Kate Rusby in her Holly Headwear. Picture: David Lindsay
WHAT a relief to be able to mention another C-word in these
Coronavirus-clouded times. Christmas. Kate
Rusby at Christmas, to be precise.
Tickets for the Barnsley nightingale’s now traditional York Barbican Christmas concert on December 20 go on sale tomorrow morning (April 10) at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Kate’s sparkling Christmas shows draw on merry Christmas versions of carols,
once banned from frowning Victorian churches for being too jolly, that instead
found their home in the pubs of South Yorkshire (and North Derbyshire and
Cornwall).
“Christmas songs were seeping into our brains,” says Kate Rusby, recalling her childhood exposure to South Yorkshire ‘pub sings’. Picture: David Angel
For 200 years, those South Yorkshire
communities have congregated on Sunday lunchtimes from late-November to belt
out, for example, variations on While Shepherds Watched.
“The Christmas side of things began for me in the ‘pub sings’
around South Yorkshire,” Kate told CharlesHutchPress last winter ahead of her York
Barbican concert with her regular folk band and “brass boys” quintet on December
18.
“We were taken along as kids; our parents would be in the main
room singing away, while us kids were sat with the other kids in the tap room,
colouring [pictures] and drinking pop, unaware that the carols and Christmas
songs were seeping into our brains!
“I decided anyone who adores Christmas music is called a ‘Holly Head’, ” says Kate Rusby, explaining her album title
“They’re mostly songs thrown out of the churches by the
Victorians as they were thought to be far too happy! Ha! Those who loved
singing them took them to the pubs, where you could combine a good old sing
with beer and a natter, and there the songs have remained and been kept alive,
being passed down the generations.”
So much so, Kate has released five albums of carols and original
winter songs on her own Pure Records label: 2008’s Sweet Bells, 2011’s While
Mortals Sleep, 2015’s The Frost Is All Over, 2017’s Angels And Men and last
year’s Holly Head
“Well, I decided anyone who adores Christmas music is called a
‘Holly Head’,” she said, explaining the title. “You know, like car fanatics are
petrol heads. I thought it was the perfect title for such people, and I’m a
fully paid-up member of the Holly Head club.”
The album artwork for Kate Rusby’s 2019 album, Holly Head
Songs on
Holly Head ranged from the Rusby original The Holly King, to a cover of John
Rox’s novelty Christmas number Hippo For Christmas, via the carol Salute The
Morn, a brace of God’s Own Country variations, Yorkshire Three Ships and Bleak
Midwinter (Yorkshire) and Kate’s sixth iteration of While Shepherds Watched.
“There’s over 30 different versions of While Shepherds Watched
that get sung in the pubs here in South Yorkshire, so I’ve still got a lot to
go at,” said Kate last December. “This one is actually to the tune of a
different song that I also love, but I wasn’t that keen on the words, then
realised it went with the While Shepherds words, so yey, another has now been
invented.”
Picking the song most significant to her on Holly Head, Kate chose
her own composition The Holly King. “It celebrates the more pagan side of
Christmas. I wrote it after reading about the winter king, The Holly King, and
the summer king, The Ivy King,” she said.
Kate Rusby: Writing for her next Christmas record. Picture: David Angel
“Legend has
it that the two met twice a year and had almighty battles. Going into winter,
the Holly King would win and reign for the winter months. Then the Ivy King
would wake and overthrow the Holly King and reign through the summer months,
and on they went in a perfect cycle.
“I just
loved the images that it conjured up and a song came flowing out. I gave him a
wife, The Queen of Frost, who creeps across the land to be with him for his
time. In fact, I’m now writing her song, so she will appear on the next
Christmas album, I’m sure.”
May The Queen of Frost glide her icy path to York Barbican come
December 20.
YORK Open
Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April
weekends, has been cancelled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, with
doors sadly shut for the April 17 to 19 and April 25 to 26 event,
CharlesHutchPress wants to champion the creativity of York’s artists and
makers, who would have been showcasing their ceramics, collage, digital,
illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, sculpture
and textiles skills.
Each day,
in brochure order, five artists who now miss out on the exposure of Open
Studios will be given a pen portrait on these pages, because so much art and
craft will have been created for the event and still needs a new home.
Addresses will not be included at this time.
Meanwhile,
York Open Studios artists are finding their own way to respond to the shutdown
by filling their windows with their work instead. Look for #openwindowsyork2020 to locate them.
“If you see one in your area while taking your daily exercise, take a picture
and let us know,” they say.
