Exhibitions – Page 68 – charleshutchpress

April 16, 2020April 17, 2020

No York Open Studios in April, but all that art still needs a new home, so look here…DAY EIGHTEEN

YORK Open Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April weekends, should have started with a preview evening tomorrow, but the annual showcase 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.

A work from Sharon McDonagh’s Fragments series: An exploration into the fragility of life

Sharon McDonagh, painting

SHARON is drawn to painting the “darker side” of York, in particular to its derelict buildings, against the backdrop of her high-profile past career as a police forensic artist.

That work required her to draw dead bodies, creating artist’s impressions of unidentified fatalities from mortuary photographs and crime-scene information, and you can make the psychologist’s leap between death and decay if that is your Freudian wont.

“It might seem mad going from being a forensic artist depicting bodies to doing paintings of decay, but I suppose it’s all an organic path of death and destruction,” she says of her detailed, intriguing work, marked by unconventional themes and, in particular, a love of architecture, York’s forgotten buildings and items left behind.

Sharon McDonagh with her Fragments works at the Blossom Street Gallery’s Urban Decay exhibition earlier this year

Earlier this year, she exhibited her new Fragments series in the Urban Decay exhibition at Blossom Street Gallery, and works on that theme would have featured in her second York Open Studios show too.

“Fragments is an exploration into the fragility of life,” Sharon says. “The vintage light switches and sockets symbolise the person, while their last moments and memories are represented by the fragments of wallpaper and tiles. The last glimpses of life, the last remaining fragments before they die.

“I thought of light switches and sockets, because of the act of switching on and off lights and then life finally being switched off.” Discover more at sharonmcdonagh-artist.co.uk.

Autumn Hedgehog, linocut, by Jane Dignum

Jane Dignum, printmaking

JANE creates colourful linocut prints and also makes collages out of pieces of her prints, her subject matter spanning wildlife, the Yorkshire coast and the city of York.

“I like experimenting with different techniques of printmaking and enjoy the sometimes surprising results that occur,” she says.

Jane studied fine art at Leeds College of Art, where she started to investigate printing. She always carries a sketchbook and camera and creates designs from photographs that she has taken. Take a look at janedignum.com.

Carolyn Coles, painting

PAINTING impressionistic seascapes and landscapes, Carolyn’s use of palette gives her work identity and life. She paints mostly on bespoke, stretched canvasses in oils and acrylics, applied with palette knives and flat brushes.

“I like to capture atmosphere, usually with a leaning towards dark and moody and generally on a larger scale,” she says.

Carolyn’s formal artistic education began with studying art and design at York College, then specialising in illustration at Hereford College of Art and Design, earning distinctions in the early 1990s.

*Carolyn Coles: Specialising in seascapes and landscapes*

After a career taking in marketing art materials and graphic design and illustration in journalism, Carolyn now devotes her time to painting, exhibiting and selling work both on the home market in York, London, Derby, Manchester and Leeds and internationally too.

Carolyn’s love of the seaside and nature in general is reflected in her new collection. “The impressionistic style allows the viewer to interpret their own story and pull their own memories back into play,” she says.

“I’m interested in re-creating a feeling, an essence. I love being by the sea or in the hills. It’s a tonic. The noise, everything, just soaks into me. I like to be playful, bold and subtle in my work.”

A regular participant in the annual Staithes Art and Heritage Festival, she also exhibits at various galleries in York. More details at carolyncoles.co.uk.

Adele Karmazyn: distinctive mix of techniques

Adele Karmazyn, digital prints

ADELE’S mostly self-taught process involves scanning 19th century photographs, textures and her own paintings to create digital photomontage artwork, often with a hand-finished element using inks, oil paint and gold leaf.

Her love of antiques and oddities, old doors and weathered surfaces are the foundations of her work. Bringing people from the past back to full colour and intertwining them with creatures big and small, coupled with delicate foliage, she creates images both sophisticated and playful. Often she uses idioms, metaphors and musical lyrics for inspiration and to add narrative.

Adele studied for a textile art degree at Winchester School of Art, worked briefly for an interior magazine in London and then set out to see the world. Many years later, she settled in York and returned to her first calling, completing a diploma in children’s book illustration in 2015, gaining a distinction.

It was then that she then turned to using her camera and photoshop, but still picking up her paintbrushes regularly and drawing on most days too. “Creating textures, drawing animals and getting the composition on paper is where each image begins,” says Adele.

More info can be found at adelekarmazyn.com.

Nathan Combes, photography

NATHAN photographs urban landscapes, working primarily in black and white as he captures the sense of isolation and decaying beauty found in the places that he visits.

“I use a variety of modern digital and vintage film cameras to photograph places, locations and objects that are often overlooked and deemed unworthy of attention,” he says.

Recording life in black and white: Photographer Nathan Combes

Inspired by photographers such as Robert Frank, Chris Killip and William Eggleston, his work is thought provoking, challenging and humorous.

His York Open Studios debut would have featured work from his most recent project, focusing on the North East. He can be contacted via nathancombesphoto@gmail.com.

Tomorrow: Lu Mason; Nick Kobyluch; Michelle Hughes; Lucy McElroy and Ian Cameron.

April 15, 2020April 17, 2020

No York Open Studios in April, but all that art still needs a new home, so look here…DAY SEVENTEEN

Here Be Monsteras ceramicist Kayti Peschke at work

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.

Jill Tattersall, mixed media

THIS would have been Jill’s second York Open Studios since she and her The Wolf At The Door art enterprise moved north from Brighton.

Before turning to art, she taught mediaeval French literature, leading to her fascination with the creation myths: Norse, Eastern, European and Aboriginal. “I’m overawed by early cave and rock art, made long ago with the simplest, most elemental means. People looked up into the night sky, just as we do, and must have asked the same questions about their place in the universe.”

Coasts and maps have inspired her too. “I used to live as far from the sea as you can get on this island but, like most of us, I was fascinated by coastlines and the sea,” says Jill. ”I moved, and till recently lived on the south coast, where the light is fabulous. I try to avoid trite seaside scenes and ration myself to a few sea-related pieces a year.”

Town and country are key influences as well. “Subjects just crop up: loaves of bread, a stretch of pavement, a passing scene, reflections in a train window,” she says.

“Often I use my own hand-made cast or moulded cotton paper. I then apply washes of paints, inks, dyes and pure pigments to build up intense, glowing colours, combining gold and silver leaf with recycled elements. Labour intensive, highly individual. The paper has a seductive, unpredictable surface: I like the danger and uncertainty this brings. You can wreck a promising painting at any moment.”

