Man at easel: David Greenwood painting in his garden
KENTMERE House Gallery owner Ann Petherick is determined to champion “great art from troubled times”.
Her gallery doors in Scarcroft Hill, York, may be shut amid the Coronavirus lockdown, but nevertheless Ann has issued a rallying call to support artists still busy being creative.
“Artists are not quitters – and in any case have to eat, pay rent, buy materials, etc. – so it’s likely that all of them are hard at work in their studios in enforced isolation,” she says.
Rosie Dean outside her studio
“Artists need to sell, so for those of you who are indoors and bored with looking at bare walls, or at the same old images, the gallery is open online and you’re very welcome to browse kentmerehouse.co.uk.”
Ann has original paintings and artists’ prints by more than 70 artists, all unique to the gallery, at prices ranging from £30 to £2,000, as well as illustrated books by artists, priced £10 to £30, again unique to Kentmere House.
Gallery regular Susan Bower lives near Tadcaster, where she works from a spacious studio built by her husband, a former GP-turned-joiner and restorer of old fire engines. “The studio is lined with around 100 paintings: finished work waiting to be sent to galleries all over the country, work in progress, and postcards and cuttings for inspiration,” says Ann. “Dogs and grandchildren are banned but manage to sneak in nevertheless.”
John Thornton in his garden studio
John Thornton has a garden studio, self-built and looking on to a delightful sheltered garden. “Prevented from making his usual regular trips to the coast, he’s contenting himself with re-creating the scenes he loves,” says Ann.
“Likewise, Rosie Dean, always one of the most popular artists from York Open Studios, is working on her impressive seascapes from her terraced house in York.”
Suffolk artist Tessa Newcomb paints at her cottage near Aldeburgh. “Cats are always in evidence, and it’s necessary to pick your way carefully across the floor as paintings are everywhere!” says Ann. “It is perhaps fortunate that most of her work is fairly small.”
Ann Petherick surrounded by art at Kentmere House Gallery
David Greenwood now lives in Keighley, where he is lucky to have a garden to paint in, says Ann. “The ongoing cancellations of race meetings are a disappointment to him but he can still enjoy the canal walks that give him much inspiration,” she enthuses. “Like so many artists, he has plenty of sketches from previous visits to work on, along with the ideas in his head.”
Rosemary Carruthers always enjoyed her visits to York, where on several occasions she was artist-in-residence at the York Early Music Festival. “She’s now based in a new house in Holt in Norfolk, where she has a new garden to occupy her considerable gardening skills but retains time for painting her exquisite oils of musicians too.”
Ann updates her website, kentmerehouse.co.uk, regularly and frequently posts on Twitter @kentmere_h_gall. “One day I may even figure out how to deal with Instagram,” she says.
Velma Celli: Adding more than a little sparkle to lockdown
VELMA Celli, York’ very own globe-strutting drag diva, will host a special fundraising concert for St Leonard’s Hospice live from her kitchen on Saturday night to “add a little sparkle to lockdown while helping this great cause”.
Ian Stroughair, the alter-ego of fabulous cabaret creation Velma, returned to self-isolate in his native York directly from a tour of Australia, since when he has joined a host of fellow West End performers to create a season of online streamed concerts from their own homes.
In the wake of Velma’s successful Leave A Light On concert, when viewers tuned in from York, London and even as far afield as New York, Ian decided to organise an intimate gig in support of St Leonard’s Hospice, in Tadcaster Road, York.
“Unfortunately, too many of us have seen the amazing work of the team at St Leonard’s Hospice first hand, as loved ones, including my mum, spent time there as cancer was making life increasingly difficult for them,” says Ian, who presents The Velma Celli Show at The Basement, City Screen, York, each month.
“I’ve always wanted to find a way to support the hospice, and this seems like the perfect opportunity. With so many conventional fundraising events postponed due to the lockdown, this is a great way for people to support the hospice while enjoying a fantastic, fun and fruity evening of live music in their own living room.”
Ian’s glittering cabaret queen has starred in such self-originated shows as A Brief History Of Drag, Equinox – Something Fabulous This Way Comes and Me And My Divas, as well as The Velma Celli Show.
Diva Velma’s repertoire takes inspiration from many of the best female vocalists of the past 75 years, from Judy Garland to Lady Gaga and beyond. “So there’s something for everyone – including hilarious impersonations of the voices and peculiar mannerisms – of some of pop music’s most famous stars,” Ian says. “Unlike many drag queens, Velma always performs live, adding her own special spin to familiar songs.”
Online audience members will receive a link to watch the performance 30 minutes before the 8pm show, which can be streamed on a PC or internet-enabled smart TV.
Velma Celli: From her kitchen to your living room on Saturday night
Charles Hutchinson asks Ian Stroughair/Velma Celli for quick answers to quick questions in the build-up to Saturday’s gig.
Where are you playing this online show? In York or are you back in London now?
