The Pyramid Gallery poster for the Strange Days virtual exhibition
IN
response to York Open Studios 2020’s cancellation, Pyramid Gallery owner Terry
Brett is stepping in with a lifeline to artists, offering the Stonegate gallery’s
website as an online showcase at a much-reduced commission.
Its name
prompted the lyrics of The Doors’ song from 1967, Strange Days is an “Art behind
the doors” show that aptly is growing through springtime with new additions
each day, trailed on Terry’s blog at pyramidgallery.com.
“We’ve opened the show to all York Open Studios artists and any York artists who already do business with the gallery, and I’ve lowered my commission to just 20 per cent, plus VAT, to make it work for them,” says Terry.
Delivery Creature, by Chiu-I Wu, one of the York Open Studios 2020 artists
“This enables York artists to show their new work to our customers, without a selection process, and allows them to earn more from each sale.
“The gallery
is closed and my staff are furloughed, so I can operate with lower overheads
during the Coronavirus lockdown, hopefully maintaining contact with my
customers who are confined to their homes.”
For those
living at a YO postcode, there will be free delivery of artworks, subject to the
present lockdown restrictions. “So, delivery might be in a few weeks if the
items cannot be sent through the post,” says Terry.
Terry Brett, on Stonegate, outside Pyramid Gallery
To
complement the Pyramid virtual gallery, he has addressed the challenges presented
to galleries by the Covid-19 pandemic in a candid piece on his blog.
Among the York Open Studios artists taking part in Strange Days are Kate Buckley; Peter Park; Jo Walton; Chiu-I Wu; Lesley Birch; Colin Black; Linda Combi; Zoe Catherine Kendall; Michelle Hughes; Sally Clarke; Adrienne French; Hacer Ozturk; Jill Tattersall; Karen Thomas; Kate Pettitt and Ruth Claydon. #
The second weekend of the 2020 event would have taken place on April 25 and 26.
TODAY
should have been spent visiting other people’s homes, not staying home. Next
weekend too.
This is not
a cabin-fevered call for a foolhardy Trumpian dropping of the guard on
Covid-19, but a forlorn wish that York Open Studios 2020 could have been just
that: York Open Studios. Instead, this weekend and next weekend will be
York Shut Studios.
Nevertheless,
in the absence of the opportunity to meet 144 artists at 100 locations, banished
by the Coronavirus lockdown, CharlesHutchPress
is determinedly championing 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 are being 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. Home and
studio 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.
Furthermore,
look out for plenty of the 144 artists still showcasing their work over the
York Open Studios period online. Holtby studio painter Kate Pettitt, for
example, is penning a daily blog at facebook.com/katepettittartist/.
“Visit the YOS website and take your own virtual tour at
yorkopenstudios.co.uk,” she advises.
Good advice! The website says: “We’re doing a Virtual Open Studio, with artists posting based on a daily
theme for the ten days spanning our two weekends. They’ll be showing you their
studios and workshops, favourite processes, answering your questions, and of
course lots of pictures of their new work!
“Search for
#YorkOpenStudios anywhere on social media or follow your favourite artists to
see more.”
First, however, here are five more artists and makers for you to discover…
Harriet McKenzie: Artist and foster carer
Harriet McKenzie, ceramics
HARRIET’S 2020 mission
is to “examine drawing in the interface between the two- dimensional picture
plane and the three-dimensional object”.
To do so, she creates ceramic
Circles: enclosed forms, in black clay with engobe and sgraffito painting.
Her Circles reflect how relationships, interplay and suggestion are the bedrock of her art practice in her home studio. Harriet, or Hatti as she is known, is both an artist and a foster carer, a role that fundamentally informs her work as “a multifaceted influence revealed over time,” she says.
Harriet graduated with First Class honours from her Bradford
School of Art fine art degree in 2007, first participating in York Open Studios
in 2008 and she has since done so in 2009, 2011 and 2015 to 2018, when she was
a bursary award winner.
Rounded up: A selection of Harriet McKenzie’s Circles
Her formal art education had a gap of 20 years as, first, she
took time out to travel and live in America, before making a home and raising her
daughter in York.
“I found it impossible to do both art and earn a living as a single parent,” she says candidly. “With my art, I got so focused and involved with each project, my poor daughter suffered, but with age comes a better balance.
“Now, I only do work to show in galleries or Open Studios once a year, as this can fit round my sometimes challenging life as a foster carer.” Seek out Harriet’s work at hattimckenzie.com.
Harriette Rymer at work
Harriette Rymer, painting
HARRIETTE creates
abstract paintings, vibrant and playful in character, often featuring a
geometric context, that she presents as original wall art panels, digital
artworks and installations.
“By employing a range of
mediums, I explore conflicting and harmonious relationships within colour and
texture,” she says.
Harriette first studied art and design at Leeds College of Art in 2013, later taking a science degree in Newcastle. After graduating, Harriette returned to her artistic passion and now combines her love for precision with design in her paintings, screen-prints and cards (where she uses block-printing and stamping techniques).
Energy, by Harriet Rymer
Her fascination with colour manifests itself throughout her vivid
work, curated under such collections as Confetti Collection, Hues, Colour
Overlays, Milieu, Pattern Postcards and Expanse.