Jill’s paintings are in collections from Peru to Tasmania. Since moving north, she has exhibited at Kunsthuis Gallery, The Dutch House, Crayke. Discover more at jilltattersall.co.uk.

Here Be Monsteras: Ceramics created in a garage studio in a Wolds garden

Here Be Monsteras, Kayti Peschke, ceramics

KAYTI creates ceramics under the name of Here Be Monsteras from her garage studio in her garden in the Wolds east of York.

Her background is in photography and magazine design, but a year ago she started making pottery and now she has converted full time. “It has become an obsession,” she says.

Kayti makes wheel-thrown ceramics with stoneware clays to create functional objects for the home. “A collection of special pieces that bring a bit of extra joy to the ordinary,” as she put it ahead of what would have been her York Open Studios debut.

“It has become an obsession,” says Kayti Peschke of her conversion to making pottery

She has been working on new collections, including screen-printing ceramics with artist Jade Blood, creating travel cups and a full dinnerware set, as well as collaborating with restaurants and cafés that serve their menus on her tableware.

“A cup of tea in a handmade cup really does taste better, maybe because the process feels more special or you take more time over it? I’m not sure why, but it’s true,” she says.

In her home studio, the cups of tea flow and her puppies hang out in the sunshine as she listens to BBC 6Music or podcasts. “I absolutely love being out there, creating, and hopefully this shows in the things I make.”

As testament to that, her ceramics can be found in York at Kiosk, Fossgate; Sketch By Origin, York Art Gallery; Walter & May, Bishopthorpe Road; Lotte The Baker, SparkYork and Botanic York, Walmgate. Take a look at herebemonsteras.com.

Gold needle necklace, by Joanna Wakefield

Joanna Wakefield, jewellery

DESIGNER jeweller Joanna’s work combines her two passions, jewellery and textiles, with the third essential element of her memories, observations and musings.

Joanna creates silver and gold jewellery inspired by textiles, haberdashery and her vintage collections and found objects.

Her work invokes a sense of nostalgia. Alongside button-inspired pieces is a delicate interpretation of handcrafted bobbins, thimbles, measures and needles.

Joanna first trained in design, specialising in textiles, having grown up in a family environment of three generations of needlewomen.

Joanna Wakefield: Switched from textile designs to jewellery designs

She travelled the world as a Fair Trade designer, but after more than ten years she could no longer ignore her desire to develop further creatively, leading her to re-train at York School of Jewellery.

“A huge part of my jewellery designs is influenced by textiles and haberdashery, stemming from a fascination that grew from admiring my Grandma’s talents and fond memories of sorting through her button stash,” says Joanna, whose work was to have featured in the MADE shop at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, from March 7 to June 21.

Take a shine to Joanna’s jewellery at joannawakefield.com.

” I’ve always had an interest in natural history and the British countryside,” says Mark Hearld

Mark Hearld, collage, printmaking and ceramics

MARK studied illustration at Glasgow School of Art and an MA in natural history illustration at the Royal College of Art in 1999 before breaking into the artistic world with exhibitions at Godfrey & Watt in Harrogate and St Jude’s in Norfolk and in London’s arty Lower Sloane Street.

He specialises in bright collages, paintings, limited-edition lithographic and lino-cut prints and now hand-painted ceramics, his work often involving animals and birds, flora and fauna.

“I’ve always had an interest in natural history and the British countryside,” says Mark, 46, who is strongly influenced too by mid-20th century art and design. “I like the idea of the artist working as a designer rather than making images to stick in a frame,” he reasons.

Mark Hearld: Birds, beasts, flora and fauna

He undertook a set-design commission for the 2005 film Nanny McPhee and has done design projects for Tate Britain – cups, jugs, plates and scarves – and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, where he held a solo show, Birds and Beasts, from November 2012 to February 2013.

In 2012, Merrell Books published Mark Hearld’s Work Book, the first book devoted to his work, and he has illustrated such books as Nicola Davies’s A First Book Of Nature (2012) and Nature Poems: Give Me Instead Of A Card (2019).

He curated the Lumber Room exhibition at the re-opened York Art Gallery from August 2015 after its £8 million development project, as well as a re-imagining of the British Folk Art Collection at Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park. Contact him via mark.a.hearld@googlemail.com.

Lauren Terry, Lauren’s Cows, painting

Out in the fields: Lauren’s Cows artist Lauren Terry

LAUREN has moved out of Bar Lane Studios, not too far away, to a new studio workspace overlooking Micklegate Bar and Blossom Street, where her focus remains on creating vibrant cow paintings, prints and homeware.

Lauren’s Cows had began with a one-off painting of a cow that she painted while working as a waitress and actress in the heart of London.

Growing tired of city life, she craved a window to her country childhood. What better view than a curious cow peering in on her kitchen table?

The framer in North Yorkshire was so taken by the characterful cow that he offered to host an exhibition if Lauren agreed to paint 20 more of her beautiful beasts.

The response this debut show generated gave her the confidence to change career tack by launching her art business and brand, and so Lauren’s Cows was born in 2012: a daughter-and-mother partnership where Lauren paints character-filled cattle in heavy-bodied acrylic paint and designing items for the home in her York studio and Jude takes care of business from the family home at Crackenthorpe, Appleby-in-Westmoreland.

“I love what I do,” says Lauren. “Cows have such a curious nature and humorous personality that they just make me smile, and I take great pleasure in passing that smile on through my vibrant paintings. It’s all about capturing all the character while still remaining true to the breed.”

Lauren’s Cows can be found at laurenscows.com.

TOMORROW: Sharon McDonagh; Jane Dignum; Carolyn Coles; Adele Karmazyn and Nathan Combes

April 14, 2020

No York Open Studios in April, but all that art still needs a new home, so look here…DAY SIXTEEN

York,Christmas Eve, 2019, by Simon Palmour

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.

Ben Arnup, ceramics

BEN defines his ceramics as art pottery, wherein an early obsession with perspective has developed into a play between drawn description and form.

“I like to play a game: setting the prosaic nature of clay against the unlikely structures of the drawings,” says Ben of his oxidised stoneware with inlays and colourful porcelain veneers, fired in an electric kiln.

The son of the late Mick and Sally Arnup, painter and potter and sculptor respectively, he grew up learning ceramic skills and technology.

Ben Arnup: “I like to play a game,” he says

Having trained as a landscape architect at Manchester Polytechnic, he worked for Landscape Design Associates in Peterborough, before he returned to making pots influenced by the design process in 1984.

Now a fellow of the Craft Potters Association, he works out of a basement workshop in his York home, exhibiting his ceramics in Britain, Europe and North America. Learn more at benarnup.co.uk.

