Cat On Windowsill, The Festival Of The Cock, Asakus Ricefields, by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust.
YORK Art Gallery’s display of rarely seen Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, complemented by much-loved paintings from the gallery collection, will go on show in a new Spotlight Series from May 28.
Marking next month’s reopening of the Exhibition Square gallery with Covid-secure measures and social distancing, Pictures Of The Floating World: Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints will feature prints by prominent Ukiyo-e artists such as Utagawa Hiroshige, along with works by those influenced by Japanese art, York artist Albert Moore and Walter Greaves among them.
York Art Gallery’s display will highlight the significant impact of Japanese art on the western world and the consequential rise of artistic movements such as Aestheticism and Art Nouveau.
View Of Mount Hatana In Kozuke Province, by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1853. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust
Jenny Alexander, associate collections curator at York Art Gallery, says: “We’re thrilled to introduce this new Spotlight Series at York Art Gallery. The designated space will allow us to share a variety of works from our collection, starting with a selection of beautiful Japanese Ukiyo-e prints.
“Ukiyo-e translates as “pictures of the floating world”, referring to the transitory nature of life. Visitors will see delicate prints depicting scenes celebrating everyday life, through themes such as landscape and travel, actors and courtesans and folk tales.”
Jenny continues: “Some of these works have not been displayed in more than 15 years, so we’re thrilled that many visitors will be able to enjoy them for the first time.
Evening View Of Takanawa, by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1832-1838. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust
“Featuring these exceptional prints alongside firm favourites from our collection will enable visitors to reconnect with the works and view them from a different perspective, which is really exciting.”
The free-to-visit display in the Upper North Gallery will be the first of the new Spotlight Series that will change periodically to show highlights from the gallery’s permanent collections.
Pictures Of The Floating World will delve into the history of the works, explaining why Japanese art became increasingly influential during the 18th and 19th centuries. Through the variety of artwork on display, visitors will see how western artists were inspired, in particular, by the use of line and colour, and simultaneously how Japanese artists were influenced by western artists’ use of shading and perspective.
The Waterfall Of Nikko-Zan In Shimotsuke Province, by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1853. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust
Twinnie: New EP and American release on its way too
YORK country-pop singer-songwriter Twinnie is releasing a reimagined five-track EP to mark the first anniversary of her debut studio album, Hollywood Gypsy.
The album was made BBC Radio 2’s Album of the Week after its chart peak of number one in the UK iTunes Country Chart and a five-week consecutive stay in the UK Country Top 20 Chart.
Since being launched on April 17 2020 on BMG, Hollywood Gypsy has been streamed more than seven million times across Spotify and was re-released as an acoustic package late last year.
Now, to bring a new dimension to the hit crossover record, Twinnie is releasing an EP exclusively via bandcamp that reimagines five of the songs as you have never heard them before: Better When I’m Drunk, I Love You Now Change, Hollywood Gypsy, Daddy Issues and Feeling Of Falling.
The artwork for Twinnie’s Hollywood Gypsy Reimagined
“Bringing a dynamic and powerful new stylistic to several of the tracks, the York performer delivers an emotive vocal and allow fans to find a new favourite with this exciting take on the album,” proclaims the press release.
The EP, out this week, will act as a bridge to new music from the pop-influenced artist, who is working on new material with revered producers in Nashville, Tennessee, for a project set for release soon via her American label, BBR Music Group.
Twinnie, 33, made her name as Twinnie-Lee Moore in West End and touring musicals, such as playing murderer Velma Kelly in the 2009/2010 tour of Chicago, and in the soap opera role of Porsche McQueen in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks from November 4 2014 to December 24 2015.
Twinnie will play a re-scheduled sold-out gig at The Crescent, York, on September 14. All tickets acquired for the original 7.30pm show remain valid, but refunds are available from your original point of purchase.
Twinnie will play The Crescent, York, on her rearranged tour
The poster for James’s return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre in September
WHERE better for James to announce a summer show on the day they release new single Beautiful Beaches than at Scarborough Open Air Theatre?
The Manchester legends will play on the East Coast on Thursday, September 9 in the wake of launching their new album, All The Colours Of You, on June 4. Tickets will go on sale on Friday (23/4/2021) at 9am at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
This will be the third that James, led by Clifford-born Tim Booth, have played Scarborough OAT after shows on May 22 2015 in the venue’s hindersome moat days and post-moat redesign on August 18 2018.
Bassist Jim Glennie says: “We always have a great night there – even back in the days when you had to cross the old moat to get to the audience! We’re looking forward to another very special night on the Yorkshire coast.”
“After all these years, we are still challenging ourselves and our fans,” says bassist Jim Glennie of James’s new album. “Enjoy.”
Peter Taylor, venue programmer for Scarborough OAT promoters Cuffe and Taylor, says: “We are absolutely delighted James are returning here this summer. They continue to be one of the UK’s most relevant and influential bands – pioneers of the Manchester music scene since the 1980s – and a must-see live act. Roll on September 9. It’s going to be an amazing night.”
New single Beautiful Beaches was written by Tim Booth in response to climate change migrations and the subsequent increasingly regular Californian fires bringing devastation to the community where he lived before moving to Costa Rica.
All The Colours Of You, James’ “sweet 16th” studio album, follows last December’s release of Live In Extraordinary Times, a double-CD and DVD concert recording built around their last studio album, 2018’s Living In Extraordinary Times.
Recorded in part before the Covid pandemic struck, All The Colours Of You was produced by Booth’s neighbour in Topanga Canyon, the Grammy award-winning Jacknife Lee, who has worked previously with U2, REM, Taylor Swift, Snow Patrol and The Killers.
