“It will run for at least five weeks,” he said. “Dates have been discussed and are now booked in and will be confirmed this week, and we’ll have tickets back on sale within the next two weeks.
“Hopefully, there’ll be an even bigger cast and it’ll be an even bigger venture at Christmas when it’s a much bigger competing world for pantomime shows, so that’s why we’re looking at doing an even bigger show.”
Steve Wickenden: Popular dame in four Three Bears Productions’ pantos at the Grand Opera House, York, from 2016. Will he be in Great Yorkshire Pantomime’s “starry cast” for Aladdin? Wait and see! Picture: David Harrison
Casting will be announced later. “But it will definitely be a starry cast,” asserted Moreno. Likewise, the capacity may increase, subject to Government Covid strictures in place at the time. “We’ll be reviewing that as the year progresses, but the vaccination roll-out appears to be going well, and if we’re in a position to increase the capacity, we would look to do that,” he said.
Moreno has form for such a “tenterprise”. “I did a pantomime at, would you believe, the O2 at Greenwich, with Lily Savage as Widow Twankey in Aladdin, A Wish Come True,” he recalled. “That was in 2012 in a purpose-built tent in the grounds, when we had 1,900 in there, in the days when you didn’t have to socially distance.
“It was the same sort of tent that we’re planning to use in York: a ‘pavilion palace’ that’s totally different from a circus tent.”
Hence the capacity may yet rise above 1,000. What is certain, however: “It’ll be a big stage to fill, as it’s 50 metres wide, and we’re thinking that instead of a single flying carpet, we should have two for a battle between Aladdin on one and Abanazar on the other,” said Moreno.
Both producer and director are vastly experienced in staging theatre and musical theatre productions. Cundall was the Welburn impresario behind the award-winning but ultimately ill-fated, loss-making Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, mounted in a pop-up Elizabethan theatre on the Castle car park in York in 2018 and 2019 (as well as at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, in the second summer).
He was awarded an MBE for services to the entertainment industry in the 2019 New Year Honours list, but by October that year, his principal company, Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, went into administration after the smaller-than-expected audiences for the second season of Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre shows, especially at Blenheim Palace.
Moreno has produced, directed and written more than 120 pantomimes. He once owned and ran the Grand Opera House, in York, where later Three Bears Productions, the production company he co-produces with Stuart Wade and Russ Spencer, presented four pantomimes from 2016.
Moreno was the director and writer for Aladdin in 2016-2017, Beauty And The Beast in 2017-2018, Cinderella in 2018-2019 and Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs in 2019-2020.
The confirmation of Aladdin’s winter run means York will have three professional pantomimes going head to head: the Great Yorkshire Pantomime at Knavesmire; Qdos Pantomimes presenting Dame Berwick Kaler’s comeback in Dick Turpin Rides Again at the Grand Opera House, from December 11 to January 9 2022, and York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions staging Cinderella from December 3 to January 2 2022.
Josh Benson: Ready to entertain you online all day on Sunday
JOSH Benson, “Just Joshing” comic star of York Theatre Royal’s Travelling Pantomime, is bored in Lockdown 3.
“Anyone up for Josh Day?” asks the York magician, actor, children’s entertainer, music hall act and Corntroller of Entertainment at York Maze, on his Facebook feed.
The online day in question is “Funday Sunday”, January 24. “Several different lil’ shows/workshops/general front room daftness, throughout the day and into the evening on Facebook Live,” he promises. “Various content/times TBC. I’m open to suggestions…!”
To make those suggestions for his full day of virtual live shows, contact Josh via facebook.com/JoshBensonEntertainer
Joshing around: Josh Benson in the comic’s role in York Theatre Royal’s Travelling Pantomime in December. Picture: Ant Robling
“It is especially exciting to delve back in time and revitalise two standout albums from my career,” says Midge Ure, ahead of next year’s Voices & Visions tour
MIDGE Ure & Band Electronica will open next year’s Voice & Visions Tour at the Grand Opera House, York, on February 22.
Scotsman Ure, 67, will be marking 40 years since the release of Ultravox’s Rage In Eden and Quartet albums in September 1981 and October 1982 respectively.