“Darling, I’m in Bishy Bishopthorpe. I came up a week before lockdown.”
Why did you choose a kitchen as the performance space for Saturday’s stream?
“It’s the biggest room and better acoustically.”
Describe your kitchen. Colour scheme? Favourite kitchen gadget?
“We are white and grey in our kitchen. Gadget? Bottle opener (obvs!).”
What do you most like about kitchens?
“I love kitchens ’cos I’m a mean cook. Not a bitchy one, just very good! I actually wanted to be a chef, that was the plan. I love to bake.”
What’s your favourite dish you make?
“At the moment, my favourite thing is a custard cake. It’s my great friends Eliza and Suzie’s grandma Dot’s recipe and it’s heavenly.”
Any tips for cooking in lockdown?
“Get creative with what’s in and try not to over-shop.”
How have you been coping with lockdown in York? What are you doing to fill your days?
“I’m coping well. I have my moments because I travel so much with work. I’m cycling a lot and writing.”
Are you good in total isolation?
“NO.”
What are you missing most in lockdown?
“Being with my friends and family.”
What had you been doing this year before lockdown struck?
“I toured Australia with my latest show, which was amazing. I also went on the Atlantis Gay cruise around New Zealand and just lots of fabulous gigs in the U.K.”
What was in your 2020 diary that you now can’t do?
“So many gigs – and I was supposed to open and star in Funny Girls in Blackpool for a few months.”
Why are you doing this concert for St Leonard’s Hospice?
“St Leonard’s Hospice cared for my Mum in her last days. It’s a fantastic facility in York that – since Mum’s passing – I try to support as much as I can because they are utterly fabulous.
“The staff are like living angels. I am in awe of them.”
How did the Leave A Light On show go? When was it broadcast?
“I did it as a solo show on April 2 and it was so much fun. Special shout-out to Eliza and Jamie at Lambert Jackson Productions for their involvement. They’re awesome.”
What songs will you be performing this weekend and why?
“Ooooo, don’t want to spoil the surprise! There’ll be some Queen, Gaga, Judy [Garland] and many more.”
Will there be any special new additions on an isolation theme?
“Yes! A Nirvana classic but re-written lyrically.”
Which one? Maybe that new President Trump Covid-19 favourite Smells Like White Spirit?
“That’s it. Bang on the sentiment.”
What length will the show be? Any guests?
“One hour. I’ll have the insanely talented Twinnie joining me, though safely apart. She’s up in York at her Mum’s for lockdown. Her album Hollywood Gypsy just came out and it’s amazing!
York country singer Twinnie: Velma Celli’s special guest on Saturday
“She hasn’t decided on what else she’ll performing yet, but most likely we’ll do an album track together too.”
I know just the song! May I suggest her candid yet candied single Better When I’m Drunk?
“Perfect. That’s the one. Whoop!”
Finally, how will you celebrate when you can perform on a stage again, in front of an audience?
“By being ready and raising my game.”
To listen to York country singer Twinnie’s debut album, Hollywood Gypsy, last week’s BBC Radio 2 album of the week, go to: https://twinnie.lnk.to/hollywoodgypsyWE
Palisander: Watch out for spiders in all that foliage
THE National Centre for Early Music, York, will continue to reach out from behind closed doors to provide inspirational music online with a series of concerts throughout May.
Confirmed for next month are Palisander, Beware The Spider!, on Saturday (May 2); Rumorum, Medieval Music for voices and instruments, May 16, and European Union Baroque Orchestra, Handel & Bach, May 30, all starting at 1pm.
To view these concerts for free, follow https://www.facebook.com/yorkearlymusic/ or log on to the NCEM website, ncem.co.uk, where you also can find details of the Cuppa And A Chorus community singing sessions, now on Zoom, plus other NCEM news and more concert footage.
Palisander’s fancy footwork
In Beware The Spider!, first performed at the NCEM in March 2019, the young recorder quartet explore the Tarantella, the effects of a venomous spider bite, and the curious world of folk medicine.
Fast moving and fun, with some fancy footwork to boot, the Palisander programme combined music by Vivaldi and many others with an entertaining narrative.
Like Palisander, Rumorum first played Medieval Music for voices and instruments at the NCEM in March 2019. These 12th to 15th century music specialists turn back the clock to the time of Medieval Europe when musicians travelled across the continent, gathering stories, sharing knowledge of love, pain and exile.
Rumorum: Rebec,, harp, flute and voice ensemble
This youthful ensemble formed while studying medieval performance at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland and took York classical audiences by storm when winning the York Early Music Festival Friends’ Prize in the 2017 festival competition. “If you can’t quite visualise a rebec, harp, flute and voice ensemble, this is your chance,” says NCEM director Delma Tomlin.
European Union Baroque Orchestra’s concert recording dates from March 2017, led by director and harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen, who was joined that day by soloists Maria Keohane, soprano, Bojan Cicic, concertmaster,and Neven Lesage, oboe.