Cielo, collage, by Gail Fox
Gail Fox, collage
AN artist for more than
40 years, London-born Gail co-founded York Open Studios in 2002 with Anne
Hutchison.
For 30 years, she made
and exhibited hand-built coil pots after gaining a first-class degree at
Central School of Art in London in 1980, undertaking commissions for fashion
designer Bruce Oldfield and Trisha Guild, of the Designers Guild, for Next
Interiors.
Since a change of artistic
tack, she has focused on painting and now 2D abstract collages: explorations of
juxtapositions, composition and colour, made from painted or found papers.
York Open Studios co-founder Gail Fox
“The whole process is about tweaking and adjusting. It relies on intuition about what seems visually right,” says Gail. “It’s a process of adding to and taking away, a little more of this, a little less of that.
“It’s a bit like adjusting
a recipe until you know the taste is right. Hopefully, after the struggle, something
emerges that has a beauty, a sense of resolution and balance.” Learn more at gailfox.co.uk.
Sculptural jewellery by Jane Atkin
Jane Atkin, jewellery
MODERN and sculptural in
form, Jane’s functional jewellery incorporates unisex designs in predominantly
one-of-a-kind pieces in silver and gold.
“I use cut, uncut semi-precious stones and jet, found by me on the Yorkshire coast, that are employed in modern and minimalist ways,” she says. “From growing up surrounded by good modern design and architecture, these influences filter through into my jewellery.”
Jane Atkin’s studio
Responding to the need to
reduce single-use plastic, she has designed a silver drinking straw as an
investment for the future. “Silver
is naturally antibacterial and will last a lifetime, so this is perfect as a Christening
gift as an example,” says Jane, who exhibited at Pyramid Gallery and Lotte Inch
Gallery, in York, and the British Craft Trade Fair last year.
For more info, head to janeatkinjewellery.com.
Amy Stubbs: heading back north
Amy Stubbs, textiles
RELOCATED to York in a return to her northern roots, pattern
print designer Amy now works from the
PICA Studios artist hub in Grape Lane.
This textile design graduate from Falmouth University draws
inspiration “from a wealth of experience brought to her by her strong Yorkshire
family heritage and the opportunity to experience varying cultures”.
Consequently, Amy’s textile
work combines manually drawn abstract elements with the aid of digital
technology to create her surface pattern prints that feature strong mark-making
motifs and collaging.
2020 would have marked
her York Open Studios. Looking ahead, her new website, amystubbs.com, will be “coming
soon”.
“Cheeky, bright and full of colour”: Emily Stubbs’s ceramics
Emily Stubbs, ceramics
EMILY creates hand-built
sculptural ceramic vessels – cheeky, bright and full of life in character –
that explore the relationship between colour, form and texture.
Born in Holmfirth, her first
taste of clay was during her pre-BA foundation course at Batley School of Art
and Design. Inspired by this medium, Emily studied ceramics at the University
of Wales, Cardiff, graduating in 2007.
Emily Stubbs at work at PICA Studios, York
Moving to York in 2009,
she has worked from PICA Studios, in Grape Lane, York, since 2017, taking Yorkshire
and beyond by storm with her quirky ceramics in galleries and at art fairs,
such as Ceramic Art London.
Emily co-founded the
Art& show at York Racecourse with Victoria Robinson and collaborated with
Cooper King Distillery to create the artwork for their newly launched Herb Gin
label last autumn. Head to emilystubbsceramics@gmail.com
to learn more.
Inspired by 20th century travel posters: Elliot Harrison’s illustration of the York Odeon cinema building
Elliot Harrison, illustration
ELLIOT creates architectural
illustrations, prints and posters showcasing iconic York buildings and views,
favouring a vibrant colour palette inspired by Art Deco design and vintage 20th
century travel posters.
His distinctive retro York portfolio has been catching the eye for
the past few years, whether at Frankie & Johnny’s Cookshop, Blossom Street
Gallery and Owl & Monkey or in exhibitions at York Hospital and the Rowntree
Park Reading Café.
Among his most popular illustrations are Rowntree Park,
Bishopthorpe Road, the Blossom Street Odeon cinema, the former Clifton Cinema,
the Joseph Rowntree Theatre and York Minster.
Elliot Harrison surrounded by his evocative retro artwork
His commissions include illustrations for York Theatre Royal and
The Piece Hall, in Halifax, and his repertoire has expanded to take in running
medals, mugs, coasters, cards, Christmas cards and a 2020 York calendar that
sold out.