Jo Bagshaw, jewellery

THE central theme of Jo’s work is to create beautiful, wearable collections of silver jewellery that follow simple lines and shapes.

“I’m inspired by everyday objects, vintage items and novelties,” she says. “I sometimes include these elements directly in my work, encasing and embellishing them with precious metals to give a fresh perspective to a familiar object.

Jo Bagshaw: Inspired by everyday objects, vintage items and novelties

“I often weave a narrative into my jewellery, incorporating messages or well-known sayings to an item that convey meaning to the wearer.

After completing a degree in metalwork and jewellery in 2004, Jo launched her jewellery business in 2006. Since then, she has combined this with teaching jewellery-making skills at The Mount School, York. More details at jobagshaw.co.uk.

Clay in hand: Feet in Clay ceramicist and multi-media artist Francesca King

Francesca King, ceramics/multi-media

FRANCESCA founded her ceramics practice in 2016 to explore surface, texture and formation of agate clay. She has exhibited nationally, alongside undertaking ceramic portrait commissions and teaching.

Now in the second year of her MA in fine art, she was awarded first prize in an international art competition, leading to a week’s residency at Urbino University, Italy.

Francesca, who is also a clay therapist, is taking clay into a more interactive aspect of sculpture with her Feet in Clay installation: an interactive sculptural exhibit that “promotes the positive aspects of clay in motion, stimulating the corporeal experience for participants”.

The Feet in Clay experience would have been offered during Francesca’s exhibition for York Open Studios 2020, for which she was one of the annual event’s multimedia bursary recipients.

This bursary enables artists to create experiences such as digital works, installations, films or performances as part of York Open Studios.

For the full picture, take a look at francescakingceramics.com.

Photographer Simon Palmour: Likes to remove the glass barrier between viewer and image

Simon Palmour, photography

SIMON has been a photographer for 35 years, having his work published and exhibited at many locations, not least the Royal Geographical Society.

Abstract images are extracted from landscapes and reproduced on several media, such as aluminium, acrylic and board to “remove the glass barrier between viewer and image”.

Last year, his photographic essay on The Yorkshire High Wolds was published. This year, he was timing the publication of his new project on the Yorkshire Elmet flatlands to coincide with York Open Studios 2020.

A theme of his photography is ambiguity, whether of scale, subject, point of view or colour (much, although not all, of his work being monochrome). “The aim is to invite contemplation, to reward repeated consideration and to cause a little confusion,” he says.

Simon also carries out portrait work, commissions and workshops, as well as teaching groups and offering personal tuition.

After the cancellation of this year’s York Open Studios, he is holding a Virtual Show instead throughout April. Visit palmourphotographics.blogspot.com/p/virtual-exhibition.html daily.

“Each day, I’ll add a different piece to the show, with the story behind the shot and the cost of a print,” he says. Those images can be bought at palmour@gmail.com.

Elena Panina, textiles

ELENA is a Russian-born textile artist who works with wool, silk and decorative fibres.

Using wet felting techniques, she makes wearable art pieces: necklaces, shawls and throws, bracelets, headwear, belts, hand bags, toys and wall hangings.

Elena was born and brought up in St Petersburg, moving to Britain 15 years ago. She attended arts college in St Petersburg and her past artwork centred on ink drawings, until she discovered wet and needle felting three years ago.

Elena Panina: Drawn to the magical qualities of felting

Studying felting from Russian felt makers, she was drawn immediately to its magical properties as she learnt how to produce cloth out of fibres.

As well as an artist, she is a teacher. She can be contacted via yelenavpanina@sky.com.

TOMORROW: Jill Tattersall; Here Be Monsters; Joanna Wakefield; Mark Hearld and Lauren Terry.

April 14, 2020

Kentmere House Gallery still finds a way to celebrate artist Jack Hellewell’s centenary

North York Moors, by Jack Hellewell, 1920-2000

KENTMERE House Gallery always intended to devote much of this year’s exhibition programme to Jack Hellewell, as 2020 would have been his centenary year.

Ann Petherick’s gallery, in Scarcroft Hill, York, is closed under the Coronavirus lockdown, but the website is being updated regularly, especially his section.

“You may not be able to go to the Yorkshire Dales over the Easter break, but you can still enjoy Jack Hellewell’s views of Yorkshire and elsewhere online until such time as you can see the real thing,” says Ann.

“There will be a rolling exhibition of Jack’s work from the date of the gallery re-opening, including works on paper and on canvas, with prices ranging from £500 to £1,500.”

After his death in 2000, Kentmere House Gallery was appointed to manage Jack’s artistic estate on behalf of his family, since when exhibitions have been held in Ilkley, Leeds, Stoke-on-Trent, Bristol, London and Vienna. “There were several more planned in 2020, although some may now have to be deferred to 2021,” says Ann.

Ever since Ann saw Jack’s work in a gallery in Ilkley 25 years ago, he has been one of her gallery’s most loved and respected artists and work from his studio is on show there permanently.

“Jack lived for his painting, describing himself as ‘a fanatical painter’ and spending all day and every day painting, especially after his wife died,” says Ann. “Towards the end of his life, his daughter said the only way she knew he was really ill was when he stopped painting

“He loved it when he sold work but hated having to be involved with the selling and, as a result, most of the work we show will never have been seen before outside his studio.”

Ilkley Moor, Yorkshire, by Jack Hellewell

Jack’s attic flat overlooking Ilkley Moor was always neatly stacked with canvasses and work on paper. “Initially he would say ‘I haven’t done much’, and then the paintings would start to appear: astounding in their quality and consistency and always singing with colour,” says Ann.

“The gentlest, quietest and most modest of men, there were few who were privileged to know him, but he had a delightful sense of humour, which also appears in his paintings.”

Jack Hellewell was a Yorkshireman through and through. Born in Bradford in 1920, he trained as a painter at Bradford College of Art – where David Hockney studied too – from 1949 to 1952 and in later life lived in Menston and Ilkley.

He saw war service in Egypt, North Africa and Italy and he then worked as a graphic designer. His travels with his family took him to Australia, Austria, New Zealand, the South Seas and, frequently, to Scotland.

Socotra, Indian Ocean, by Jack Hellewell

In 1976, he gave up his design work to become a full-time painter, returning to West Yorkshire to do so.

“All his work was executed entirely from memory – he always refused to sketch on site, believing that ‘it ties you down’ – and everything was derived from personal experiences,” says Ann.

“Jack’s travels and encounters had a dramatic impact on his painting and he had an amazing ability to retain the essence of a place, so that years – or even decades later – he could produce a painting from it.”