Ure & Band Electronica last played the Opera House on October 20 2019 on The 1980 Tour, when Ultravox’s 1980 album, Vienna, was performed in its entirety for the first time in four decades, complemented by highlights from Visage’s debut album, as Ure recalled the year when he co-wrote, recorded and produced the two future-sounding records.
Such was the “overwhelming response” to that retro excursion, Ure will reprise the nostalgia trip for 2022’s Voice & Visions Tour.
In the wake of the global success of Vienna, Ultravox headed back into the studio to record their second album with Ure as frontman, Rage In Eden, a top five entry in Autumn 1981, replete with the singles The Thin Wall and The Voice.
Midge Ure: Three Yorkshire dates on his Voice & Visions tour in 2022
Quartet, their third studio set with Ure, arrived in quick succession with production by The Beatles’ producer, George Martin, no less. It became their third top ten album, boosted by four top 20 singles, Reap The Wild Wind, Hymn, Visions In Blue and We Came To Dance.
Voice & Visions will recall the era of Eighties’ electronics, experimentation and synthesisers in a show that will combine both albums’ highlights with landmark songs from Ure’s back catalogue.
Looking forward to his 2022 travels, Ure says: “I can’t begin to tell you how great it will feel to be back out touring and it is especially exciting to delve back in time and revitalise two standout albums from my career, Rage In Eden and Quartet. This is the logical and emotional follow-up to The 1980 Tour.”
Next year’s tour itinerary also will take in Hull Bonus Arena on February 24 and Sheffield City Hall on March 22. Tickets will go on general sale on Friday (22/1/2021): York, at atgtickets.com/york; Hull, bonusarenahull.com; Sheffield, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk.
Ure & Band Electronica will be completing a hattrick of gigs at the Opera House after first appearing there in November 2017, headlining a 1980s’ triple bill with The Christians and Altered Images.
How the Great Yorkshire Pantomime tented palace would look on Knavesmire, York
GREAT Yorkshire Pantomime producer James Cundall and director Chris Moreno will meet tomorrow morning to “discuss our options” for the Easter holiday run, in light of the ongoing Lockdown 3 restrictions.
Billed as “a dream come true”, Aladdin is booked into a luxurious heated tented palace – a giant big top on Knavesmire – from March 19 to April 11 with an audience capacity of 976 in tiered, cushioned seating, divided into pods of three, four, five or six seats, with a minimum purchase of two tickets.
The 36 performances of Cundall and Moreno’s “tentomime” will be socially distanced and compliant with Covid-19 guidance, presented by a cast of 21, including nine principals, and a band on a 50-metre stage with a Far East palace façade, projected scenery and magical special effects.
The Great Yorkshire Pantomime production of Aladdin promises “a beautiful love story, a high-flying magic carpet, a wish-granting nutty genie, the very evil Abanazar and a magic lamp full of spectacular family entertainment”.
The imposition of the open-ended Lockdown 3, however, leaves question marks over whether Aladdin can go ahead, given that no date has been set by the Government for the easing of strictures, with only speculation that it could be “some time in March”.
It would need a return to Tier 2 regulations in York for socially distanced rehearsals to be able to take place, followed by the performance run. Hence tomorrow’s exploratory meeting for Cundall and Moreno to consider where the panto-land lies.
Both producer and director are vastly experienced in staging theatre and musical theatre productions. Cundall was the Welburn impresario behind the award-winning but ultimately ill-fated, loss-making Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, mounted in a pop-up Elizabethan theatre on the Castle car park in York in 2018 and 2019 (as well as at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, in the second summer).
He was awarded an MBE for services to the entertainment industry in the 2019 New Year Honours list, but by October that year, his principal company, Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, went into administration after the smaller-than-expected audiences for the second season of Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre shows, especially at Blenheim Palace.
Creditors, among them the Royal National Theatre, claimed unpaid debts of more than £5 million pounds from companies run by Cundall globally, including in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore, where he produced such shows as Cats, The Phantom Of The Opera, Matilda and War Horse.
Moreno has produced, directed and written more than 120 pantomimes. He once owned and ran the Grand Opera House, in York, where later Three Bears Productions, the production company he co-produces with Stuart Wade and Russ Spencer, presented four pantomimes from 2016.