Elliot, who gained a degree in art and design from York St John University, was selected for his York Open Studios in 2020. Check him out via elliot@york360.co.uk.
TOMORROW: Rosie Waring; Colin Black; Nicola Lee; Rebecca Mason and Donna Maria Taylor.
We Will Still Rock You: The Queen and Ben Elton musical will rise again in 2021
THE 2020 tour of We Will Rock You bit the dust with the Coronavirus
pandemic lockdown, but the show must go on for the Queen and Ben Elton musical.
Not only have many of the original dates been re-scheduled for 2021, but
several venues have been added too, not least the Grand Opera House, York, for
a run from March 22 to 27.
“The producers did not want to disappoint fans who had bought tickets,
so they have been working hard to reschedule as many of the shows as possible,
giving people something to look forward to in these unsettling times,” says the
official statement.
“We are delighted to announce the good news that the musical
extravaganza will once again rock theatres across the UK from January next
year, playing many of the original 2020 dates and several additional venues
too.”
Kicking off in Cardiff on January 18 2021, the tour will then play Milton
Keynes; Southend; Stoke; Bristol; Wimbledon; Bournemouth; Ipswich; Bromley; York;
Newcastle; Northampton; Peterborough; Norwich; Reading; Liverpool; Birmingham
and Southsea, with more dates to follow. Details of how to exchange tickets
will follow in the coming weeks.
Queen guitarist Brian May said: “Happy to say our magnificent UK tour of
We Will Rock You, the rock theatrical, will rise again. The Coronavirus has had
us all on the run, but live theatre will win in the end. Keep hold of your
bookings and the vibe will be yours in 2021.”
Drummer Roger Taylor added: “This is great news, I’m so pleased to see
the show on the road again.”
Writer Ben Elton agreed: “I was so pleased to get the great news that We
Will Rock You is to be remounted next year, after being forced to close mid-tour,
and I hope Queen’s incredible music can help to make us feel like champions
again.”
Tickets for the York run are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.
The National Theatre’s Jane Eyre: on the NT’s YouTube channel
THE National Theatre’s celebrated production of Jane Eyre will be shown on the NT’s YouTube channel for free on Thursday at 7pm.
This will be the second in the two-month series of
National Theatre At Home screenings that was launched with One Man, Two Guvnors
last Thursday, since when more than two million people have watched Hull playwright
Richard Bean’s comic romp.
Cookson’s re-imagining of Charlotte Brontë’s inspiring Yorkshire
story of trailblazing Jane was first staged by Bristol Old Vic in 2015 and
transferred to the National in the same year with a revival in 2017.
In May that year, the National Theatre’s touring
production visited the Grand Opera House, York, for a week’s run, winning the “Stage
Production of the Year in York Made outside York” award in the annual Hutch
Awards in The Press, York.
Cookson’s bold, innovative and dynamic production uncovers one woman’s fight for freedom and fulfilment on her own terms. From her beginnings as a destitute orphan, spirited Jane Eyre faces life’s obstacles head on, surviving poverty, injustice and the discovery of bitter betrayal before taking the ultimate decision to follow her heart.
During this unprecedented time of the enforced shutdown of theatres, cinemas and schools in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, National Theatre At Home is providing access to content online to serve audiences in their homes.
Audiences around the world can stream NT
Live productions for free via YouTube every Thursday at 7pm BST and
each one will then be available on demand for seven days.
Coming next after Jane Eyre will be Bryony Lavery’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island from April 16 and Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night, starring Tamsin Greig as Malvolio, from April 23. Further titles will be announced.
Alongside the streamed productions, National
Theatre At Home will feature accompanying interactive content, such as question-and-answer
sessions with cast and creative teams and post-stream talks. Further details
of this programme will follow.
National Theatre Live turned ten on June 25 last year: the date of the first such broadcast in 2009, namely Phédre, starring Helen Mirren. Over those ten years, more than 80 theatre productions have been shown in 3,500 venues worldwide, reaching an overall audience of more than ten million.
NT Live now screens in 2,500 venues across 65 countries. Recent broadcasts include Cyrano de Bergerac with James McAvoy; Noel Coward’s Present Laughter with Andrew Scott; Fleabag with Phoebe Waller-Bridge; Arthur Miller’s All My Sons with Sally Field and Bill Pullman; All About Eve with Gillian Anderson and Lily James; Shakespeare’s Antony And Cleopatra with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo; Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar with David Morrissey and Ben Whishaw and Tennessee Williams’s Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with Sienna Miller.