Much of his work used the visual experience of intense light in warmer climates, as compared with the more subtle light he found in Britain.

The front door of Kentmere House Gallery: Closed until further notice, but gallery owner Ann Petherick is still operating an online service

“Jack always worked in acrylic, enjoying the contrasts it offers between strong and subtle colours, and the feeling of movement, which is such a feature of his work,” says Ann. “He had the ability both to use the medium neat on canvas or diluted on paper, the latter giving the effect of the most delicate watercolour.”

Jack exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition on several occasions in the 1990s; his work was featured on the Tyne Tees Television arts programme North-East Line and he has an entry in the definitive publication Artists In Britain Since 1945.

“All this leads me to wonder how many other such artists there are: producing superbly rich and inspired work, yet largely unknown to the public and even more so to the art world, and never receiving a penny of public funding, nor any public recognition,” says Ann, who continues to ensure that all’s well that’s Hellewell by promoting his art assiduously in his centenary year.

Did you know?

WORKS by Jack Hellewell are in the collections of British Rail; National Power Company; Sheffield Museums; Mercer Gallery, Harrogate; Rochdale Art Gallery; Rutherston Art Loan Scheme, Manchester City Art Gallery; Barclays Asset Management, Leeds & Birmingham, and Provident Financial, Bradford.

April 13, 2020

No York Open Studios in April, but all that art still needs a new home, so look here…DAY FIFTEEN

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.

Angela Anning, textiles

ANGELA makes one-off wearable art – scarves, shawls and jewellery – using fine silks, cottons and wools.

She also creates highly textured wall art, applying wet felting techniques to bond and sculpt natural materials, sometimes overlaid with hand or machine stitching. She designs lampshades too, decorated with fabric paint and machine embroidery.

“The theme is treasures in nature,” says Angela, whose textile art is inspired by sketches and photographs of landscapes and natural objects she experiences. “My work is always influenced by the qualities and characteristics of natural materials as I work with them.”

For Angela, textile art is a second career, after a degree in fine art and English and years as an educator, researcher, academic and writer, working mainly in Manchester and Leeds.

“But I sustained a passion for and active interest in textiles and fashion alongside my professional life,” she says. Fifteen years of developing work in fine and decorative arts has ensued. Take a look at anningtextiles.com.

“My aim is to translate the dynamism and sensitivity of my former career as a musician into a ‘visual music’ in clay,” says Pamela Thorby

Pamela Thorby, ceramics

PAMELA left behind a distinguished career in music as a recorder virtuoso and academic to pursue a new path in fine art.

Her stoneware-fired porcelain sculptural vessels are “imagined but reminiscent of a multiplicity of organic forms”: whether interstellar, fossil, micro-organism or coral.

“I aspire to make work light enough to be hung in the air; strong enough to be placed piece inside piece, creating new possibilities of form and meaning,” says Pamela. “My aim is to translate the dynamism and sensitivity of my former career as a musician into a ‘visual music’ in clay.”

Pamela Thorby: “Making work light enough to be hung in the air”

She was “so excited” to have been selected for her first participation in York Open Studios. “This was another one of the goals that I set myself and here we are, in my second year as a ceramicist, and I’m working towards a major body of work for this fantastic event in April,” she said at the time.

In her esteemed career in music, Pamela was professor of recorder at the Royal Academy of Music in London until 2019; the regular recorder player for Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins’s projects and a member of such groups as La Serenissima, New London Consort and Palladian Ensemble with Baroque violinist Rachel Podger.

In May 2007, she performed a radical fusion of jazz and folk music with Perfect Houseplants at the National Centre for Early Music in York, an innovative experience she described memorably as: “I’m a bit like a gherkin on a salad plate: I’m adding piquancy to the mix.”

To discover more, go to pamelathorby.com.

Andrian Melka, sculpture

ANDRIAN began studying art and sculpture at the age of ten, graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana, Albania, in 1994.

He moved to England in 1997 with a Getty scholarship and spent a year at the Building Crafts College in London, where he was awarded the City & Guilds Silver Medal for Excellence and granted the Freedom of Carpenters’ Company and the Freedom of the City of London.

He headed to York to work as head sculptor with the renowned carver Dick Reid on high-profile commissions such as the Jubilee Fountain on Sandringham Estate to commemorate HM The Queen’s Golden Jubilee and figures of Christ and Madonna for St Mungo’s Church in Glasgow.

Since opening his own studio near York in 2003, he has taken on commissions from Lord Rothschild, HRH The Prince of Wales, Lord Conrad Black and the Earl of Halifax.

His work in bronze, marble and stone ranges from figurative sculptures and portraits to abstractions based on the human form.

Attention to detail and the right finish are important to Andrian, who approaches his work differently from most other studios, working directly in stone without the need for full-size models in the same way Michelangelo would have done. See the results at melkasculpture.com.

Isabel K-J Denyer, ceramics

ISABEL loves to know that her oven-proof stoneware and porcelain pottery will be used on an everyday basis, for all occasions and celebrations, as she aims to make the presentation of food “sing”.

“It gives me great pleasure to think that they are part of people’s daily lives as they serve and enjoy food in different ways, from a family meal to special occasions,” she says. “This, for me, makes the process complete and creates a mutual message between me, the maker, and the user and is the essence of my working life.”

Isabel’s stoneware and porcelain pots are thrown on an electric wheel and are reduction-fired in a gas kiln. “Form and function are absolutely integral to the work and my objective is to make pots to be used, handled, cherished and cooked in,” she says.

The making of pots gives Isabel a sense of peace. “I’m attracted to the forms made by the Etruscans, Koreans and the early Bronze Age Cycladic period and these are the pots I mostly draw in museums,” she says.

“For my own work, I prefer to work shapes out by making them first, helped along by exploratory drawings at a later stage and then allowing them to evolve and change over the years. This makes for a constant voyage of excitement and discovery.”

Isabel trained in the 1960s on the Harrow Studio Pottery course, later potting in the United States and Jamaica. Since moving to Yorkshire in the early 1980s, she has been a member of the Northern Potters Association, serving on the committee for nine years and as chair, and she is a member of the Craft Potters Association too. Learn more at isabeldenyer.co.uk.

Pennie Lordan, painter of landscapes

PENNIE’S oil paintings explore the stark contrast and parallels that exist between loss and hope, sensitivity and brutality, isolation and connectedness through the theme of Edgelands.

“My paintings are developed from studies that come directly from location sketches, often on pre-prepared grounds that reference a sense of composition and atmosphere,” she says.