Moreno was the director and writer for Aladdin in 2016-2017, Beauty And The Beast in 2017-2018, Cinderella in 2018-2019 and Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs in 2019-2020.
There had first been talk around York last autumn of a “tentomime” show to be staged at Knavesmire in December, but the Great Yorkshire Pantomime then settled on Easter, with the “stellar cast” yet to be announced .
Moreno has form for such an enterprise. “I did a pantomime at, would you believe, the O2 at Greenwich, with Lily Savage as Widow Twankey in Aladdin, A Wish Come True,” he recalls. “That was in 2012 in a purpose-built tent in the grounds, when we had 1,900 in there, in the days when you didn’t have to socially distance.
“It was the same sort of tent that we’re planning to use in York: a ‘pavilion palace’ that’s totally different from a circus tent. It’s going to very exciting with the capacity of 976!”
Speaking to CharlesHutchPress on December 11, before York’s change of Tier status and subsequently the third lockdown, Moreno was in buoyant mood. “We can’t go on for the rest of our lives waiting for things to happen,” he said at the time, when he was also working on Sleeping Beauty And The Socially Distanced Witch, a show on a much smaller scale written and directed by Chris for the Grimsby Auditorium for a run from April 6 to 14.
“Aladdin is going to be different from anything I’ve done before, because, we’ll have to adhere to Covid-safety rules with all the safeguards in place, but it will be as near to a 100 per cent typical pantomime as possible,” Moreno revealed.
“Even with 21 performers on stage, it’ll be a big stage to fill, as it’s 50 metres wide, and we’re thinking that instead of a single flying carpet, we should have two for a battle between Aladdin on one and Abanazar on the other.”
Whether such magic can take to the tent air this spring, watch this space for an update tomorrow.
Noble nobbled: Pandemic has forced Ross Noble to rearrange his Humournoid show at the Grand Opera House, York, for a second time
SURREALIST comedian Ross Noble is moving his January 21 2021 gig at the Grand Opera House, York, to January 29 2022.
In his Humournoid show, Noble, 44, asks: “What happens when pure comedy takes human form? What happens when a creature is created and bred to do stand-up?”
“Nobody knows because that isn’t a thing,” says the off-the-cuff Newcastle humorist. What is a thing, he argues, is Ross Noble doing a show. “You can come and see it. This is it,” he urges.
Later this year, Noble’s Humournoid tour is booked into Leeds Town Hall for October 26, rearranged from May 31 2020. Tickets for his 8pm York gig are on sale at atgtickets.com/venues/grand-opera-house-york/; for Leeds, at leedstownhall.co.uk.
Noble, who last visited the Grand Opera House on his El Hablador travels in October 2018, first announced Humournoid, his 17th nationwide tour, would play York on April 30 2020. Here’s hoping for third time lucky.
A midwinter night’s stream: The poster for An Evening With Velma & Jess tonight
AFTER last Friday’s Large & Lit In Lockdown Again solo show online, York drag diva Velma Celli forms a bubble double bill with powerhouse singing hairdresser Jess Steel tonight.
Together they will be presenting An Evening With Velma & Jess, streamed from the riverside abode of Ian Stroughair, the musical actor inside the fabulous international cabaret creation.
Jess, leading light of Big Ian Donaghy’s fundraising A Night To Remember shows at York Barbican, runs the Rock The Barnet salon in Boroughbridge Road, where her clientele can listen to their favourite vinyl on a classic record player while having their hair styled or enjoying a beauty treatment.
Tonight’s 8pm show is the second in a new series of hour-long Velma Celli streamed gigs in lockdown. “It’s the day of the show, ya’ll,” says Velma on Facebook. “So much work and love has gone into this, so if you fancy some lockdown fun, please tune in and support Jess and I.
“Tickets come off sale at 5pm and you have 48 hours to watch it just in case ya busy, Barbra’s.” To book, go to: http://bit.ly/2XxMqrG.
Here Ian/Velma answers Charles Hutchinson’s rapid-fire questions ahead of showtime.
How did last week’s show go? What were the highlights?
“It was SO much fun and camp. I loved singing all new songs and just having a laugh… with myself!”