Here is Charles Hutchinson’s review of the National Theatre’s Jane Eyre when it played the Grand Opera House, York, in May 2017, published in The Press, York. Please note, the cast differed from the one to be seen in the National Theatre Live performance on YouTube from Thursday.
Nadia Clifford as Jane Eyre in the National Theatre’s touring production of Jane Eyre at the Grand Opera House, York, in May 2017
YOU will not see a
better theatre show in York this year, and you won’t have seen a better theatre
show in York since The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.
For those who want
their National Theatre to be for everyone, and not only for London, then the
Grand Opera House is doing a fine job of bringing the NT north, thanks to the
pulling power of the GOH’s owners, the Ambassador Theatre Group.
Your reviewer
cannot urge you enough to see Sally Cookson’s remarkable interpretation of
Charlotte Bronte’s no less remarkable novel. Yes, some of the ticket prices are
on a Premier League scale, but this is Premier League theatre. What’s more,
Jane Eyre is a Yorkshire story, back on home turf after Cookson’s premiere at the
Bristol Old Vic and subsequent transfer to the South Bank.
Rather than being
adapted for the stage with a plodding narrator, this is a devised production of
vivid, vital imagination. Michael Vale’s set is rough hewn, gutted to the
minimum, with wooden flooring and walkways, a proliferation of ladders, a sofa,
and yet it evokes everything of Bronte’s harsh world.
Cookson’s cast is
multi role-playing, aside from Nadia Clifford’s Jane Eyre, who never once
leaves the stage in three hours (interval aside), changing costumes in full
view with the assistance of fellow cast members.
The story hurtles
along so fast, the ensemble company runs on the spot between scenes to the
accompaniment of thunderous drums, and they even take a mock piddle at one
point in the rush to crack on: one of the comic elements to counter the
grimness up north.
Energy, energy, energy!
And that applies not only to Clifford’s feisty, fiery Jane Eyre, whose accent
may curve towards her native North West, but that in no way lessens her performance.
The cast as a whole is
magnificent, be it Tim Delap’s troubled Rochester, Evelyn Miller’s triptych of
Bessie, Blanche Ingram and St John; Paul Mundell’s austere Mr Brocklehurst and
tail-wagging Pilot the dog; Lynda Rooke’s chalk and cheese Mrs Reed and Mrs
Fairfax or surely-too-good-to-be-an understudy Francesca Tomlinson’s five-hand
of roles.
There is so much
more that makes Cookson’s production so startling, movingly brilliant: the
sound design of Dominic Bilkey, the inexhaustible movement direction of Dan
Canham; the beautiful, haunting compositions of Benji Bower for the on-stage
band of David Ridley, Alex Heane and Matthew Churcher, who join in ensemble
scenes too and never take their gaze off the action.
Last, but very
definitely not least, is Melanie Marshall, the diva voice of Bertha Mason, a
one-woman Greek chorus whose versions of Mad About The Boy and Gnarls Barkley’s
Crazy will linger like Jane Eyre in the memory.
YORK Open
Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April
weekends, has been cancelled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However,
with doors sadly shut for the April 17 to 19 and April 25 to 26 event,
CharlesHutchPress wants to champion the creativity of York’s artists and
makers, who would have been showcasing their ceramics, collage, digital,
illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, sculpture
and textiles skills.
Each day,
in brochure order, five artists who now miss out on the exposure of Open
Studios will be given a pen portrait on these pages, because so much art and
craft will have been created for the event and still needs a new home.
Addresses will not be included at this time.
Meanwhile, York Open Studios artists are finding their own way to respond to the shutdown by filling windows with their work instead. Look for #openwindowsyork2020 to locate them. “If you see one in your area while taking your daily exercise, take a picture and let us know,” they urge.
Jill Ford: Her ceramics mirror the seasons
Jill Ford, ceramics
JILL began working as a potter in 2002, converting her garage into
a studio and establishing her company Jill Ford Ceramics.
Her contemporary white porcelain encompasses innovative
textural wall pieces, vases and bowls thrown on the wheel and a
range of candlesticks, her work marked by richly
textured decoration inspired by mountains and coastal rock formations.
Jill’s ceramics mirror the seasons, both in the processes she
uses and the changing nature of her landscapes, with winter’s extreme temperatures
making for a particularly impactful time of year.
Jill Ford at work in her studio
A year spent trekking and sketching in the Scottish Highlands has provided
inspiration for a range of Mountain Edge pots that gives a sense of exposure
and drama.