Surfing in Scarborough? How can Tim Booth resist on September 9?
On production duties with James for the first time, Lee has bought a fresh approach to their sound, working remotely from his studio as he liaised with Booth and Glennie, reimagining, deconstructing and reassembling their demos and capturing a band in all their virtual glory.
Reflecting on the album’s creation, Booth says: “With all the s**t that went down in 2020, this was a miraculous conception and another big jump forward for us on the back of the last three albums. I hope it reflects the colours of these crazy times. Sweet sixteen is a proper album, no fillers and is up there with our best. With love, Tim.”
Glennie is pleased, proud and surprised by the record in equal measure. “Jacknife has pushed us and the songs somewhere new and it’s very exciting,” he says. “After all these years, we are still challenging ourselves and our fans. Enjoy.”
The track listing on James’s first album on Virgin Music will be: ZERO; All The Colours Of You; Recover; Beautiful Beaches; Wherever It Takes Us; Hush; Miss America; Getting Myself Into; Magic Bus; Isabella and XYST.
The artwork for James’s “sweet 16th” studio album, All The Colours Of You, out on June 4
Looking ahead, James will open their seven-date 2021 tour at Leeds First Direct Arena on November 25, supported by fellow Manchester maverick institution Happy Mondays. “Soo looking forward to seeing you,” said Booth, when announcing the gigs last November on Twitter and at wearejames.com.
“We’re playing with the brilliant Happy Mondays. Last played with them in 1988, hopefully this time they won’t steal our rider or try and spike my drink…”
The tour has sold faster than any previous James tour, chalking up 60,000 ticket sales for shows in Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester and London. Remaining tickets are available at: https://wearejames.com/live/
In the summer, James will play a second North Yorkshire outdoor gig, headlining the Saturday bill at Deer Shed Festival 11, confirmed to run from July 30 to August 1 at Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, near Thirsk.
Crucifixion, in tropical hardwood, by George Hainsworth, is the undoubted conversation piece of Leeds Fine Artists’ LFA In York exhibition at Blossom Street Gallery. The price? On application only.
BLOSSOM Street Gallery, York, welcomes 24 artists from Leeds Fine Artists in its reopening exhibition under Step 2 of lockdown relaxation.
LFA member and exhibition co-organiser Tim Pearce is delighted at the chance to show work on gallery walls and floors at last, and likewise for gallery visitors to experience art close up once more.
“With so many art galleries having been closed for so much of the past 12 months, and with exhibitions largely appearing as virtual online sets of reproductions, most of us have inevitably been starved of access to original works of art for what seems like an eternity,” he says.
The poster for Leeds Fine Artists’ LFA In York exhibition
“So, it is with genuine excitement that Blossom Street Gallery, next to Micklegate Bar, is exhibiting a splendid mixed collection of work by 24 of our members.
“Such was the success of our 2019 show that Kim Oldfield, the gallery owner, invited us back to launch the reopening as we emerge from lockdown.”
Representing one of Yorkshire’s longest established art groups, the 24 artists are showing a diverse range of subject matter and media: paintings, etchings, montages, woodcarving and ceramics now shown to best effect beneath the Blossom Street gallery’s newly installed lighting.
It’s Pop Art! It’s Pop Art!, by Roger Gardner
Taking part in LFA In York are: Sharron Astbury-Petit, mixed media on wood panel; Malcolm Barton, oil on board; Julia Borodina, acrylic paintings; Jane Burgess, oils; Terry Chipp, acrylics on canvas; Michael Curvgenven, ink, carbon pencil and oil pastels; Alison Flowers, mixed media, and Roger Gardner, mixed media and oil on panel.
So too are: George Hainsworth, tropical hardwood; Lucy Hainsworth, oils; Keith Harris, oils; Inger Huddleston, screened watercolour monoprints; Nicholas Jagger, collagraph and woodblock print; Miriam Laville, acrylic and collage on canvas; Mark Murphy, pencil on paper, and Tim Pearce, glazed ceramic stoneware.
Contributing works too are: Neil Pittaway, watercolours; Trevor Pittaway, acrylics; Annie Robinson, acrylics; Liz Salter, mixed media on paper; Geraldine Thompson, oils on wood; Catherine Warburton, gelli-printed cotton with hand and machine and gelli-printed acrylic with watercolour and pastel, and Emma Whitelock, watercolour, graphite and wax resist.
Ponton de Peche – Moonlit, acrylic on canvas, by Terry Chipp
LFA IN York runs until June 21; gallery opening hours are Friday to Monday, 10am to 4pm. Covid-secure, socially distanced measures are in place under Government guidance.
What is Leeds Fine Artists?
LEEDS Fine Artists (LFA) is an association drawn from across Yorkshire, not only Leeds. Founded in Leeds in 1874, it has more than 50 exhibiting members, working in 2D and 3D, and typically the LFA holds four shows a year, including the annual exhibition at the Crossley Gallery, Dean Clough, Halifax.
The website, at leedsfineartists.co.uk, provides extensive information and gallery pages on each artist’s work and wider activities. Applications to join LFA can be made via this website.
Artworks from the LFA In York exhibition at Blossom Street Gallery, York. At the front are two glazed ceramic stoneware forms by Tim Pearce
BLUE Tree Gallery, in Bootham, York, is reopening with Covid-secure measures and temporary opening hours of 11am to 5pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The York 2021 exhibition, marking the tenth anniversary of Gordon Giarchi and Marisa Giarchi launching the gallery on March 23 2011, began online on March 27, with the works “also displayed in the gallery and gallery window for those passing by”.