The concert was performed to celebrate Early Music Day 2017 on the birthday of JS Bach. “Entitled Betrayal And Betrothal, it features music by Bach and Handel and provides an exciting opportunity to hear this outstanding group again, presenting one of their last ever performances on stage,” says Delma.
“Keeping in touch with our audiences is so important to us in these difficult times,” says NCEM director Delma Tomlin
As “an added bonus”, harpsichordist extraordinaire Steven Devine will “help you beat the blues” with Bach Bites – bite size chunks to inspire and uplift – every Wednesday evening at 6pm.
Delma says: “Keeping in touch with our audiences is so important to us in these difficult times and we’re delighted to be able to bring you this eclectic selection of archival recordings from concerts recorded over the past couple of years.
“We’re also continuing our Cuppa And A Chorus event, where people can meet regularly to sing in a relaxed environment. We’re now meeting virtually on Zoom, so even though we can’t be together, we can all try and stay in touch.”
Prima Vocal Ensemble transform into Prima Virtual Ensemble for an online rehearsal on Zoom
ZOOM. Boom! What a boon this now ubiquitous electronic embrace is for singers, artists, musicians, whatever.
Musical director Ewa Salecka and her Prima Vocal Ensemble are a case in point. In a year when the York choir’s tenth anniversary celebrations “haven’t quite turned out as we expected”, nevertheless as many as 90 singers are still rehearsing weekly, gathering remotely, virtually, every Tuesday night to “sing and socialise”.
Tonight will be the latest such opportunity to make room at home for a Zoom session, led as ever by the exuberant Polish-born Ewa, who settled in York in 2009. “I’ve been using Zoom for five years now,” she says. “I started by doing vocal teaching that, whichever technique, was possible through this form of media, and I now do one-to-one sessions on Skype and Zoom.”
Ewa, by the way, had been spending the day teaching university students online before doing this interview. Turning her thoughts to her mixed voice choir Prima Vocal Ensemble, she is delighted with how the members have taken to the Zoom sessions.
“I remember hearing the Government’s announcement shutting down non-essential activities and thinking ‘what can we do now?’, but we didn’t waste even a week,” she says.
“The day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the Coronavirus lockdown, with everybody largely confined to their homes, I launched the Prima Virtual Ensemble.”
She wrote to choir members to say: “We all need human contact to maintain our mental health, and so this is the time to embrace the technical world”.
“I just hoped they would embrace this technology that so many people had never heard of – and they have!” says Ewa.
Prima Vocal Ensemble musical director Ewa Salecka
“It’s not straightforward to set up Zoom for 90 people – whereas with one-to-one sessions it’s easy – and so I was a bit cautious with a large group where everyone’s internet plays to different rules.
“On the Friday, I had my first test session, then on the Saturday we did a rehearsal ‘as normal’, but remotely, sorting out the technical options for everyone, with help available for the less technically minded. Since then, we’ve reverted to Tuesday rehearsals from 7pm to 8.30pm, and the response has been really positive.”
Through their first decade, Prima Vocal Ensemble have sung at Carnegie Hall, New York, and the Royal Albert Hall, London, atop Alpine mountains and in European cathedrals and “underground” churches.
They have performed world premieres and collaborations with choirs from Europe and the United States; taken part in competitions, concerts and festivals in the UK, USA, Italy, Poland, Spain and Hungary, and sung with tenors Russell Watson and Aled Jones and The X-Factor’s 2013 winner and musical actress Sam Bailey.
As part of the tenth anniversary celebrations, Ewa had organised a June concert at the Riley-Smith Hall, Tadcaster, and a trip to Berlin later that month, both now scuppered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Instead, Ewa has put together a special repertoire for the Zoom rehearsals, comprising old favourites, new material suitable for on-line sessions and topical works, such as Lean On Me to mark the March 30 death of American composer Bill Withers.
“Choir members were thrilled,” says Prima Vocal Ensemble’s Christine Kyriacou. “Many said that in these difficult times it was extraordinarily comforting to see one another on screen and be able to chat and rehearse together from home.
“One member wrote to Ewa to say: ‘So good to see everyone last night. It is massively morale-boosting for people like me who live alone, and I think what you are doing at the moment is not only amazing but absolutely vital. When this is all over, we will look back on the efforts people like you have made to keep connected and treasure the moments.
Prima Vocal Ensemble performing in competition in Manchester earlier this year , with the judges’ feedback
“I’m saving all the photos you are taking of Prima Virtual Ensemble, hoping I can say, ‘Do you remember when none of us could meet up for rehearsals, yet we kept on singing!”
Ewa shares that enthusiasm. “I miss seeing everyone; we’ve built some really strong connections and we do miss making music together under one roof, but the feedback has been fantastic, and now I’m thinking of gathering the comments I’ve received and putting them into a piece of music,” she says.