Jill, who is a member of the Northern Potters Association and East Riding
Artists, exhibits widely in galleries and shops around Britain and abroad,
including New York, and she shows work at ceramics and craft fairs too. She also delivers masterclasses to
potters’ groups and teaches ceramics in workshop sessions. Find out more at
jillford.com.
Cafe scene: a documentary-style photograph by Danny Knight
Danny Knight, photography
AFTER participating in York Open Studios in 2017 with works from Berlin, documentary-style photographer Danny was all set to feature his street photography collated from New York and his home city of York in the 2020 event.
“Old York/New York is a series of still images documenting the mundane events of the people who walk the streets of these two famous cities, while contrasting their similarities/differences.”
Danny Knight: “Capturing the everyday moments in two amazing cities”, York and New York
His work seeks to capture “the everyday moments in these two amazing cities that are quite often missed due to the pace of life we live”.
As well as being a photographer, Danny
works for the creative film production company Hewitt & Walker and is a city
leader for Sofar Sounds York, the monthly venture that “reimagines live events
through curated secret performances in intimate York settings”. For more info,
seek out info@dannyknightphotography.co.uk.
Honesty, linocut, by Carrie Lyall
Carrie Lyall, printmaking
CARRIE is a self-taught printmaker, based in Stamford Bridge, from
where she runs her Rose & Hen business.
Her linocut prints, illustrations
and handmade books are inspired by nature. Using botanical themes, she creates
delicate silhouettes and patterns in contrasting colours, employing oil-based
inks.
“I connect with nature while out walking, taking photographs or
collecting subject matter, to be sketched and transformed into design ideas at
home,” she says.
Carrie Lyall: Connecting with nature in her art…and her clothes
“My favourite part of the process is cutting the designs, and I
often get completely immersed in creating marks and lines.”
Carrie is a member of York Printmakers and a volunteer team
leader for Etsy Team York. 2020 would have been her first year as a York
Open Studios artist. Check her out at roseandhen.etsy.com
Between You And Me And The Gate Post, needle felting, by Alison Spaven
Alison Spaven, textiles
ALISON’S passion for needle
felting started six years ago during a chance encounter with the craft.
“I’ve been painting and drawing
for a lifetime, and even flirted briefly with ceramics, before a day out with
friends to a felting workshop on a canal barge changed my creative drive
forever,” she recalls.
“I was inspired to create and work with wet and needle felted wool by some great tuition from friends and professional tutors. Needle felting, in particular, rapidly became an obsession and the husband indoors insisted that new homes had to be found for things, as falling over yet another hare is not his favourite pastime!”
Alison Spaven: hare today, gone today, when her work sells!
Alison’s experience with
sculpting in clay gave her the initial skills to work in 3D, before developing
her own textural technique when painting with wool. Created with
rare breed wool, using a single felting needle, Alison’s pictures consequently
have a sculptural quality, a deliberate carry-over from her initial 3D work.
Alison, who trades as The Crafty
Wytch from her Wytchwood Gallery and Studio, is a familiar face around Malton and
beyond from her work as a stalwart of The Press and Gazette and Herald advertising
team. Head to thecraftywytch.co.uk to discover more.
Compulsive printmaker Kevin McNulty
Kevin McNulty, printmaking
KEVIN describes himself as a compulsive printmaker, who explores
themes such as identity and the human condition in his bold limited-edition
printed collages, wherein he combines photography, arbitrary images, texture
and abstract pattern.
“Experimenting with process and technique, I interweave
modernity with the absurd to build complex and captivating designs,” he says. “I
find inspiration in the everyday. I build layers for my prints using anything I
can lay my hands on, including found items.” Even mobile phone parts and
discarded teabags.
Millennium Bridge, York, by Kevin McNulty
Kevin’s
working practice is underpinned by a desire to make “pure prints by pulling each
image by hand and embracing the fortuitous accidents that evolve each design as
it transitions from laptop to ink and paper”.
Those prints were to have featured for the first time in this month’s now cancelled York Open Studios. Find his work at kevinmcnultyprints.com.
TOMORROW: Gail Fox; Jane Atkin; Amy Stubbs; Emily Stubbs and Elliot Harrison.
“During this period, it is critical that we continue to support our staff, artists and creative partners,” says Pocklington Arts Centre director Janet Farmer
POCKLINGTON Arts Centre’s crowdfunding appeal has raised more than half
its target already.
Launched in the immediate aftermath of the Market Place venue closing its
doors to the public on March 17, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the
crowdfunding page has accrued donations of £3,060
towards the £5,000 goal.
What’s more, Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC) has received £2,000 in ticket
refund donations from customers for cancelled events.