Having moved from Bishopthorpe to a riverside house, how did the new location work out?
“Lovely! I am living in my friend’s dreamy townhouse at the moment. Posh!”
What will you be singing tonight?
“OOOOOO, Cilla, Disney, ’60s, ’70s, ‘80s, ‘90s. It’s a real mixed bag this time.”
What will Jess be singing?
“Dolly. Gaga. Amy.”
How come you can perform together in lockdown?
“I am in Jess’s bubble. Yes!”
How would you sum up Jess in five words?
“Talent. Kind. Hilarious. Generous. Fabulous.”
How did you celebrate your birthday yesterday in lockdown?
“With snacks. Facetime. Gin.”
What’s the best birthday present you have ever received?
Eboracum Baroque: Streamed concert on January 23 with Henry Purcell’s music to the fore
EBORACUM Baroque will return to the online platform on January 23 with Fairest Isle: Music from the 17th and 18th century England.
The 7pm streamed concert was recorded in October at King’s Ely, a school in Cambridgeshire, when the York ensemble was able to film with no Coronavirus lockdown in place.
Performing that autumn day were Elen Lloyd Roberts, soprano; Miriam Monaghan, recorder; Chris Parsons, trumpet; Miri Nohl, cello, and Laurence Lyndon Jones, harpsichord.
Founder Chris Parsons says: “We’re determined to keep going and provide support to young freelance musicians in these challenging times. We’re also very keen to continue to offer exciting new digital content for our audiences who we wish we could perform to in person.”
Looking forward to the January 23 stream, Chris says: “We’ll take the online audience back to 17th and 18th century England, featuring some of the great composers of the day, particularly Henry Purcell, who was held in such high regard at the time.
“The programme includes some of Purcell’s big hits from the London stage, productions that had never been seen in England until now – it must have been pretty amazing!
“Purcell’s stage works of the 1690s were huge spectacles with elaborate Italian stagecraft, and we’ve picked music from The Fairy Queen, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the patriotic King Arthur.”
What else? “Music and musicians from Europe flooded London at this time and Italianate music was very much in vogue,” says Chris. “So we’ll feature a virtuosic recorder concerto by Sammartini, who made his name in 18th century London, and a Vivaldi sonata, alongside British composers, including John Blow and an overture featuring the trumpet by William Croft.”
Summing up that period of music-making, Chris says: “One of Ely’s famous sons, Oliver Cromwell, played a major part in shutting the theatres and not allowing concerts earlier on in the 17th century, so it was an amazing melting pot of music-making in London when Charles II returned to the throne, and for composers like Purcell an amazing place and time to be writing such brilliant music.”’
Taking concerts online amid the strictures of the Covid-19 pandemic has been a fruitful new avenue for Parsons and his fellow musicians. “Our virtual winter season was a success, when we streamed A Baroque Christmas, recorded at Wimpole Church and Wimpole Hall in our second home of Cambridge, on December 12.
“We feel incredibly lucky to have filmed the Fairest Isle concert back in October while we were able to be together, and we have some virtual projects in the pipeline for 2021.
“These include a 17th century pub concert – with beer tasting from a local brewer – coming up in February, which we hope will be an exciting online experience for our audience too.
“We’ll be embracing technology again for that one, recording parts individually and then sticking them all together. All being well, we also hope to film a concert in York in March but it’s hard to plan for the future.”
The Fairest Isle concert will be premiered on youtube.com/eboracumbaroque and at facebook.com/eboracumbaroque. “We’re very keen to make our concerts accessible to all, so whether you are new to baroque music or a regular watcher of early music, we hope there is something for everyone,” says Chris.
“We introduce each piece with a background of the composer and the history of the piece to set the scene.
“So, on January 23, we invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy this varied and energetic programme from the comfort of your own home.”