The June concert programme will form the basis of a tenth anniversary celebration provisionally re-arranged for the Riley-Smith Hall on October 3. “We’re definitely going to produce something new for that concert from the Zoom rehearsals,” promises Ewa.
“Over recent years, people have played with this technology, producing virtual sessions, but it’s a massive thing to do, putting videos together, but I’m now thinking about how to put the resources together for the concert, though it’ll be more about celebrating still being together.”
Later this year, Ewa still hopes that Prima Vocal Ensemble will be able to support Russell Watson on tour, and two concerts with orchestra and soloists are in the pipeline too.
In the meantime, she reflects proudly on how Prima Vocal Ensemble have been transformed into Prima Virtual Ensemble. “Prima still meet online to support each other. We keep singing, keep rehearsing and we’ve even created our Prima support group for those who may need it as time progresses,” she says.
“At the end of the day, I’m sending a message of hope and creativity. We’re like-minded York residents sticking together, helping each other and not letting the lockdown beat our cultural spirit.”
Feral Practice: Queenright, Ant-ic Actions, 2018-2021, work in progress
SCARBOROUGH Museums Trust is introducing a dynamic approach to its collections, learning and exhibition programming with a series of new digital commissions from artists nationwide in response to the Coronavirus crisis.
The trust, in charge of Scarborough Art Gallery, the Rotunda Museum and Woodend, has been working with Flow Associates to develop a new way of working across the organisation.
This will involve using a method called the “Story of Change”; in a nutshell “defining the change you want before choosing the tools to achieve or measure it”.
Homecoming, A Place, by Estabrak
Andrew Clay, the trust’s chief executive, says: “We want our work to make an impact. Defining that impact before we plan our exhibitions and wider programme means we can ensure we are relevant and responsive to our communities all the time.”
Key to this progression is a commitment towards diversity, inclusion and equality of access, leading to the trust finding innovative ways to promote this message.
A wide range of artists, among them Lucy Carruthers, Estabrak, Kirsty Harris, Wanja Kimani, Jade Montserrat, Jane Poulton and Feral Practice, have been asked to create digital artworks, to be released online over the next four months across myriad social media platforms.
Dust, mixed media, by Wanja Kimani, 2019
Clay says: “It’s so important to have access to the arts and culture at this difficult time: for many people, they’re a thought-provoking lifeline and have a proven positive effect on our mental health.”
Simon Hedges, the trust’s head of curation, collections and exhibitions, says: “Museums and galleries have a social responsibility to support communities, now more than ever before.
“We can provide a platform for creative expression that enables artists to share their messages to communities in lockdown. Their artworks can support personal wellbeing or become an opportunity to consider some of these wider issues.”
Ave Maria Gracia Plena, by Jane Poulton
As part of its commitment to access, the trust has been working with artistic producer Sophie Drury-Bradey and disability activists Touretteshero to ensure people with diverse minds and bodies can become more engaged in its work.
Hedges says: “Before the lockdown, we started to explore how access can be a creative stimulus for our projects and how to extend a warm welcome to our disabled communities.
“We’re now looking at the lockdown as an opportunity to continue this work and find creative and imaginative ways of ensuring people can access our digital content.”
The trust has committed to embrace a range of access “tools” to accompany the digital content to support as many people as possible to connect. Scarborough illustrator Savannah Storm, for example, will create visual guides, or “social stories”, to provide audiences with downloadable information on what to expect before accessing digital content.
Alongside this, subtitles will be used wherever possible, with audio descriptions to follow. The first Gallery Screenings Online event this evening at 7pm will incorporate a live Q&A session being accompanied by live captioning.
Audio descriptions will support children and families with visual access requirements for the first digital commission by Kirsty Harris, narrated by 11-year-old Ruby Lynskey, from Scarborough.
Shadowing Revue – Ecclesiastes v Watercolour, gouache, ink and pen on paper, by Jade Montserrat, 2017. Collection of York Art Gallery
Supporting children and families to access content is important to the trust’s learning manager, Christine Rostron: “We’re looking at a range of ways to help families engage with the learning activities we’re about to launch online in fun, age-appropriate ways,” she says. “Using a local child to produce audio descriptions is much more relatable than the voice of an adult BBC presenter!”
The trust’s intention is to continue this work for the long term, as Clay reasons: “Being inclusive and accessible is not an add-on: it’s becoming part of our DNA.”
The artists involved in the New Digital Commissions project all will be participating in exhibitions at Scarborough Art Gallery and the Rotunda in 2021.
“We want our work to make an impact,” says Andrew Clay, chief executive of Scarborough Museums Trust. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Lucy Carruthers will explore how we forge connections at a time of distancing. Her interest in the relationship between inside and outside is all the more pertinent during lockdown, wherein she asks how social isolation affects museum objects.