York 2021, featuring original paintings by Sarah Connell, Giuliana Lazzerini, Paolo Lazzerini and Mark Sofilas, will run until May 8, now both in person and at bluetreegallery.co.uk.
“With the support of our exhibiting artists, and especially our supportive clients, exposure in the media and grants assistance from City of York Council, we continue with the gallery and now see a light ahead through this pandemic,” say Gordon and Marisa.
Manchester mixed-media landscape artist Sarah Connell’s paintings are “primarily about light, atmosphere and colour”. “I have painted in traditional media ever since I can remember, but now also paint digitally, using a stylus and tablet at a computer or on an iPad,” she says.
“My parents are both creative and encouraged me as a child by buying me ‘grown-up’ paints, and sometimes my dad let me tag along with his night school art class. The fact he was a printer meant there was always paper by the ream for me to draw on.”
Dusk On The Ouse, acrylic on panel, by Sarah Connell
Sarah then read Art History and Archaeology at Nottingham University, followed by Clothing Design at Manchester Metropolitan University. “It was while studying clothing design that I first became interested in digital painting and wrote my dissertation on analogue versus digital fashion illustration,” she recalls.
“In a way, I am still exploring how traditional painting influences my digital work and vice versa. I went on to work in design and photography for a few companies, eventually going freelance and spending more and more time painting.”
Blue Tree Gallery artist-in-residence Giuliana Lazzerini was born in Seravezza, near the small town of Pietrasanta, in Tuscany, the daughter of a professional painter and international mosaicist.
Between 1962 and 1968, she was a student at the Istituto d’Arte Stagio Stagi in Pietrasanta, gaining a Master of Arts Diploma, and then studied painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara for four years.
In 1987, Giuliana moved to Yorkshire, where she now lives in York. The Tuscan landscape and childhood memories still bear a strong influence on her work, her first encounters with art in Italy having been in her painter father Bruno’s mosaic studio.
Both the translucency of the mosaic fragments and the vibrancy and colours evoked by the juxtaposed mosaic pieces inspired her.
These early perceptions, several years on, provide a language and a vocabulary for her pictures in terms of the colours, surfaces and scale that she uses in constructing her tapestry-like, interlocking, angular-surfaced village landscapes.
Spring Time, Clifford’s Tower, acrylic on canvas, by Giuliana Lazzerini
Architecture exists within a shallow space; structures are locked together through a medieval, narrative sort of pictorial logic.
In other works, Giuliana depicts solitary portrait images. Figures often appear with props, such as shells, cups and boats, and equestrian references sometimes appear too. Are these characters the inhabitants of Lazzerini’s interlocking Tuscan villages, or part of some ceremonial ritual?
“My work is varied and often developed from an idea encountered during a journey that takes me in an unknown territory where I grow as an artist,” says Giuliana. “I usually work in small series of paintings, where memory and imagination come to interplay. Time made me more familiar with the English northern landscape and it finally has left a mark in some of my work, as I become more intrigued by its drama and atmosphere.”
Giuliana’s brother, Paolo Lazzerini, trained at the Liceo Artistico and the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Carrara, winning numerous art prizes and being invited to exhibit in important galleries such as the Accademia of Santa Cecilia in Rome, Le Tableau Gallery in Turin, Galleria San Marco of Rome, Ponte Tresa Gallery in Switzerland and Gallery 2000 in Tokyo, Japan.
Although Paolo worked primarily as a professional graphic designer in the 1990s and 2000s, he continued to paint, presenting many solo and mixed exhibitions in Italy at Forte Dei Marmi, Turin, Edinburgh, Yorkshire, Birmingham, Monaco and Cologne. In the past few years, Paolo’s painting has become more intense, on show at many more events and exhibitions.
Mark Sofilas, originally from Western Australia, migrated to Great Britain in 2008. “I was an illustrator with more than 20 years’ experience in the advertising industry but took the opportunity, on moving to the UK, to turn to fine art, something that I had always wanted to do,” he says.
He now paints full time from his studio in Leeds, creating oil paintings of the Yorkshire countryside, particularly coastal scenes of the heritage coast, such as the fishing villages of Whitby, Staithes and Robin Hood’s Bay.
York Minster, mixed media on wood panel, by Mark Sofilas
“My paintings are very heavily guided by the emotions a particular scene or moment evokes in me. It’s this feeling that I try to convey to the viewer,” says Mark, a proud member of Leeds Fine Artists and the Association of British Naive Artists.
“It might be something as simple as smoke drifting from a chimney pot or a silhouette created by a particular light source. It may be the strength or history that emanates from an everyday object or piece of architecture.”
Over time, Mark has discovered he can best achieve emotional impact by exaggerating or characterising colour, manipulating perspective slightly and pushing shape and form to arrive, hopefully, at a “nicely balanced place”, where the image conjured has not only captured the physical qualities of the scene, but more importantly, the feeling of the occasion.
“I’m a self-taught painter; not locked into approaching my work with any particular procedure or direction in mind,” he says. “However, I take photographs of my subjects, but like to rely on memory, imagination, the ultimate goal being to recreate exactly what I’m feeling onto a flat surface.
“I don’t do preliminary drawings. Instead, I prefer to adopt a more organic approach, designing the paintings as I go. This helps the end product retain a freshness, a feeling of spontaneity. I always have an image, a mood in my mind’s eye, that I’m trying to put down, and I find that working this way allows me to be flexible; going with any happy accidents that more than likely will occur.”
Mark adds: “It’s these little surprises that I can adopt, learn from and take into my next painting. I enjoy the journey that this direct and unstructured approach takes me on, finding that it enables me to either get close to achieving what I had in mind and heart or, on occasion, arrive somewhere unexpected but just as rewarding.”
Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding in LipService Theatre’s literary spoof of the writerly Bronte sisters, Withering Looks
POCKLINGTON Arts Centre favourites LipService Theatre will present a special live stream of their savvy yet delightfully silly Bronte sisters spoof Withering Looks on April 22.
Forming part of the still-closed East Yorkshire venue’s ongoing series of online events during the pandemic lockdowns, the 7.30pm streaming will be introduced on Zoom by LipService duo Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding, who will conduct a live question-and-answer session too at the finale.
Tickets are selling fast with customers form far and wide – including Belgium – snapping them up.
Commissioned by the Bronte Parsonage Museum, the filmed performance by “Britain’s favourite literary lunatics” was recorded by Maggie and Sue at the Bronte family’s home at Haworth, West Yorkshire.
Scenes from Withering Looks filmed “in the actual parsonage where the Bronte sisters wrote their actual books actually” will be complemented by additional material recorded in and around Haworth village and on the wild and windswept moors in sub-zero temperatures.
“Withering Looks explores a day in the life of the Bronte sisters (well two of them, Anne’s just popped out for a cup of sugar) and in true David Attenborough style there will be additional footage going behind the scenes of the making of the show,” promise the duo.
Maggie, from York, and Sue, from t’other side of the Pennines, first met as drama students at Bristol University in a “very serious Henrik Ibsen production that had the audience on the floor laughing”.
A tragedy for Ibsen nevertheless turned out to be the launching pad to a very long partnership in satirical comedy, as the duo recall. Forming LipService in Manchester in 1985, Maggie and Sue have chalked up 22 original comedies from a distinctly female perspective, as well as series for BBC Radio and tours of Germany, Eastern Europe, the United States and Pakistan, over the past 35 years.
Dubbed “the Laurel and Hardy of literary deconstruction” by the Guardian, LipService have visited Pocklington Arts Centre regularly. PAC director Janet Farmer says: “I’m absolutely delighted to have LipService returning to our live events programme, albeit this time virtually.
“PAC has a longstanding relationship with the company, with Maggie and Sue selling out numerous performances in recent years with their unique theatrical style and infectious enthusiasm.
“I, along with fellow PAC staff members, will be attending the performance and this will be the first time the venue has had direct interaction with its audience members, at an event, in over a year.”
Meanwhile, what about those ticket holders from Belgium, Luc and Hilde Verstraeten-Mariën, who will Zoom into the PAC show after their plans to catch LipService live were thwarted by the pandemic?
“We were excited to hear that Lip Service had created Zoom performances,” say Luc and Hilde. “We’ve just watched Château Ghoul and it made our day! We really enjoyed the show: it was funny, cheeky, and mad. We enjoyed the interactive part of it and we thought they made clever and creative use of Zoom. We kept giggling for the rest of the evening!
“We are looking forward to more of the same: refreshingly funny, intelligently witty and slightly mad at the same time, highly creative, high-standard comedy with a twist by two fabulous women.”
Tickets for Withering Looks cost £15 at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Static at work on converting a derelict Malton bus shelter into a vibrant expression of public street art. Picture: Brenna Hebrink, Art Of Protest Projects project support manager
WHAT should be done with a disused bus shelter in Malton? Food for thought in Yorkshire’s self-annointed “Food Capital”.
Step forward York arts and media company Art of Protest Projects, Malton Town Council and Static, a London artist duo with deep Scarborough roots, to administer a “public street art transformation” next to Malton Community Primary School in Highfield Road.
Static’s ex-pat North Yorkshiremen, Craig Evans and Tom Jackson, are celebrating creating their nearest painting to home after taking a derelict bus shelter and turning it into “a bright, energetic and colourful visual that completely changes the vibe of the street”.
Once an eyesore of a disused bus shelter, now “an urban art gem”, in Highfield Road, Malton
As Jeff Clark, director of Art Of Protest Projects explains: “The goal of this vibrant transformation is to uplift and bring people’s attention to a structural space that was once an eyesore, but through imagination and creativity has been turned into an urban art gem.”
You wait ages for one bus shelter transformation in Malton, then along comes…? “It’s just the first of many more facelifts the town will receive in the coming year,” promises Jeff. “Street art has a captivating way to not only visually change a landscape, but also to draw people towards certain areas and start conversations about what colour, pattern and design mean and how they amplify a background.”
Whether a town or business wants to send a message, make a space feel safe or simply elevate and beautify an eyesore, urban art is the most effective vehicle of which to do so, Jeff contends.
Art Of Protest Projects director Jeff Clark at the Coppergate Centre unveiling of The Postman’s Guardians Of York installations. He has overseen Static’s transformation of a Malton bus shelter too. Picture: Dave J Hogan
“To be given the opportunity to convert a shelter on a street that was a country road seemed like a fun and exciting way to change a landscape,” he says. “The fact that there is a school next door is what really got me excited.
“What’s better than being able to spark imagination and creativity into young people? We are so amped by the reception this shelter makeover has already received and cannot wait to continue splashing colour around Malton.”
Suitably ecstatic Static artist Craig Evans says: “It was great to take on and transform this overlooked and unassuming piece of public architecture. Being no longer in use and seemingly belonging to no-one, we hope that our intervention here will inject some colour and creativity into the area and inspire the children from Malton Community Primary School and the people of Malton to see the potential in more public places and to take a fresh look at their surroundings.”
The finishing touches: Static ready the Malton bus shelter facelift for its April 14 unveiling
Councillor Paul Emberley, Malton’s town mayor, enthuses: “This is a fantastic transformation of a once-scruffy bus shelter and brings a little more cheer to our amazing town. People love it.”