Now PAC has thanked everyone for their support in
helping the venue ride out the tempest and come back stronger than ever, with
the hope of a good majority of shows being re-scheduled for the autumn and winter.
Director Janet Farmer said: “With the health and
safety of our staff, visitors, artists and volunteers being of the utmost
importance to us, Pocklington Arts Centre has temporarily closed its doors to
the public while we weather this storm.
“During this period, it is critical that we
continue to support our staff, artists and creative partners. We are working
closely with our peers across the region, and indeed the country, and are
determined that PAC will emerge from this challenge stronger and more vibrant
than ever.”
Janet continued: “The crowdfunding appeal will play an important part in this re-emergence, so we want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has donated so far. Your support is greatly appreciated and we look forward to seeing you all again when we re-open.” To make a donation, visit: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/pac.
“Deep regret and sadness”: Sharon Canavar, chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals, announcing the cancellation of the 2020 summer season
THE Harrogate International Festivals summer season will not go
ahead, a decision with “huge financial implications that place the future of the
festivals at risk”.
The Coronavirus pandemic has put paid to the Harrogate Music
Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Berwins Salon North,
Spiegeltent and Children’s Festival, as well as several outdoor theatre and
community events.
Announcing the cancellation with “deep regret and sadness”, chief
executive Sharon Canavar said: “This difficult decision was made after
carefully assessing several factors, but most importantly the health and safety
of everyone involved: our audience, artists, suppliers, partners, volunteers,
staff and the wider community.
“Many months of dedicated work went into planning this exceptional
season and we share in the disappointment that will be felt by the many
writers, musicians, thinkers, performers and festival-goers who were set to
join us in Harrogate.”
Her statement continued: “As a not-for-profit arts charity, we are reliant on our events programme and ticket income, alongside sponsor support and donor philanthropy, and so the cancellation of our main season has huge financial implications that place the future of our festivals at risk.
“But despite the unprecedented challenge we now face, our mission
to bring immersive and moving cultural experiences to as many people as
possible remains unchanged.”
Harrogate
International Festivals will continue “our unparalleled celebration” of crime
fiction with the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2020, alongside
an extensive online programme of author interviews and more besides ahead of
the award announcement in July.
In addition, the HIF Player will be launched to allow everyone a virtual festival experience at home. This free online hub will bring together archive event recordings, digital book clubs, learning resources for children and activities for little ones, and it will be updated regularly with new content to keep audiences entertained.
The chief
executive’s statement continued: “Since 1966, we have proved an artistic force
to be reckoned with and a key cultural provider for the North of England with a
diverse year-round portfolio that celebrates world-class artists, champions new
talent and plays a vital part in the community with education outreach and
inspiring activities.
“Art
and culture help us understand what it means to be human and how to make sense
of life, and festivals are a vital part of this ecology. When this troubling
time passes, we will need – more than ever – the transformative power of the
arts to bring communities together, to inspire hope, to lift spirits and change
lives. We thank you for your support.”
The festival website, harrogateinternationalfestivals.com, now
carries the request Please Consider Making A Donation: “Support our arts charity
in this challenging time”.
The Slung Low team outside The Holbeck Slung Low in Leeds
LEEDS theatre company Slung Low are to
open a new art gallery with a difference this month.
Based in Holbeck, South Leeds, the
company will be setting up the LS11 Art Gallery to showcase the best
paintings, drawings and photographs created and chosen by the people of Holbeck
and Beeston.
However, instead of displaying the
images on gallery walls, they will be placed on lamp posts for all to
see.
Slung Low have asked people from the
two Leeds areas to email their image to the theatre company. Slung Low will
then arrange to come around and take a copy of it and then print the images on
special plastic board for display on lamp posts around Holbeck and Beeston.
Artistic director Alan Lane says: “Our
instinct at Slung Low is always to be useful and kind. For the last few weeks
that has primarily been about delivering food-bank parcels and helping people
get their prescription.
“We know that a hungry soul will find it
hard to be creative, to find joy, so the first part of our response has to be
making sure that people have their basic material needs met: and we will
continue that work until this is all over.
“But as
theatre makers we also understand the importance of storytelling and that there
are different ways to be useful.”
Alan continues: “LS11 Art Gallery is us
telling the story that this area – like all parts of this nation – is full of
creativity; that in every house are people who are brilliant, creative and
capable of profound beauty. We need to make sure we keep telling that story in
these challenging times.
“We’re going to open an art gallery on
the lamp posts of LS11 and the people who live here will make what we exhibit.
Let’s cheer ourselves up a bit.”