Estabrak’s Homecoming is a multi-layered touring and participatory project using community engagement, film, sound and paint for cross-cultural exchanges built around home, identity, and displacement.
The project started in 2019 in Hull and Brighton and now Estabrak will conduct the social experiment Homecoming: A Placeless Place, inviting honest expression and participation through ultraviolet light, invisible ink and dark spaces, introduced digitally to communities in Scarborough.
Estabrak: One of the artists taking part in Scarborough Museums Trust’s New Digital Commissions project.. Picture: Ali Al Sharji
Kirsty Harris is constructing a new digital project for children and families during social distancing that imaginatively will bring to life objects in the trust collection to connect with children struggling with social isolation.
Wanja Kimani will be creating walking journeys from a child’s eye view as she spends more time noticing the world around her and her sensory experiences become amplified.
Jade Montserrat will consider the socio-political impact of lockdown and “encourage us to discover new ways of being based on mutual support, rather than a model that exacerbates existing social inequalities”.
Jade Montserrat, working on her The Last Place They Thought Of installation, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Picture: Constance Mensh
Jane Poulton’s series of photographs and text will focus on personal objects she owns in order to consider whether those that mean the most to us are often acquired at times of crisis and what comfort they bring.
Feral Practice will develop a digital artwork leading to a major commission on the theme of extinction for 2021.
The new digital works will be available to view shortly via Scarborough Museums Trust’s:
Great Bustard, from the Scarborough Collections. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
SCARBOROUGH Art Gallery will begin a series of online film nights with When Species Meet this evening (28/4/2020).
Gallery Screenings Online, on the last Tuesday of each month from 7pm, will feature films selected to give audiences a new perspective on both visiting exhibitions and the permanent Scarborough Collections, followed by a question-and-answer session.
The series will have features aimed at making them as accessible to as many people as possible. Each event will have optional live captions from a stenographer; downloading the app version of Zoom is recommended for those wishing to use this function.
Artist and designer Lucy Carruthers and collections manager Jim Middleton: an image from the social story, illustrated by Savannah Storm
A visual guide, or “social story”, will be created too, with illustrations by Scarborough artist Savannah Storm, to explain the format and accessible elements of the screening.
The first screening, When Species Meet, will look at captive and extinct animals and how film has been used to represent them, opening with Bert Haanstra’s nine-minute documentary Zoo, followed by Leanne Allison and Jeremy Mendes’ 20-minute interactive film Bear 71.
Filmed in 1962 and nominated for a 1963 BAFTA Award for Best Short Film, Zoo compares the behaviour of animals and humans, using a hidden camera to capture the true nature of both man and beast.
Great Auk egg, from the Scarborough Collections. Picture: David Chalmers
Bear 71 explores the life of a grizzly bear in Banff National Park, monitored by wildlife conservation offices from 2001 to 2009. The film “gives viewers the experience of ‘being’ a bear”, exploring how one animal’s life is interlinked and affected by the movements of humans and animals around it.
The screenings will be followed by a 30-minute Q&A with Jim Middleton, collections manager at Scarborough Museums Trust, who will discuss the natural history collections within the archive, and with artist and designer Lucy Carruthers.
Andrew Clay, Scarborough Museums Trust’s chief executive, says: “Increasing access to our events, whether they are online or in our venues, is really important to us. No-one should feel excluded. We hope the visual guides and subtitles will support more people from our communities to participate in our activities.”
Film programmer Martha Cattell: email her for access to Gallery Screenings Online. Image: Susannah Storm
Film programmer Martha Cattell says: “Scarborough Museums Trust has a large collection of taxidermy animals locked away in the stores. Some of the species represented – the great bustard, the great auk, of which we have a rare egg, the passenger pigeons, Captain Cook’s bean snail – are now extinct largely due to human intervention.
“Their bodies now rest, static and captive in the archives. They are ghosts of species lost and haunted by the human actions that led to their demise.”
Simon Hedges, the trust’s head of curation, collections and exhibitions, says: “ We launched the Gallery Screenings programme at Scarborough Art Gallery in early March and then, of course, had to cancel it after the first one because of the Coronavirus lockdown.
Chatscreen: another illustration from the virtual guide by Susannah Storm
“We’re absolutely delighted to be able to continue these fascinating events online. They will return to the gallery once we reopen to the public.”
Access to the Gallery Screenings Online event this evening is by password only, available, along with a link, by emailing Martha.cattell@smtrust.uk.com
David Ford and Jarod Dickenson: “Not ‘I’ll headline, you support’, not a co-headliner , but a collaboration”
DAVID Ford and Jarod Dickenson should have been playing their double bill of exquisite songwriter fare and soulful Americana tonight at The Crescent, York.
Instead, the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown has enforced a switch to September 17, pending any further Government social-distancing strictures, with tickets valid for the revised date.