Malton town clerk Gail Cook concurs: “The shelter is a few metres away from two of our schools and we wanted to create something really special that would inspire the children too – and these talented artists, Craig and Tom, have well and truly delivered!”
Up the A64, Art Of Protest Projects have stationed a host of Guardians Of York on guard on the walls of York, combining street artworks of cultural heroes such as broadcaster and natural world activist Sir David Attenborough, newly crowned with mauve hair, on the riverside by Ouse Bridge with 11 murals to “honour and elevate pandemic key workers from York”.
York Hospital ICU anaesthetist Steve Wasowa mirrors his street art installation pose for The Postman’s Guardians Of York series. Picture: Dave J Hogan
In tandem with the York BID, Clark’s public art champions have worked with The Postman, the anonymous international street artist collective from Brighton, to create the ancient city’s first urban art installation.
The works, a kinetic fusion of the Pop Art palette and brash punk energy, celebrate the Guardians Of York, who helped to keep York moving when the city – and the world – came to a standstill during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Eleven essential workers, all of them York residents, were recorded by a professional film crew in the closed Debenhams store in Davygate, giving their account of the hardships of working through the upheaval created by the pandemic, and all had their portrait photographs taken.
Street artists The Postman with their Guardians Of York artwork of police officer Pauline Law. Picture: Dave J Hogan
Taking part were: Becky Arksy, primary school teacher; Pauline Law, police officer; Sally and Mark Waddington, York Rescue Boat; Martin Golton, street cleaner, and Steve Wasowa, ICU anaesthetist, York District Hospital.
So too were: Steve and Julia Holding, owners of the Pig and Pastry, in Bishopthorpe Road, and founders of the Supper Collective; Steven Ralph, postal worker; Gill Shaw, Boots retail worker, and Brenna Allsuch, ICU nurse, York District Hospital.
Their images have been transformed into murals by The Postman collective, whose favoured artistic medium is pop-culture paste-ups, rooted in punk iconography, wherein they express themselves in brightly coloured, edgy, urban portraits, varying from street artworks of Nelson Mandela in South Africa to pop stars in Los Angeles.
The Postman delivering a street art installation of The Pig And Pastry’s Julia Holding to Finkle Street
“As the Guardians project builds momentum, we realise more and more how important it is to tell the stories of the people behind the masks,” say the mystery duo with roots in graffiti culture. “The key workers that have carried us through the last year inspired us and made a difference to everybody’s lives.”
The Guardians Of York are on display on city-centre walls in a three-month installation from April 9 to July 9, in a show of gratitude to key workers timed to coincide with the relaxation of lockdown restrictions and the reopening of many of the city’s “non-essential” businesses from April 12.
Recalling the flour-based dissolving street art of York memorial artist Dexter, The Postman have applied their paper-based large-scale artworks to walls with wheat paste, their impermanent form of art fading and washing away over time, duly “creating a buzz as people seek them out before they disappear”.
The Postman sail their artwork of Sir David Attenborough aboard the York Rescue Boat at the Guardians Of York installation launch. Picture: Dave J Hogan
Mounting the Guardians Of York is a passion project for Jeff and The Postman. “They like to do street art that makes a difference, and my partner is an NHS frontline worker, so I’ve seen every day how Covid has worn them down, sacrificing their own health. It’s no wonder that nurses have gone down, had to stop working, because they’re frazzled,” he says.
“They’ve had to go into a war-like atmosphere, where normally you’d do a tour and then be sent home, for a break, but that’s not been the case. That’s why my heart and soul has gone into this project.” To watch a video about the project, go to: https://youtu.be/7cUpnE1M-sw
Static artists Craig Evans and Tom Jackson with their latest work, the transformed Malton bus shelter. Picture: Brenna Hebrink
Who are Static?
STATIC is the combined creative output of Scarborough-bred Craig Evans and Tom Jackson, who collided in 2006 in a derelict block of flats with a sea view and have since worked with assorted international galleries and painted murals in the UK and as far away as Japan.
The Static duo have been based in London since 2008 and are founding members of Wood Street Walls, where they spent two months renovating a disused school building to create a shared workspace, Wood Street Studios, for its opening in 2017.
One of the largest community street art projects in Britain, Wood Street Walls uses street art to drive awareness and funding for community schemes and projects involving children and education.
Static’s poster for their Born & Raised exhibition at the Art Of Protest Gallery, York, in October 2018
Static’s studio work is created using a combination of screen-printed and stencil/spray-painted techniques, and they also produce layered glass artworks that play with space and how perceived 2D visuals can shift to reveal a 3D picture. Their works are collected by the Saudi Royal family and musicians Natalie Appleton, of All Saints, and Liam Howlett, of The Prodigy, among others.
In 2018, Static held their first solo exhibition in their home county, presenting Born & Raised at the Art Of Protest Gallery’s original premises in Little Stonegate, York, from, October 19 to 31.
During their York residency, Evans and Jackson painted a floor mural in the Art Of Protest Gallery and a wall mural at Brew York, Walmgate. For more information on Static, go to: welikestatic.com.
Arabella, by Static, from their Born & Raised exhibition in York
Three cheers: Yorkshire Trios actors, writers, directors and project organisers are all smiles as they gather for a Zoom session
LIVE theatre will burst into life in York for the first time since December 30 when Next Door But One presents Yorkshire Trios in The Gillygate pub’s new outdoor seating area on April 23 and 24.
“The sun is beginning to shine, the days are getting longer, and lockdown restrictions are easing, so we’re inviting you to a production that brings you everything 2021 has been missing so far,” says Matt Harper-Hardcastle, the York community arts collective’s artistic director, who had to postpone the original “mini-promenade” shows planned for inside Brian Furey’s pub in Gillygate in January.