The programme for Fairest Isle: Music from the 17th and 18th century England:
Hark The Echoing Air from The Fairy Queen, Henry Purcell (1659 -1695);
Recorder Concerto in F Major, Sammartini (1700 – 1775);
I Allegro, II Siciliano, III Allegro Assai;
Sweeter Than Roses from Pausanias, The Betrayer Of His Country, Henry Purcell; Overture from With Noise Of Cannon, William Croft (1678 – 1727);
I Moderato, II Allegro, III Adagio, IV Allegro;
Music For A While from Oedipus, Henry Purcell;
Cello Sonata in Bb Major, Antonio Vivaldi;
I Largo, II Allegro, III Largo, IV Allegro;
Lovely Selina from The Princess Of Cleve, John Blow (1649 – 1708);
Two movements from The Division Flute, Anon;
I, Readings Ground, II, A Division On A Ground;
Fairest Isle from King Arthur, Henry Purcell.
Did you know?
EBORACUM Baroque is an ensemble of young professional singers and instrumentalists, formed in 2012 by Chris Parsons at the University of York and the Royal College of Music, London.
Red Roofs, York, From The Bar Walls, oil on panel, by Jake Attree
LOCKDOWN 3 may have a multitude of restrictive minuses, but it means you will not miss York-born artist Jake Attree’s new exhibition.
Forty-four new works should have been going on display at David Messum Fine Art, in Bury Street, St James’s, London. Instead, the show is moving to a virtual platform online at messums.com from February 3 to 26, bringing art “from our home to yours”.
This will be accompanied by a £15 fully illustrated catalogue with a foreword by author, art critic and curator David Boyd Haycock; a short film with commentary from David Messum as he explores and discusses the paintings, and a virtual gallery that allows “visitors” to experience the complete exhibition.
Landscape By Water (The Red Hill), oil pastel, by Jake Attree
“Picture fuses with place, and place with picture, in a cyclical relationship that serves to produce something entirely new and very personal,” says Boyd Haycock of Attree’s new works.
On show online will be a combination of Attree’s monumental depictions of the streets of York, verging on abstraction, and a group of oil pastels inspired by the Flemish Old Master Pieter Brueghel.
“Many of the works have advanced upon stylistic developments that were seen in Attree’s earlier exhibitions with Messum’s,” says Katie Newman, Messum’s managing director at The Studio, Lord’s Wood, Marlow Common, Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
Jake Attree sketching in his home city of York
“The small blocks of colour that characterised many of the works from the Ancient City series exhibited in 2013 have moved in an ever-increasing abstract direction, hovering at times on the cusp of complete abstraction.”
Attree, 71, was born and grew up in Grange Garth, in York, where his first art teacher was John Langton, another northern painter fascinated by how light falls on buildings and landscapes.
“York is a majestic city with a long, extraordinary history – from the Roman metropolitan centre to the Viking port of Jorvik, to the great medieval walls and Minster. Here is layer upon layer of history and those seams of history are like the layers in Attree’s drawings and, in particular, his paintings,” says Katie.
FaCade 2, York, oil on panel, by Jake Attree
“Thus, recent works such as the Red Roofs, York From The Bar Walls series are both a vision of York and a vision of history, a place that is at once both ancient and modern, here and everywhere.”
Drawing is the way that the deeply thoughtful Attree explains the world to himself wordlessly. “So I do it all the time,” he says, outlining how the foundation of his work is predicated on careful and endless observation.
He sees this need to draw as lying deep within our being. “We have been drawing – or something very like it – since the time of the cave paintings at Lascaux and Altamira,” says Jake, pointing to human art works that date back almost 40,000 years.
Triptych Of Trees, oil on board, by Jake Attree
“Drawing, like all truly creative activity, is not an entertainment or pastime, but rather something fundamental to our psychic health as a species.”
Hence Attree not only draws, but he does so daily, working out of a long, narrow studio at Dean Clough, Halifax. “I do believe that it is not until we have drawn something that we have truly looked at it. This is what artists realise, and it is amazing to think that drawing was once ‘out of fashion’ in art schools,” says Jake, who studied at York College of Art, Liverpool Art College from 18, and then the Royal Academy of Arts in London in his 20s.
He lives in Saltaire, in West Yorkshire, but returns regularly to his home city, where he makes initial sketches in the open air before transforming them into paintings thick with oil paints.
“York has always been emotionally very important to me,” he says, as his latest works will testify online from February 3.
The Hunters In The Snow after Brueghel, oil pastel, by Jake Attree