Ford, from Eastbourne, has known Dickenson, from Waco, Texas, for “years and years”. “The first tour we did together, I invited him to be my tour buddy for my album Charge [released in March 2013] and he’s been coming over ever since,” says David.
“I’ve been wanting to do this joint tour for ages, where it’s not ‘I’ll headline, you’ll support’, or even co-headlining, but instead it’ll be a collaboration, taking our catalogues of songs and combining our talents, and seeing if we can make an interesting show out of that.”
Until Covid-19 intervened, Ford and Dickenson’s plans were to make a long list of songs on either side of The Pond, then meet up a few days before their spring tour to knock the show into shape.
That still will be the case, whenever the shows are confirmed for take-off. “I’ve got an idea of what songs of mine will fit with Jarod, and I’m a big fanatic of his songs, sometimes jumping on stage to join his band, so we’ll be thinking about what songs will work best,” says David.
They will just have a longer time to think about those choices now.
Grayson Perry: Battling the boredom of lockdown, armed with art
TURNER Prize winner Grayson Perry launches Grayson’s Art Club, his pledge to “battle the boredom” of the Coronavirus lockdown through art, on Channel 4 tonight.
The Essex transvestite artist, potter, broadcaster and writer will be taking viewers on a journey of artistic discovery in a six-part series of themed shows designed to encourage you to make your own work in the new normal of isolation.
This was the year when Perry’s “lost pots” should have been the centre of attention in York from June 12 to September 20 in the Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years exhibition at York Art Gallery.
Watch this space for any update on what may yet happen. In the meantime, York Museums Trust is in discussion with its partners for The Pre-Therapy Years, an exhibition that is scheduled to move on to other venues.
Cocktail Party 1989, copyright Grayson Perry/Victoria Miro, from the Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years exhibition, whose opening at CoCA, York Art Gallery, was in the diary for June 12 2020
Back to Grayson’s Art Club. Through the magic of video call, in tonight’s first episode broadcast from his London workshop at 8pm, 60-year-old Perry will address the theme of Portrait with large-scale figurative painter Chantal Joffe and comedian and campaigning presenter Joe Lycett, who has taken to trying his hand at portraiture during lockdown.
For episode two, focusing on animal art, Grayson’s online guests will be British painter and sculptor Maggi Hambling and comedian and TV show host Harry Hill.
Ampleforth College alumnus and Angel Of The North sculptor Antony Gormley and comedian and comedy actor Jessica Hynes will pop up in episode three.
Episode four will feature artist Tacita Dean and comedian cum surrealist artist Vic Reeves, aka Jim Moir, creator and curator of the £500,000 Vic Reeves’ Wonderland for the 2012 Illuminating York festival of light and sound.
Vic Reeves, aka Jim Moir, at the opening of Vic Reeves’ Wonderland, his surrealist 2012 Illuminating York creation
Further guests will be announced later for an interactive series that will climax with an exhibition of works made by both the public and Perry’s celebrity guests as a “chronicle of Britain’s mood and creativity in isolation”.
Whenever it does run in York, Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years comprises his earliest works and “lost pots”, including 70 ceramics crowd-sourced after a national public appeal.
Presented in York Art Gallery’s Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA), this exhibition will be the first time these lost Perry creations have been assembled for display together, a cause for celebration for the Royal Academician Grayson.
“This show has been such a joy to put together, I am really looking forward to seeing these early works again, many of which I have not seen since the Eighties,” he says.
Grayson Perry’s Melanie, one of his Three Graces, exhibited at CoCA
“It is as near as I will ever get to meeting myself as a young man; an angrier, priapic me with huge energy but a much smaller wardrobe.”
CoCA first exhibited a Grayson Perry ceramic, Melanie, in July 2015 as its centrepiece talking point after York Art Gallery’s £8 million transformation.
Melanie is one of three women from his Three Graces work, joined by Georgina and Sarah in the Miss Plus Size Competition.
“First seen in Grayson’s Who Are You? documentary, Melanie is a voluptuous figurative piece with a strong narrative that discusses the changing view of what constitutes feminine beauty,” said York Museums Trust’s curator of ceramics, Dr Helen Walsh, at the time.
Perry commented on his Three Graces: “In the history of sculpture, female forms such as these were often seen as fertility goddesses to be prayed to for children and plentiful harvests. Nowadays, we are more likely to see a growing health problem.”
In its Familiarity Golden, one of two “everywoman” tapestries from Grayson Perry’s The Essex Tapestries: The Life Of Julie Cope, on display in 2020 at Nunnington Hall
In May 2014, accompanied by his childhood teddy bear Alan Measles, Perry opened the Meet The Museums Bears special event in the York Museum Gardens in full transvestite regalia as part of York Museums Trust’s contribution to the Connect 10 Museums At Night national celebration.
Earlier this year, from February 8, Perry’s Stitching The Past Together tapestries went on show at Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley.