“These studies then develop into oil paintings, built on varied prepared grounds and developed through the process of multiple thin layers of oil paint and cold wax, often applied, wiped back and re-applied.”

Her work is both on linen, incorporating subtle stitching, and on disregarded found materials, such as pitched pine, board or aluminium.

Londoner Pennie runs two creative businesses in York with her husband, arriving here with a background in animation, art and education. Recently she completed three years of studying landscape painting at Leith School of Art in Edinburgh. 2020 would have been her first year in York Open Studios. More details: pennielordan.com.

TOMORROW: Ben Arnup; Jo Bagshaw; Francesca King; Simon Palmour and Elena Panina.

April 12, 2020April 17, 2020

No York Open Studios in April, but all that art still needs a new home, so look here…DAY FOURTEEN

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.

“The imperfections tell the story of the making,” says Kate Buckley

Kate Buckley, sculptural porcelain

ORIGINALLY from North Wales, Kate has lived in York for two decades as a partner, mother, teacher, artist and designer.

Having taught for more than 20 years, now she has graduated with a first-class contemporary craft degree from York College and is a UK prize winner in the Eleanor Worthington International Art Prize in Tertiary Education (Italy and the UK).

Porcelain meets origami in her thought-provoking sculptural works that favour a stripped-back colour palette focusing on light and shade. She uses slip-cast and press-moulded folded parchment and linen, together with folded surface distortion in concrete and plaster.

Kate Buckley: Demonstrating the delicacy of paper in porcelain

“The product is the sum of the process and the imperfections tell the story of the making,” says Kate, who is a member of the British Origami Society and artist-in-residence at York College.

“My time there is spent striving to express the delicacy of paper in porcelain and investigating how geometry, repetition and folding capture the interplay of shadow and light and embrace the space between.”

Since 2017, Kate has exhibited in York (According To McGee, Village Gallery), Harrogate, Newcastle (Holy Biscuit), London (Art. Number 23) and Urbino, Italy, and last year at Kunsthuis Gallery’s Shades of Clay exhibition at The Dutch House, Crayke, and Art& York, York Racecourse. She will return to Art& York from October 23 to 25 this autumn. Go to katebuckley.co.uk to learn more.

Kay Dower, painting

KAY is the resident artist at Corner Gallery, which she first ran in Scarcroft Road for 18 months and now operates from her home.

“Having more space allows me to showcase more art to more people in the context of a relaxed, contemporary home, and of course there’s the excuse to make more of a party out of it,” she reasons. “I’m all for a casual approach to art with a dollop of fun and fizz thrown in for good measure.”

Starting out as an “unserious, serious artist”, she now paints with lashings of acrylics, using a palette knife to give her paintings a sense of freedom and texture. Subjects range from everyday ‘still life’ objects, whether pears or Prosecco, gerberas or gin bottles, to quirky scenes of York.

Among these are classic York buildings and corners of York, depicted from fresh angles, such as York Racecourse and Bishopthorpe Road. “These are artworks that don’t want to hide behind glass,” she says.

Kay welcomes commissions big and small via cornergallery.art/artists/kay-dower/.

Claire Morris, photography

YORK retro book-art photographer Claire likes to encourage people to think about their favourite books in a different way when she brings vintage book covers and iconic characters to life through the lens

“I’ve always had an interest in photography and creating pop-up books,” says Claire, whose primary influence was American photographer Thomas Allen, who would cut characters out of pulp-fiction books and then photograph them.

“I loved this concept so much, I started doing my own versions. His were a bit sexy and I wanted mine to be cleaner.”

Inspired by vintage fictional books, Claire uses paper-cutting techniques to partially free the characters from the book, before dramatically lighting and staging the shot to give the impression of the figure coming to life from the pages, creating a 3D, retro-cool image.

*Claire Morris pictured when she exhibited at Pocklington Arts Centre*

Claire divides her time between working in the health sector and scouring charity shops and second-hand book sales, sourcing images and materials for her next art piece.

“I find inspiration from the characters on the front of the books. There’s something so iconic about book covers from the 1950s,” she says. “I like to highlight the emotions that the characters are showing and telling their story by placing them into a new situation.”

As well as being a permanently featured artist at Kay Dower’s Corner Gallery, Claire has exhibited this year at Pig & Pastry, Bishopthorpe Road, The Gallery, Malton, and Pocklington Arts Centre. Take a look at clairemorris.photography.

Emma Whitelock, painting

DEPICTING evocative land and seascapes in an expressive style, Emma’s work often incorporates a lone female figure as a tiny abstract symbol.

Seeking to portray an emotional connection to land and sea, how the outer world can reflect the inner, the expansiveness of nature acts as a foil to human concerns with memory and solitude.

Her inspiration varies from the dramatic Yorkshire moors and coast, to the exceptional light and vibrancy of Cornish summers.

Emma Whitelock: Depicting land and seascapes

“Using acrylic with mixed media, I build layers that evolve intuitively to create textured, semi-abstract works, where I aim to transport the viewer to wild places,” says Emma.

Her use of colour is both dramatic and ethereal, often giving the works the feeling of being poised on the borderline between day and night. “They are charged moments, filled with remembrances past and possibilities for the future,” she says.

One of Emma’s paintings, featuring a seagull, was used by York Settlement Community Players for artwork for Helen Wilson’s production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull at the York Theatre Royal Studio earlier this year. Head to emmawhitelock.co.uk for more info.

Peter Donohoe: Exploring the relationship between two people

Peter Donohoe, sculpture

PETER’S sculptures explore the relationship between two people, friends, lovers, real or imagined.

Having graduated from Leeds College of Art in 1969 with an honours degree in sculpture, he worked in mainstream theatre and the museum display industry as a prop maker and commercial sculptor. This gave him a broad experience of both materials and technique.

Peter Donohoe has developed an alternative approach to figurative sculpture

In 2005, he left full-time employment to concentrate on his personal work and to develop an alternative approach to figurative sculpture.

His sculptures are in hand worked copper, patinated and mounted on stone. Visit his website at peterdonohoe.co.uk.

TOMORROW: Angela Anning; Pamela Thorby; Andrian Melka; Isabel K-J Denyer and Pennie Lordan.

April 11, 2020

No York Open Studios in April, but all that art still needs a new home, so look here…DAY THIRTEEN

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.

Fiona Kemp, painting

FIONA’S paintings and prints depict northern cities, wherein she finds unusual perspectives and uses reflections as a device to encourage viewers to reassess their surroundings.

“I’m interested in the decay and renewal of urban spaces,” says Fiona, who employs diverse media, such as watercolour, acrylic, lino-print and etching.