“The plan was that people could get a drink and move around the pub to see the five solo performances, but once lockdown was announced, we thought we’d wait to see what transpired, keeping it on a low heat, but still wanting to do it as soon as possible, when it could be a springboard for the 15 creatives involved to get back out there working again.
“Then Brian [Furey] got in touch to say he’d been building a gazebo structure to make it feasible for him to reopen the pub, but if we could put lighting in, it could double as a performance space too.
15 Local Creatives, 5 Short Performances, I City: Next Door But One’s poster for Yorkshire Trios at The Gillygate
“We could have waited to June, but this felt a brilliant opportunity to come back together now. It feels a really big step now, when two years ago, rocking up to a pub for a show would have felt perfectly normal.”
Themed around Moments Yet To Happen, trios of actors, directors and writers will bring to theatre-starved York a quintet of short stories of laughter, strength, dreams and everything in between: a neighbour with a secret; a delivery driver full of wanderlust; an optimistic carousel operator; a poet inviting us into her world and a Jane McDonald fan on a soapbox.
Actor Mandy Newby, director Joe Feeney and writer Dan Norman will stage Weirdo; Nicki Davy, Becky Lennon and Rachel Price, And How Are Your Goats Keeping?; Emily Chattle, Libby Pearson and Lydia Crosland, Motormouth; Christie Barnes, Fiona Baistow and Jenna Drury, Kelly Unmasked, and Miles Kinsley, Nicolette Hobson, Anna Johnston, One More Time We Go.
“From the hearts of Yorkshire creatives, told in the heart of the city and into yours, Yorkshire Trios is here to remind you of the talent and stories that our community holds,” says Matt, ahead of next week’s 7.30pm performances, supported by Arts Council England funding.
Next Door But One artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle and Anna Johnston, writer of the Yorkshire Trios short play One More Time We Go, pictured in pre-pandemic times
“From humour to drama, sentimentality to the bizarre, an evening of Yorkshire Trios will have something for everyone…and there’s a drink included in the price!
“We all know the feelings of being stuck indoors, longing to go to the pub and catch up with our friends. Well, Yorkshire Trios has all of that and more. What better way to mark the latest phase of the Government’s Roadmap than being sat with your friends and family in The Gillygate pub’s beer garden, watching five original, locally produced and completely relatable short performances?”
Yorkshire Trios underpins the values of Next Door But One (NDB1) as a theatre company. “Buying a ticket to attend Yorkshire Trios is about more than watching theatre, it’s about our local community” says associate and project manager Kate Veysey, York Theatre Royal’s youth theatre director.
“It’s backing the wealth of creative talent in York, it’s supporting a local hospitality business at the centre of the city and it’s taking those small but manageable steps to reconnect people with one another and the wider community.”
“Yorkshire Trios is taking those small but manageable steps to reconnect people with one another and the wider community,” says project manager Kate Veysey
The 15 Yorkshire creatives at the heart of this NDB1’s project were recruited at the end of 2020, but after the imposition of Lockdown 3 from January 5 put a stop to that month’s performances, the collective talents of Newby, Feeney, Norman, Davy, Price, Lennon, Crosland, Pearson, Chattle, Drury, Barnes, Baistow, Johnston, Kinsley and Hobson have been kept busy and creative through a series of online professional development sessions.
“We know how difficult it has been for many professionals in the arts to stay engaged in their creative practice during lockdown, with many feeling disconnected from the industry and in need of opportunities to stretch themselves and keep them going” says creative producer El Stannage.
“For more than two months, we’ve provided skills development and mentoring sessions, meaning that now our 15 creatives are even more equipped to bring their best to the performances within Yorkshire Trios, and we cannot wait to share that with audiences.”
Matt emphasises the importance of Yorkshire Trios to all those involved. “It’s had that feeling of ‘this is what was needed’: someone saying, ‘we believe in you, and, yes, we want to use your talents’,” he says.
Trio-mendous! When three’s a crowd…in a good way for York writers, actors and directors
“It’s been wonderful having 15 people sharing their skills and having that belief that ‘you belong, you haven’t been forgotten; there’s still a place for you when you’ve been told your work is not viable’.”
Looking ahead, Matt says: “We’ll be recording the performances too, so that anyone who still doesn’t feel safe to attend or has any vulnerabilities stopping them, we can stream it to them at a later date, with more info on that following the live performances.”
Next Door But One presents Yorkshire Trios outside at The Gillygate pub, Gillygate, York, on April 23 and 24 at 7.30pm. The performances are Covid safe and therefore with a socially distanced limited capacity, with tickets being sold as ‘tables’ of up to six individuals from a maximum of two households.
For more information and ticket details, go to: nextdoorbutone.co.uk/Yorkshire-Trios.php.
History maker: Julie Hesmondhalgh in the one-woman show The Greatest Play In The History Of The World
AT the heart of The Love Season when York Theatre Royal reopens from May 17 will be The Greatest Play In The History Of The World…, Julie Hesmondhalgh’s one-woman show.
Produced by Tara Finney Productions in association with Hull Truck Theatre, the debut tour of Ian Kershaw’s multi award-winning play will open at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, from May 18 to 22 before History will be made at the Theatre Royal from June 1 to 5 and Hull Truck from June 7 to 12, with all tour performances being socially distanced with Covid-safe measures in place.
Winner of The Stage Edinburgh Award in 2018, The Greatest Play In The History Of The World…takes a heartfelt journey that starts and ends in a small, unassuming house on a quiet suburban road, as Coronation Street and Broadchurch alumnus Julie Hesmondhalgh narrates the story of two neighbours and the people on their street, navigating her way through the nuances of life, the possibilities of science and the meaning of love.