Out went the National Trust country house’s 17th century Verdure tapestries for conservation work; in came a pair of Grayson’s typically colourful and thought-provoking Essex House Tapestries: The Life Of Julie Cope (2015).
Hanging in an historic setting for the first time, in the Nunnington Hall drawing room, this brace of large-scale, striking works tells the story of Julie Cope, a fictitious Essex “everywoman” created by the irreverent Chelmsford-born 2003 Turner Prize winner.
Dedicated To Lord Byron, mixed media, by Paolo Lazzerini
BLUE Tree Gallery, in Bootham, York, is holding its first online exhibition, amid the Coronavirus lockdown, in aid of the NHS.
“Due to the temporarily closure of our gallery on March 20, we have now made the gallery and purchase of our artworks available online – with our thoughts for the concerns of frontline NHS staff, ” says Blue Tree’s Gordon Giarchi.
Margaret Clitherow Of York, by Sharon Winter
“This is why we’re starting with a very special exhibition of a variety of our gallery artists’ paintings entitled NHS Charity Exhibition Online – Raising Funds for the NHS. We got in touch with https://www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/ and signed up to the cause, and the online show then began on April 20, one month after lockdown, since when we’ve been selling quite a few paintings to date with more to follow.”
Taking part in this inaugural online show are Kate Boyce; Deborah Burrow; Colin Carruthers; Colin Cook; Giuliana Lazzerini; Paolo Lazzerini; Neil McBride and Sharon Winter.
Open Road, mixed media, by Kate Boyce
A minimum of ten per cent of the retail price from every original painting sale will be donated between the gallery and the artists to the NHS Covid-19 Appeal for York Hospital.
“Running until the beginning of June, this exhibition will offer all our customers the opportunity to support the NHS, the artists and, of course, the gallery in these trying times,” says Gordon.
Under The Skylarks II, by Deborah Burrow
All work for sale on the website, bluetreegallery.co.uk, will be posted free of charge in Britain, although charges will apply overseas.
“We really hope you enjoy this exhibition, in the safety and comfort of your own home,” says Gordon. “Stay safe and take care of yourselves.”
TODAY should
have been spent visiting other people’s homes, not staying home, on weekend two
of York Open Studios 2020.
From tomorrow, art will be on the nation’s TV sets as Grayson’s Art Club “battles the boredom of Coronavirus lockdown by taking viewers on a journey of art discovery” in a six-part Channel 4 series.
From his London workshop, anything-but-grey artist Grayson Perry will encourage the British public to create their own art while in isolation, built around six themed shows that will climax with an exhibition of viewers’ art.
Been there,
done that, will continue to do all that art-making, might well be the
resourceful attitude of the 144 artists and makers at 100 York locations after
the Covid-19 pandemic strictures turned York Open Studios into York Shut
Studios.
Over the
past four weeks, CharlesHutchPress has determinedly championed the creativity
of York’s artists and makers. Each day, in brochure order, five artists who now
miss out on the exposure of Open Studios have been 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.
The last five
are being profiled today, when you also can visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk
to take your own Virtual Open Studios tour, wherein artists show their studios
and workshops, favourite processes, answer your questions, and
display pictures of their new work.
“Search for
#YorkOpenStudios anywhere on social media or follow your favourite artists to
see more,” advises the YOS website.
Anyway, time to discover
more about…
Meg, oil on linen, winner of Shirley Hannan National Portrait Prize 2018, by Marcus Callum
Marcus Callum, painting
MARCUS is a British-Australian contemporary figurative painter and digital artist who specialises in realist portraiture.
“Fusing traditional techniques with a
contemporary aesthetic, my work conveys a sense of psychological insight and is
designed to provoke an emotional response,” he says. “Buddhism, meditation,
hypnosis and our understanding of the subconscious mind are influences on my
process and subject matter.
“Characters reflect on increasing anxieties over impending global crises and wonder if, by each of us becoming more conscious, we may discover individual and collective hope.”
Self-portrait, by Marcus Callum
Trained in Sydney and New York, Marcus won the Dame
Joan Sutherland Award in 2014; Australia’s third richest portrait prize, the
Black Swan Portrait Prize, in 2015 and the Shirley Hannan National Portrait
Prize, Australia’s premier award for realistic portraiture, in 2018, when he also
was a finalist in the Sky Portrait Artist of the Year.
Marcus previously worked between Sydney and London; now York has come into his life. He was long-listed for the Aesthetica Art Prize, whose 2020 exhibition opened at York Art Gallery before the Coronavirus lockdown, and he would have been exhibiting in York Open Studios for the first time. Visit marcuscallum.com for more info.
Bratislavian Folk Memory, by Robert Burton
Robert Burton, textiles
ARTIST and academic Robert tells stories in textiles, fibres and cloth, utilising print and found objects in narratives of people, lives and things.
“I explore themes of memory,
loss and transformation through fibre, fabric making, print techniques, drawing
and broad approaches to image making,” he says.