“My work records the changing face of the city environment: the demolition, the re-building, the restoration and the altered skylines. I’m fascinated by the transient moments where reflections shimmer and fracture in the windows, puddles and canals.”

She continues: “The distortions and blurring created in this way create a mysterious and unusual view of these everyday scenes. At dusk, the scene transforms into an explosion of lights and colour.”

Fiona studied fine art in Sheffield, later gaining an MA in printmaking from Bradford College, and has exhibited at Saltaire Open Houses, Bradford Industrial Museum, Sheffield University and Tokarska Gallery, London. Since moving to York, she has started a series of paintings of the city that would have featured in her York Open Studios debut. Find out more at fiona2349@gmail.com.

Chris Whittaker, painting

CHRIS is a polymath: artist, poet, writer, cartoonist and former art lecturer, who managed further education colleges in Cheshire and Yorkshire.

Once the head of the School of Design in Scarborough, he started painting in earnest after he retired. Now he paints in the mountains of southern Spain, where he has a house in a remote village, and draws in studios in York, where he is a member of several drawing groups. He spends roughly half his year in each place.

He favours using a wide range of media in his drawings of rural landscapes, personalised still lives and scenes of York and Spain, his art marked by a bold and fluid style.

Chris Whittaker: Started painting in earnest once he retired

Chris, who trained at Manchester School of Art in the 1960s and later attended university in London and Leeds, says: “For me, drawing is a focus, a way of looking at the world so as to translate a confusing array of surfaces into marks on paper.

“Other artists remark that I look as if I am ‘fencing the canvas’. Working on a large drawing or painting is certainly an intense experience and quite physical. Even after all my years of experience, an evening’s drawing will leave me drained, triumphant or disappointed.”

2020 would have been his first year as a York Open Studios artist. Take a look at goggleme.co.uk instead.

An abstract geometric piece of jewellery by Laura Masheder

Laura Masheder, jewellery

LAURA trained originally as a classical singer, attending Leeds College of Music, and left to raise a family and work in catering management for a decade.

On rekindling her creative ambitions, she studied an Access to Higher Education course in art and design, leading to her degree studies in contemporary craft at York College, where she is in her final year.

In her hand-crafted hallmarked silver jewellery, she specialises in chasing and repoussé techniques, while also experimenting with wax casting and silver clay.

Her jewellery is a mix of figurative nature studies and abstract geometric pieces, as can be seen at boochica.com.

Henry Steele relies on his eye to give a sense of aesthetic in his ceramics

Henry Steele, ceramics

A DIAGNOSIS of autism gives Henry an unusual vision of the world around him. From an early age, he refused to conform to numerical concepts. Instead, he relies on his eye to give a sense of aesthetic.

In his art, he uses mixed media, focusing primarily on ceramics. “I’m particularly interested in ancient manufacturing techniques that favour sustainable methods and I often employ discarded items as tools for decoration,” he says.

Henry Steele: “Often employs discarded items as tools for decoration “

Through his work, Henry questions the traditional boundaries of historic styles and fashions, with the intention of prompting the viewer to say to themselves “what if”, “why not” or even “that’s impossible because”.

Like fellow student Laura Masheder, 2020 was to have been his York Open Studios debut. Contact him via henrygeorgesteele@hotmail.co.uk.

Chunky ceramics: The work of Sarah Papps

Sarah Papps, ceramics

SARAH is in the final year of a contemporary craft degree, where her primary focus has been on experimenting with form and colour.

In her York Open Studios debut, she would have been exhibiting hand-built and wheel-thrown chunky pots and tableware.

By compressing and manipulating the clay, her work takes on an identity of its own, producing a contrast of swirling bright colour against the depth of clay. Visit sarahlpapps@gmail.com.

TOMORROW: Kate Buckley; Kay Dower; Claire Morris; Emma Whitelock and Peter Donohoe.

April 10, 2020

No York Open Studios in April, but all that art still needs a new home, so look here…DAY TWELVE

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.

Caroline Utterson, textiles

CAROLINE combines her two great loves, photography and fabric, in creating one-off embroidered, appliquéd and felted artworks influenced as much by her imagination as by the landscape around her.

After graduating from university with a degree in textiles, she worked for North Yorkshire Police for eight years before travelling to Thailand to teach English.

On her return, using the tools she had to hand, Caroline taught herself freehand machine embroidery, a craft she likens to drawing with a sewing machine.

“The environment is important to me, so I use many recycled fabrics in my work,” says Caroline Utterson

“I’m greatly inspired by animals, nature, my northern roots and my love of travel and photography,” she says. “Forever taking photos of anything that catches my eye, I then convert my pictures into textile artworks, using fabrics, buttons, beads and bits that I have collected over the years. The environment is important to me, so I use many recycled fabrics in my work.”

Caroline launched her It’s Cute textile shop in September 2013. “The name was coined as a result of a happy acronym of my name and what I do: Caroline Utterson Textiles and Embroidery,” she says.

She would have been participating in York Open Studios for the first time this month. Contact her via itscuteshop@yahoo.com.

Marcus Jacka, wood

MARCUS specialises in furniture and objects in wood, usually practical, sometimes only for contemplation.

After many years studying, teaching and researching in Physics, he has, for the past decade, been a full-time woodworker.

The common thread is design and experimentation, in thought, process and materials, as Marcus tries to achieve a spare lightness in what he creates. For more info, go to marcusjacka.com.

“Structure, containment, balance”: Ruth King’s pots

Ruth King, ceramics

RUTH’S slab-built pots explore structure, containment and balance, articulated and enhanced by the passage of vapours in the final salt-glaze firing.

Trained at Camberwell School of Arts and Craft, she moved to York after four years living and working in London. A leading figure in York’s art world, with books to her name too, she is a member of the York Art Workers Association and a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association.

Unexpected yet hauntingly familiar, Ruth’s distinctive ceramic vessels have been exhibited widely and are represented in the collections of York Art Gallery; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; Royal Ulster Museum, Belfast; Nottingham Castle Museum and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.

Her work is available by commission, through exhibitions, at onlineceramics.com and the Contemporary Ceramics Centre, London. More details can be found at ruthkingceramics.com.

Elaine Hughes, collage

ELAINE creates stitched collages using vintage papers and ephemera to depict scenes from an imaginary, whimsical world she calls “Oh Golly Gosh”.

The paper is first coloured and manipulated with a variety of techniques to then illustrate an imaginary patchwork scene.

The text and graphics of old printed papers, along with a love of the character of old buildings and boats, provide inspiration.