Founded in 2000, Slung Low specialises
in making epic productions in non-theatre spaces, often with large
community performance companies at their heart.
The company has relocated to The
Holbeck in South Leeds, the oldest working men’s club in Britain.
There, they run the bar as a
traditional members’ bar and the rest of the building as an open development
space for artists and a place where Slung Low invite other companies to present
their work that otherwise might not be seen in Leeds. All work presented at The
Holbeck is Pay What You Decide.
In Autumn 2018, Slung Low launched a cultural
community college based in Holbeck; a place where adults come to learn new
cultural skills, from stargazing to South Indian cooking, from carpentry to
singing in a choir. All workshops, supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, are
provided on a Pay What You Decide basis.
Slung Low are now volunteer guardians
of the city wards of Beeston and Holbeck, taking referrals from the Leeds City
Council Covid-19 helpline (0113 378 1877).
In turn, with help from the staff of
other arts organisations in Leeds, including Opera North, they are
delivering food and medicine to the vulnerable, elderly and those in
isolation.
How to take part in the LS11 Art
Gallery:
IF you live in the Holbeck or Beeston
areas of Leeds and want your drawing, painting or photograph to be featured,
please take a picture of it.
Then send it to Slung Low by email at theholbeck@slunglow.org or by text
on 07704 582137. Slung Low will then arrange to come around to take a copy of
it for you.
YORK Open
Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April
weekends, has been cancelled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However,
with doors sadly shut for the April 17 to 19 and April 25 to 26 event,
CharlesHutchPress wants to champion the creativity of York’s artists and
makers, who would have been showcasing their ceramics, collage, digital,
illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, sculpture
and textiles skills.
Each day,
in brochure order, five artists who now miss out on the exposure of Open
Studios will be given a pen portrait on these pages, because so much art and
craft will have been created for the event and still needs a new home.
Addresses will not be included at this time.
Toffee Tin, Elephant And Blue Glass, by Ruth Beloe
Ruth Beloe, painting
RUTH Beloe finds equal fulfilment
in figurative sculpture and still life paintings in oil.
She trained for three years at Charles H Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy, a fine art school modelled on the ateliers of 19th-century Paris, where she studied portrait and figurative drawing, painting and sculpting, using the “sight-size” technique.
On opening her studio in Ely, she began accepting portrait commissions in both charcoal and clay and was appointed artist-in-residence at the King’s School, Ely. She then worked in an artists’ foundry to better understand the processes and practicalities of lost wax casting for bronze to inform her own work in bronze.
Ruth Beloe at work by the window in her studio
She returned to Florence in 2009 and 2010 to develop her oil-painting technique at Studio Santo Spirito. Now she works from a studio in York, taking inspiration from Chardin and William Nicholson as she explores the inherent beauty of everyday items and objects from nature.
Note the reflective qualities of surfaces, the use of directed light to form appealing shadows and the play of refracted light in her paintings. Discover more at beloe.biz.
“My aim is to awaken the feeling of wonder and awe,” says printmaker Milena Dragic
Milena Dragic, printmaking
BORN in Zagreb, Croatia, and now
living in York, polymath Milena is a printmaker, animator and performing artist.
She studied printmaking at Zagreb’s
Academy of Fine Arts, from 1971 to 1973, and combined arts at Brighton Polytechnic’s
faculty of art and design, from 1973 to 1976. Residencies and placements
ensued, along with more than 20 solo shows
in Britain, Croatia, Germany and Switzerland and participation in print exhibitions
in Britain, Poland, Brazil, Spain and South Korea.
“I perceive my work as a
dynamic representation of forces underlying physical reality and their
manifestations within everyday life,” says Milena, who prints on hand-made
paper. “My aim is to awaken the feeling of wonder and awe that I have
experienced during the process of gathering ideas and executing them in the
prints.
“My colour prints are all
relief prints: woodcuts, wood-engravings and linocuts. I like the simplicity of
the process. I print without a conventional press. My colour prints are done by
a reduction method, which means that all the colours are printed from the same
block. At the end of this process there is no lino left, so the edition is
truly limited.”
Her contemporary, colourful
abstract work combines relief prints, animation and mixed media. Wearing her
other hats, she has worked as an art director and animator at Leeds Animation
Workshop, now works for Artlink West Yorkshire and is part of the York Dance
Collective. Paint the full picture at milena-dragic.co.uk.
Expressionist interpretation of York Minster, by Russell Bailey
Russell Bailey, mixed media
RUSSELL invited putative York Open Studios 2020 visitors to expect “a range of expressionistic interpretations of York Minster in mixed media”.