“My artworks cross the threshold of disciplines in a conceptual dialogue between the innovative use of analogue, contemporary and emerging techniques.”
Rob Burton: Themes of memory, loss and transformation
Rob’s work has been shown all over the world in solo exhibitions, biennial and group exhibitions, whether in Britain, the United States or Eastern Europe. Last year, he exhibited in Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine; Vilnius, Lithuania; Madrid, Spain, and Haachst, Belgium.
He regularly collaborates with the international screendance collective WECreate to produce costumes for video, dance and installations. Find out more at robertburton108.myportfolio.com.
Inspired by horizons: Jo Walton’s artwork
Jo Walton, painting
ARTIST, upholsterer and
interior designer Jo’s paintings are abstract, inspired by horizons, whether rust-prints
on paper and plaster, combining rusted metal with painting, or seascapes on
gold-metal leaf.
Her artwork reflects her childhood in Australia and her days as a young woman spent sailing oceans, from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean.
After many years of travelling, Jo returned to England, studying fine art at Bradford University and now exhibiting all year round from her York studios, Rogues Atelier, an old tannery in Franklins Yard, Fossgate, that she shares with jeweller and fellow York Open Studios exhibitor Emma Welsh and textile artist Robert Burton.
Jo, whose work features regularly at Terry Brett’s Pyramid Gallery in Stonegate, would have been taking part in York Open Studios for a sixth successive year.
Jo Walton: Artist, upholsterer and interior designer
In her “other life”, Jo is an upholsterer, initially
learning her skills from making cushions and sail covers for yachts in her time
living in Greece. She gained her City and Guilds qualification in modern and
traditional upholstery and has taught the subject for many years for City of
York Council.
“Occasionally, my skills have the opportunity to blend into a ‘huge blank canvas’: interior design,” says Jo, whose first public design commission was for Space 109, the community arts centre she founded in Walmgate in 2006.
Her second was to convert three empty shops on
Bishopthorpe Road into Angel on The Green, a bar and café and home to comedy
nights and exhibitions that had to “flow with a solid theme throughout”. “It was
quite a step to move on to a bar from a community bar,” she says.
In between, Jo created the Rogues Atelier studios, where she takes on upholstery commissions and runs upholstery and cushion-making workshops. Her latest design was for the interior of the Bluebird Bakery, in Kirkgate Market, Leeds. Complete the picture at whatjodidnext.com.
Handmade Bismark Chain, by Emma Welsh
Emma Welsh, jewellery
EMMA, a professional jewellery designer with 11
years’ experience, is now a resident artist at the Rogues Atelier studios.
She designs traditionally
made silver, gold and platinum pieces, her latest work exploring jewellery with
a practical use in the form of vessels with various purposes.
Emma has a keen interest in developing her skills, embracing ancient principles as a means of deepening her relationship with the materials and tools she works with.
She completes bespoke commissions, repairs and re-modelling of existing jewellery into new designs and offers bespoke tuition in York, most notably her wedding-ring workshops. Head to emmawelshjewellery.uk for more details.
Deranged Poetesses, by Northern Electric’s Peter Roman
Northern Electric, multi-media
NORTHERN Electric received a York Open Studios 2020
multi-media bursary to present a tale of loss at the Arts Barge, Foss Basin,
York, over the two weekends.
The bursary “enables artists to create
experiences such as digital works, installations, films or performances as part
of the Open Studios”.
Presented by York storyteller, performance poet and theatre-maker Katie Greenbrown and artist Peter Roman, with a score by Christian Topman and Chris Moore, their latest multi-media presentation “takes us back to when the Ouse teemed with working barges, you knew your place or else – and jazz was the devil itself”.
Artist Peter Roman and storyteller, performance poet and theatre-maker Katie Greenbrown
“We specialise in creating and delivering
multi-media storytelling pieces that combine spoken-word poetry, art and live
music,” says Katie. “Our recent work includes Magpie Bridge for Apples &
Snakes to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing in July 1969; Green
In Our Memory, for City of York Council’s First World War commemorations, and
Rust for the 2019 Great Yorkshire Fringe, in collaboration with Arts Barge and York
Theatre Royal.”
After the cancellation of York Open Studios 2020, what will happen next to the new Northern Electric piece? “We’ve completed it, so we’re thinking of trying to do a digital screening,” says Katie. “We just need to chat with Hannah [West] and Christian [Topman] from the Arts Barge about the possibility of doing that.” To keep on track, visit facebook.com/northernelectric.
TOMORROW: After York Open Studios/York Shut Studios 2020, the CharlesHutchPress art focus switches to the Blue Tree Gallery, in Bootham, York, now hosting an online exhibition in aid of the NHS.
Looking ahead, York Open Studios 2021 will run on April 17 and 18 and 24 and 25, with a preview evening on April 16.