“I have a love of the quirky vernacular buildings found in market and seaside towns, as well as ancient cities such as York,” Elaine says. “The charms of bygone eras of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s also play an important part in the aesthetic language of the work.

“Creating patina and pattern”: Elaine Hughes’s collage work

“I use text, fonts and graphics from vintage ephemera, such as old tram tickets, maps and dress-making patterns, to create patina and patterns.”

Elaine, a graduate in embroidery from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2001, has exhibited in galleries across Britain and since launching her Oh Golly Gosh label in 2009, her work has made its way to homes around the world, as well as finding a permanent home in The Written Gallery in York. Take a look at ohgollygosh.co.uk.

Mick Leach’s paintings take inspiration from Russian artists El Lissitzky and Maleyich

Mick Leach, painting

AS a self-taught artist and full-time worker, Mick’s side-career in painting has been taking shape steadily since early 2016.

He works mainly with acrylic paint and chalk powder, along with other media, that he applies to MDF board to achieve a layered, industrial aesthetic in his abstract paintings.

He draws inspiration from El Lissitzky, the Russian artist, designer, photographer, typographer, polemicist and architect, and Kazemir Malevich, the pioneering fellow Russian avant-garde artist and art theorist.

“My work aims to abstract the modern, decaying landscape with textures and geometric composition,” says Mick, who won the 2019 Art& York Best Raw Talent award.

Last May to July, he took part in Pyramid Gallery’s Abstract Paintings exhibition; this month would have seen his York Open Studios debut. Check out mickleach.art.

TOMORROW: Fiona Kemp; Chris Whittaker; Laura Masheder, Sarah Papps and Henry Steele.

April 9, 2020

No York Open Studios in April, but all that art still needs a new home, so look here…DAY ELEVEN

Closed doors, but open windows: the way forward for York Open Studios 2020

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.

Rosie Waring, textiles

ROSIE creates handwoven textiles using fine yarns and intricate patterns to produce interior products for the home and personal accessories with a natural colour palette.

She specialised in handwoven textiles for fashion and interiors in her studies at Bath Spa University, graduating in 2013, since when she has made handwoven cushions, lampshades and other small woven items.

Rosie often takes her inspiration for colour, texture and structure from nature and her surroundings: the rich and varied Yorkshire landscapes of the dales, the North York Moors and the coastline.

“Weaving in fine cotton yarns and moving into my wool collection, I create vibrant fabrics to brighten up the home, bringing the outside inside,” she says.

” I create vibrant fabrics to brighten up the home, bringing the outside inside,” says Rosie Waring

Rosie knew early on that her strength was working with colour. “When I discovered weaving during my studies, I saw the potential to work directly with colour on the loom,” she says. “I found I could express myself through colour and texture, creating cloth from the individual yarns.”

She is interested in how weaving can affect mental health positively and has studied its benefits on mood and a general sense of well-being.

As well as York Open Studios, she has exhibited at Art In The Pen, Danby Christmas Market and the summertime York River Art Market. Find out more at rosiewaring.co.uk.

Colin Black, mixed media

COLIN’S mixed-media work has varied from a series focusing on York Minster at night to national identity and the refugee crisis.

He describes his art as being primarily landscape based, always enjoying the use of colour to convey mood.

His last two exhibitions used the landscape motif in very different ways. The first, Imagined Landscapes, conveyed a seemingly idyllic beauty; the second, We Have Chosen A One-Way Road, saw landscape as “a place across which refugees made their escape and away from the place they called home”.

Colin Black: Moved to York in 2018 to set up Seek Art School

“The work was about borders, boundaries and restrictions,” says Colin. “They were a response to Britain’s dilemma about Brexit, hard or soft, independence and interdependence, Trump’s wall. We seem to be becoming insular in our thinking as a fearful means of self-preservation. How do we square our fears of invasion with humanitarian aid?”

Colin studied visual communication at Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London and taught for many years in further education in London and Edinburgh.

In 2018, he moved to York to set up Seek Art School, in Haxby Road, to teach people “the fundamentals of looking and the development of your own visual voice through personal ideas”. Courses include day and evening classes and Saturday workshops.

Discover more via colin@seekartschool.co.uk.

Apothecary Jar, graphite on newsprint, by Nicola Lee

Nicola Lee, drawing

NICOLA’S work on paper combines drawing, folding and photography.

“My visual interest lies beyond the object,” she says. “I’m drawn to line, pattern and shape occurring in peripheral space. A space that is fluid, ambiguous and lacking in definition. A space in which the peripheral becomes the object.

“My work uses photography, drawing and folding to record and respond to my observations of this suggestive space. I use process and material to play with ideas of repetition, reduction and abstraction in order to explore my encounter with the space in between.”

Nicola Lee: “Encounters with the space in between “

Nicola studied art and design at York St John University, then gained an MA in textiles at Huddersfield University and now an MA in creative practice from Leeds Arts University.

She is enjoying being part of the South Bank Studios community; this year would have marked her York Open Studios debut. Head to ofsorts.space for more info.

Rebecca Mason, textiles

FIRST inspired by Batik while in Malaysia, Rebecca has practised Batik art for more than 30 years.

Since attending workshops and evening classes to learn the dye-resist technique that uses wax, she has made silk scarves, ties, framed pictures, brooches, cards and wall hangings, using both traditional Indonesian and modern methods.

“I specialise in doing Batik on cotton and silk, including velour, and I particularly enjoy the fluidity, flexibility, unpredictability and crackle effect of the wax,” says Rebecca.

Batik artist Rebecca Mason in her studio

“I also love to be creative with colour and the freedom of abstract designs. Much of my Batik is influenced and inspired by the shapes and hues of the Yorkshire countryside and by the changing seasons too.

“My cotton pictures are varied in design and theme and use a range of Batik techniques, and I also make Batik ties and scarves that are each uniquely designed.”

Rebecca, who would have been a York Open Studios 2020 debutante, sells her work by appointment from her studio and at Simon Main’s Village Gallery, in Colliergate, York. She has exhibited too at York River Art Market and South Bank Studios and welcomes special commissions. Take a look at batik-art.co.uk.

Clifford’s Tower, York, by Donna Maria Taylor

Donna Maria Taylor, mixed media

DONNA’S website, donnamariataylor.com, introduces her as designer, maker, teacher, with more than 25 years’ experience of working in the arts.

Her mixed-media work spans a range of disciplines, all inspired by the world around her, and although her York Open Studios show has been cancelled, she has upcoming exhibitions in the diary at Osbornes at 68 Gillygate, from August to October, and Angel On The Green, Bishopthorpe Road, from November 3 to December 15.