The show is penned by Accrington-born Julie’s husband, Ian Kershaw, who has written for Coronation Street, Cold Feet and Shameless, and reunites her with award-winning director Raz Shaw after working together on Margaret Edison’s Wit at the Royal Exchange in Manchester in 2016.
The taming of the shoe: Under Covid-safe measures, The Greatest Play In The History Of The World…can no longer make use of audience members’ shows during each show
Explaining the play’s genesis, Julie says: “I had a notion, a romantic notion, that Ian should write a one-woman show for me and we could tour it together into our dotage, like travelling troubadours (or something).
“A couple of Christmases ago, he kept disappearing to the cellar for an hour at a time, wrapping presents maybe, I thought. And then he presented me with this lovely thing: a beautiful play, a love story, but a universal one about learning in time what matters in the end, about leaving a mark.”
Let the show begin: a man wakes in the middle of the night to discover that the world has stopped. Through the crack in his bedroom curtains, he can see no signs of life at all, other than a light in the house opposite where a woman in an over-sized Bowie T-shirt stands, looking back at him. Over to you, Julie, from May 18.
Looking ahead to the tour starting at last, she says: “It doesn’t seem for real in some ways because it’s been put off so many times, but now I’m having to learn my lines again with proper commitment, and I’m so excited to be doing it, performing in theatres’ socially distanced bigger spaces. It’ll be a bit of a recalibration for people to get used to being back in a theatre.
“Though it’s completely not a play about lockdown, it is nevertheless about people living in isolation, connection, love, and all those things that have been writ large in this strange time,” says Julie Hesmondhalgh
“Previously, I was interacting with audiences in the show, using their shoes as a vital part of it, and though I’ll miss doing that, this way of doing it will bring something new to it.
“At the Edinburgh Fringe, it’s funny because there are a lot of people who just book everything that’s on at the Traverse, and they arrive and think, ‘right, what are we seeing now? Oh, she’s wearing jeans’, but with this tour, it’ll be the first thing people will have seen in a long time.”
Julie continues: “Though it’s completely not a play about lockdown, it is nevertheless about people living in isolation, connection, love, and all those things that have been writ large in this strange time, so I think it will now land with people in a really different way than ever before.
“The fact that it’s a play set on northern streets that we’ll be taking around northern theatres, I just think it’s going to be an amazing experience for me.”
“You can never second-guess how an audience will behave or react,” says Julie. “It’s so different every performance”
How does Julie, 51, re-acquaint herself with a play she knows so well? “I need to go into it almost at Ground Zero,” she says. “It’s quite a difficult play for me to do, as you can never second-guess how an audience will behave or react.
“It’s so different every performance. Some nights, they will roll around laughing at every line, and it’s a real rollercoaster, but it’s a play with so many twists and turns for the audience, so sometimes people will be thinking, ‘what’s this about? What’s going on here?’, because I’m speaking directly to them…
“And there can be something that feels innately sociopathic about me doing that for 70 minutes with some of them looking like they don’t want to be there! In real life, you’d go, ‘well, anyway’ and move on.
“On quiet nights, I’ve been quietly dying inside, but at the end, the lights go up and there’ll be tears in their eyes, and they really want to talk to you about the show afterwards.
“It’ll be a bit of a recalibration for people to get used to being back in a theatre,” says Julie, as The Greatest Play In The History Of The World begins its northern tour on May 18
“Now, playing to faces wearing masks for the first time, I’ll just have to remember that my job is to tell a story and yours is to sit there and listen!”
One last question, Julie, is The Greatest Play In The History Of The World…really what it says in the title? “Ian went away, wrote the play and came back with that name, but it’s really important to note that it does finish with three dots…
“We’re constantly apologising for it, but I don’t think Hamlet needs to be worried!”
The Greatest Play In The History Of The World… will play Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, May 18 to 22, 7.30pm; 1.30pm, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday; York Theatre Royal, June 1 to 5, 8pm; 3pm, Thursday and Saturday; Hull Truck Theatre, June 7 to 12, 7.30pm; 2.30pm, Thursday and Saturday. Box office: Scarborough, sjt.uk.com or 01723 370541; York, yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or 01904 623568; Hull, hulltruck.co.uk or 01482 323638.
York artist Marc Godfrey-Murphy: Launching MarcoLooks Print Swap for artists on Friday
YORK illustrator, printmaker and erstwhile CBeebies animator Marc Godfrey-Murphy, alias MarcoLooks, is launching a Print Swap from Friday to bring together artists across Yorkshire and beyond.
Marc is inviting peers and fellow illustrators and artists who sell their work online – “even if it’s just an Etsy shop with two or three listings,” he says – to take part in the MarcoLooks Print Swap to share and support each other’s work.
Applications to join the Print Swap will be open from April to June. Artists involved should send Marc a batch of their prints, then in return, they will receive a selection of new prints from the other artists taking part.
To celebrate, at the end of summer, when the swap finishes, the Courthouse at Rural Arts, North Yorkshire’s only professionally run cross-discipline arts centre, in Thirsk, will be home to an exhibition of all the prints in the Print Swap.
Marc has been selling his prints, cards and stationery items in York since 2018. Now, sensing there sometimes can be a turf war among artists who might create similar work, he felt inspired to set up the print swap to encourage and strengthen the sense of community over competition.
“The lack of events over the past year has driven me to create something community focused for indie artists to get involved with,” he says. “It’s also my 40th birthday this week, so what better way to celebrate than all coming together to share our work with each other, and what better way to finish the swap than by showing all the prints that have taken part at the beautiful Rural Arts in Thirsk?