“The main work results from over
12 months’ work on cathedrals – York Minster in particular – involving many
site visits, plein air and studio-based work,” he says.
Favouring charcoal and mixed media, Russell embraces experimental ways of working and gestural mark-making. “Working expressively with freedom of marks with more considered drawn elements is key to how I process my experiences artistically,” he says.
“The work I do is often experimental, often part destroyed and then re-created,” says Russell Bailey
“The work I do is often experimental,
often part destroyed and then re-created to produce a very personal
interpretation. In that respect, the work tends to reside in the hinterland
between the literal and pure abstraction. Mixing media seems to have become a
natural way through which I express myself.”
Russell
has exhibited previously at York Open Studios, the Great North Art Show, Kunsthuis
Gallery at The Dutch House, Crayke, and Blossom Street Gallery, York. His
latest artwork also embraces small abstract pieces based on beliefs and others
from art retreat locations. Take a look at russellbaileyfineart.co.uk.
Barcelona skyline, by Anthony Chappel-Ross
Anthony Chappel-Ross, photography
ANTHONY is a familiar face behind the camera around York and beyond for his photojournalism for The Press, York, where he was an outstanding staff photographer, and other print media outlets too.
Since leaving journalism college in Sheffield in 2002, he has been shortlisted for more than 20 regional and national press awards: testament to his truly eye-catching talent.
Anthony Chappel-Ross: A face more often to be found looking through a camera lens
For the past few years, he has
started to work for himself, choosing his clients and commissions. “This
freedom has allowed time for my own personal photographic interests to be
explored,” says Anthony.
For his second York Open Studios
exhibition, he had selected photographic images, predominantly in black and
white, that explore the contrast, form and pattern of Barcelona, Antoni Gaudi’s
Catalan Modernist architecture et al.
Check out
anthonychappelross.co.uk…and snap to it.
Silver stone, by Helen Drye
Helen Rye, jewellery
JEWELLERY designer and maker
Helen Drye works full time from her studio south of York, her designs inspired
by nearby Skipwith Common National Nature Reserve.
Establishing her Silver and Stone
Jewellery Design business in 2012, Yorkshire-born Helen’s collections have
their roots in this woodland, especially the birds and hares, her favourite
mushrooms and the moonlight.
While much of her work is made in
sterling silver, some is designed and carved in silver clay, adding unusual
features to the jewellery.
“My imagination is sparked
by the woodland and common beyond my studio, wondering what the ancient Bronze
Age people did, or the farmers grazing their sheep on the common land, or the Second
World War pilots who trained here before going off to fight their battles in the
sky,” says Helen.
“My imagination is sparked by the woodland and common beyond my studio,” says Helen Drye
“I try to imagine those
people walking between the trees, through that same mist, in the morning light
or the moonlight many years ago. I reflect this as though looking through my
windows; ‘windows’ that look through the woodland, the trees and the birds and
make you wonder what else is through there.”
Helen, by the way, also runs
jewellery-making workshops and wedding ring workshops. More info can be found
at info@silver-stonejewellery.co.uk.
TOMORROW: Jill Ford; Danny Knight; Carrie Lyall; Alison Spaven and Kevin McNulty.
Easter activities organised by Scarborough Museums Trust are going online. Picture: Tony Bartholomew.
SCARBOROUGH Museums Trust is taking its fun Easter activities online.
Amid the Covid-19 lockdown, the trust has had to suspend its usual drop-in activities at the Rotunda Museum, Scarborough Art Gallery and Woodend, instead making them available via its website, scarboroughmuseumstrust.com, and on social media.
From Thursday, April 9, you can have a go at making your own “Roarsome”
Easter bonnet to wear with pride.
The Rotunda Museum, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
From Wednesday, April 15, you can gain inspiration from the trust’s
springtime artworks and make a flowery print to decorate your home.
Scarborough Museums Trust’s learning officer, Christine Rostron, says:
“All the activities are inspired by our collections and use everyday art
materials.
Scarborough Art Gallery. Picture: Tony Batholomew
“We hope you have fun making things at
home and would love to find out how you’re getting on. Please share your
creations with us on social media: @Scarboroughmuseums (Facebook), @scarboroughmuseums
(Instagram) and @SMTrust (Twitter), using the hashtags #MuseumFromHome
#loveScarborough.
“We’re really going to miss seeing all the families
and children who normally visit our venues over the holidays. Sending us
pictures is great way for us to keep in touch.”