Donna Maria Taylor: designer, maker, teacher

In the theatre world, Yorkshire-born Donna has designed shows, painted scenery and made props and costumes for many companies, including York Theatre Royal, the Grand Opera House, Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre and the York Mystery Plays in York Minster, West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, English Touring Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, Hull Truck Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

She is an adult education senior tutor and observer for York Learning and is involved regularly in community art projects at York community centres, children’s centres, schools, church halls and a prison.

She has taught in a wide variety of settings, such as York Art Gallery, Explore York libraries and York museums, as well as at colleges and universities, and runs workshops and art holidays, although these have been postponed until further notice during the Covid-19 pandemic.

To find out more, go to donnamariataylor.com.

TOMORROW: Caroline Utterson; Marcus Jacka; Ruth King; Elaine Hughes and Mick Leach.

April 9, 2020April 9, 2020

Nothing happening in these long lockdown days. Everything off. Here are 10 Things To Do on the home front, courtesy of The Press, York. WEEK THREE

*Nothing happening full stop. Now, with time on your frequently washed hands, home is where the art is and plenty else besides*

EXIT 10 Things To See Next Week in York and beyond for the unforeseeable future. Enter home entertainment, wherever you may be, whether together or in self-isolation, in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. From behind his closed door, CHARLES HUTCHINSON makes these suggestions.

Lockdown Legends Challenge, set by York Theatre Royal

EACH Monday morning, York Theatre Royal will post a theatrical #LockdownLegendsChallenge on its Twitter and Facebook pages for the whole family to take part in, just for fun. Even the participation of pets is “actively encouraged”.

York Theatre Royal: ideas for creating your own theatre magic at home in the Lockdown Legends Challenge

This week’s challenge is to make a one-minute play. “Send us your responses to lockdownlegends@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk and we’ll share these on our social media pages throughout the week,” says the Theatre Royal. “Remember to keep safe – and stay creative.”

Setting up a film reviewers’ club online

ARE you missing discussing the latest hit films at City Screen, Everyman York, Vue York and Cineworld? If so, why not start or join a film reviewers’ club online on WhatsApp, with the group having a name.

One group member chooses a film, old, recent, cult, blockbuster, world, British, American, whatever; gives a brief synopsis and initial thoughts behind the choice; sets a start and finishing date for viewing (whether on DVD, Netflix, etc), and then everyone gathers for a chat online to give their short reviews.

Explore York’s library and archive at York Explore, Museum Street, York

Explore York’s Libraries From Home

THE Explore York library and archive service will be developing online activities such as a Virtual Book Group, while updating regularly as “new things” come on stream and sharing them on social media, using #LibrariesFromHome.

Up and running now: 5,000 Ebooks and audio books for adults and children, free to borrow from exploreyork.org.uk/digital/e-books/; a new York Images site for exploring the city’s history through photographs, illustrations, maps and archival documents at exploreyork.org.uk/digital/york-images/; and the chance to start your family tree using Ancestry and Find My Past, for free, at exploreyork.org.uk/digital/online-reference/.

The Queen show must go on: We Will Rock You will rock you in 2021

Keep trying to find good news

DALBY Forest concerts, chopped. The first four classics of the flat racing season, all non-runners. Wimbledon tennis, out. Harrogate International Festivals summer season, off. York Festival, gone. Scarborough Open Air Theatre, shut. The list of cancellations keeps growing, but against that backdrop, theatres, music venues and festivals are busy re-booking acts and shows for later in the year or next year.

Keep visiting websites for updates, whether York Barbican, York Theatre Royal, the Grand Opera House, The Crescent, wherever. We Will Rock You has just been confirmed for the Grand Opera House for March 22 to 27 next year.

Look out too for the streaming of past hit shows. More and more theatres and arts companies are doing this…

Breath of fresh Eyre: The National Theatre’s innovative Jane Eyre, directed by Sally Cookson. This picture features the 2017 touring cast at the Grand Opera House, York

…For example, National Theatre At Home on YouTube

HULL playwright Richard Bean’s comic romp One Man, Two Guvnors has drawn more than two million viewers since being launched on the National Theatre’s YouTube channel last Thursday.

Next up, available for free from 7pm this evening for a week, will be Sally Cookson’s innovative, dynamic, remarkable stage adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s Yorkshire novel, Jane Eyre. You may recall the NT’s touring production from its week-long run at the Grand Opera House, York, in May 2017. Truly worth staying in for…but you will be doing that anyway, won’t you.

Window of opportunity : Cancelled York Open Studios finds a way still to showcase art

Venturing outdoors…to spot #openwindowsyork2020

AMID the strict Government strictures, when allowed out to walk the dog or take that one burst of mentally and physically beneficial exercise a day, you can discover a new form of “window dressing” and maybe even “window shopping” near you.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shut the doors on York Open Studios 2020, when 144 artists and makers would have been welcoming visitors on April 17 to 19 and 25 and 26. Enterprising as ever, they now say: “We can’t open our doors, but we can show you our work through our windows”, as they launch #openwindowsyork2020. “If you see one, let us know,” they add.

Vintage game of the week: Backgammon

LOCKDOWN is the perfect chance to dust off faithful old games consigned to gathering dust on top shelves.

Bring back Backgammon, one of the oldest known board games, whose history can be traced back nearly 5,000 years to archaeological discoveries in Mesopotamia. In this quick-thinking two-player game, each player has 15 pieces that move between 24 triangles, according to the roll of two dice. You gotta roll with it, as Oasis once sang.

Easter egg hunt

EASTER Day celebrations demand an Easter egg hunt, whether indoors or in the garden, if that is possible.

Two customs spring to mind: firstly, wrapping eggs in ribbon for boiling that will then leave a pretty decorative pattern on the eggs.

Secondly, writing poetic ditties as clues for the Easter egg hunter to find the hidden chocolate goodies. Happy hunting, happy Easter, dear readers.

Clap for Carers

YES, we miss the sound of applause bursting through our theatre walls, but for now, save your hand-clapping for showing support every Thursday at 8pm for our NHS doctors, hospital staff, carers, rising tide of volunteers and key workers. God bless them all.

Paul Merton: Welcome back Have I Got News For You for series number 59

And what about…

BOOKS on pandemics and plagues. Cookbooks. The return of BBC One’s Have I Got News For You on Fridays, albeit in compromised social-distancing-from-home form. The shockumentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem And Madness on Netflix. Writing a 10 Things list like this one.

Reading the regular Tweets from Reece Dinsdale, Emmerdale actor full of nous, and Alan Lane, Slung Low artistic director and man of action around Leeds. Keep drinking hot drinks and gargling regularly, as well as all that hand-washing.