“I’ll be co-ordinating the print swap, so everyone taking part receives a portfolio of prints from the other artists taking part. They can hang them in their studio and hopefully be inspired by them and connect with the other artists whose work they might be unfamiliar with.”
The Print Swap is launching on April 16. Any artist can take part in the print swap, providing they sell their work either on their own website, at events, or through a platform such as Etsy or Folksy. For more information, visit Marc’s website at marcolooks.com and click on “Print Swap” from the top menu.
Here CharlesHutchPress learns more from MarcoLooks about his Print Swap.
How widely will you be spreading the reach of Print Swap?
“The MarcoLooks Print Swap is really aimed at indie artists based in the UK. That being said, I belong to a couple of international art groups, and I know that some of my artist friends from across the world would be keen to get involved.
“Leaving them out feels against the spirit of the connection and collaboration I’m trying to create. So, it will be open for anyone wishing to get involved regardless of location. I’m hoping, though, that I’ll be seeing a lot of my York-based artist friends getting involved to help represent one of the best cities in the world!”
What made you choose this model for the Print Swap: straight swaps, as with football stickers, rather than any financial exchange?
“I often swap my work with other artists. It creates a heavier sense of value on the work somehow, like it’s become more of a gift exchange, than anything to do with money. It feels more special.
“Having taken part in similar exchanges before, it’s really exciting when you look through the prints you’ve been sent and the thrill of falling in love with an artist’s work who you’ve never heard of before. It’s like a Secret Santa for art prints.
“There will be a small admin fee to take part, which largely covers return postage costs. In the past, I’ve taken part in exchanges which have charged up to £20 to get involved, but I wanted to make it as accessible as possible.
“Being a small business, I know that every expense counts so I didn’t want to create any financial barriers to stop other artists – with their own indie businesses – from getting involved too.”
Marc Godfrey-Murphy at a York Printmakers show
On which date is your birthday?
“I’ll be turning 40 on Thursday 15th. Eeek! I really wanted to do something special to mark the occasion, so this is it! Age is just a mindset though, right?”
What exhibitions do you have coming up this year?
“Right now, my focus is on getting back to art markets and making a success of the MarcoLooks Print Swap. I always update my Instagram with any shows that I’ll be taking part in, so be sure to follow me over there (@marcolooks) for all the latest updates from me.”
Will you be taking part in York Open Studios again in July?
“Sadly, I didn’t get accepted into Open Studios this year. The pieces I submitted ‘for the judging panel’ were from an ongoing set of monotone, abstract line illustrations based around the themes of body image and eating disorders among men in the LGBTQ+ community.
“They told me the idea didn’t feel developed enough. That feedback stung a bit, to be honest, especially considering the issue is seldom brought to the table, but hey.
“So here I am now, creating more art-based opportunities, for more artists, with no auditions. Everyone can get involved, the only prerequisite is that you are a professional artist, which, for these purposes I’m defining as you sell your work, either in an Etsy shop, somewhere else online, or at live markets.”
What MarcoLooks works will you be looking to swap?
“Ah ha! I haven’t created it yet. I know what it’s going to be, though. The Print Swap is open until the end of June, so there’s plenty of time to get creative. Each artist will send me six copies of the same print. Five will be distributed to the other artists, with the sixth featuring in the show at the end of summer/in the autumn.”
Will works be for sale at the Thirsk exhibition?
“Yes. I’m keen to support our community of artists wherever I can, so all artists taking part will have the opportunity to sell their print. They will have their details available for anyone looking to buy more work by an artist who caught their eye. It’s going to be great!
“The exact exhibition dates are yet to be announced.”
The logo for MarcoLooks Print Swap
This is how MarcoLooks Print Swap will work:
WHAT: The Print Swap is open to all artists within the UK. The only caveat is you must be selling your work somewhere online, either Etsy, Folksy, your own website or at markets.
ACCEPTED MEDIA: Art print. Any paper is fine. There is no theme. Your name and social media handle should be on the back of each print, so your recipient will know where to find you.
PAPER: A5 (210 by 148 mm). Printed image size is up to you. You must provide six prints. If you want to submit part of a limited edition, that is completely up to you.
THE SWAP: A portfolio of five randomly selected prints will be mailed to each participant at the end of Summer 2021 (exact dates TBC). MarcoLooks will keep one print from each participant submitted to the exchange for exhibition and promotional purposes. Participants will be notified when all print swaps have been shipped.
DEADLINE: Prints and all participation fees must be received by Wednesday, June 30 2021.
EXHIBITIONS: All submitted prints will be exhibited, in the autumn, in the Courthouse at Rural Arts, in Thirsk. Additional venues and exhibitions may be added along the way…watch this space!
REPRODUCTION: All participating prints will be put in a web gallery and may be reproduced digitally to promote additional exhibitions or future exchanges. Proper credit will be given to the artist on reproduction; no monetary value will be associated with reproduction.
IMPORTANT: All prints must conform to the guidelines. Any prints that do not fit the guidelines will be returned to the artist. *£6 GBP participation fee is not refundable.
SHIPPING: Your complete edition of six prints should be posted in a hard-backed envelope. Prints should be mailed to MarcoLooks, Blake House, 18 Blake Street, York, Yo1 8QG, along with your order number and legible entry form. Prints will not be accepted without £6 payment. Payment is due no later than June 30.
SOCIAL MEDIA: As prints arrive, Marc will be uploading images to the MarcoLooks Instagram, showcasing the variety of work and artists joining the exchange. Follow the exchange on social media: Instagram @Marcolooks. Social media savvy? Hashtag your works in progress or completed works using the hashtag #MLPrintSwap.