“I want the viewer to make personal connections with each
composition, just as I have, whether it’s a reminder of a place they know well
or a visualisation of a memory, thought or feeling,” says Harriette, who uses
acrylic, gouache, watercolours and pastels.
This year she has exhibited in the York Printmakers show at Pairings wine bar, Castlegate, York, and in A First Glimpse at the Inspired By…Gallery, Danby, and she would have done so too at this month’s cancelled British Craft Trade Fair, Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate.
Take a look at harrietterymer.com.
“I’m an instinctive painter,” says Steve Williams
Steve Williams, painting
STEVE’S strikingly vibrant and original paintings in acrylics are inspired mainly by North Yorkshire’s landscapes and coastline.
“I’m an instinctive
painter,” he says. “My pictures take form through the process of painting, not
through adherence to a fully formulated plan. Exploring my emotive response to
my subject matter, I allow my paintings to develop as a result of my mood or
subconscious mindset. They stem from an original idea, image or situation and
then come together of their own accord.”
Whitby At Night, by Steve Williams
Using acrylics, palette
knives and brushes, Steve seeks to infuse his pictures with fluidity, energy,
colour and texture. “My aim is to achieve a balance, a cohesion, harmony and
completeness, in all of my pictures,” he says.
“I work spontaneously to
convey my emotional energy into a painting. I believe this is the only way to
ensure authenticity.”
Steve exhibits regularly with contemporary galleries throughout Yorkshire, in London and further afield. Commissions are welcomed via stevewilliamsart.moonfruit.com.
“My inspiration comes from nature’s wonders,” says Sam Jones
Sam Jones, jewellery
SAM is self-taught in
the art of lampworking, otherwise known as glass-bead making.
She works with various
materials, such as glass rods, clear resin and metals, making her own glass
beads and combining these with silver, copper and semi-precious stones in her
jewellery since 2006.
She graduated with a degree in jewellery from Sheffield Hallam
University in 2000 and works within the creative industries as a scenic
painter. “I’m drawn to colour, pattern and texture,” she says. “I enjoy experimenting
with processes and like working with various materials as I find each has its
own qualities.
Handmade glass-beads necklace, by Sam Jones
“My inspiration comes from nature’s wonders, from the nebulas
within our galaxies, to the weird and wonderful inhabitants of our oceans.”
Should the non-scientific among you be wondering, a nebula is a
giant interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionised gases.
Some nebulae (the Latin plural) come from the gas and dust
thrown out by the explosion of a dying star, such as a supernova. Other nebulae
are “star nurseries”: regions where new stars are beginning to form. Science home-schooling
lesson of the day, at your service.
Discover more at samjonesjewellery.com.
Gerard Hobson with his wren installation beneath the Clock Tower at Beningbrough Hall, near York. Picture: Sue Jordan
Gerard Hobson, printmaking
GERARD has had a love of
birds, animals and art since childhood, a wildlife bent that saw him qualify as
a zoologist from Bangor University and work for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust as a
botanist and illustrator.
On relocating to the
north, he worked for Yorkshire Wildlife while continuing to develop his own work
on a freelance basis, turning his hand to woodcarving and studying print-making
in York.
Gerard now works from
his garden studio in Clifton, producing limited-edition hand-coloured linocut prints
of birds and animals, much of his work being inspired while out walking his dog
on the Clifton Ings.
His repertoire has expanded to take in cushions and lampshades, mugs and chopping boards, produced in tandem with Georgia Wilkinson Designs, and cut-outs of birds, animals, fish and mushrooms.
Leaping Hare, by Gerard Hobson
Gerard branched out still further earlier this year for his Winter Wildlife In Print show at the National Trust property of Beningbrough Hall, Beningbrough, near York, where he combined multiple prints in the Hayloft gallery with 14 sculptural scenes/installations in the outbuildings, gardens, grounds and parkland, inspired by creatures that make Beningbrough their winter home.
“I hope my art may stir people to become more interested in
the wildlife around them, to feed the birds and join their local wildlife trust,”
he says. “To share this with their children and their children’s children, and
hopefully generations of young people will become more interested in the birds
and woodlands around them. Maybe some will go on to be environmental
campaigners – who knows!”
More info at gerardhobson.com.
TOMORROW: Lesley Birch; Frances G Brock; Maria Keki; Beccy Ridsdel and Dawn Ridsdel.
Gin Anyone? A sketch for our times by Geraldine “Geri” Bilbrough
TODAY
should have been spent visiting other people’s homes, not staying safe at home.
Tomorrow too.
This is not
a call for a foolhardy Trumpian dropping of the guard on Covid-19, but a
forlorn wish that York Open Studios 2020 could have been just that: York Open
Studios. Instead, this weekend and next weekend will be York Shut Studios.
Nevertheless, in the absence of the opportunity to meet 144 artists at 100 locations, banished by the Coronavirus lockdown, CharlesHutchPress is determinedly championing 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 are being 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. Home and
studio 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.
Furthermore, look out for plenty of the 144 artists still showcasing their work over the York Open Studios period online. Holtby studio painter Kate Pettitt, for example, is penning a daily blog at facebook.com/katepettittartist/. “Visit the YOS website and take your own virtual tour at yorkopenstudios.co.uk,” she advises.
Fran Brammer: Founder member of York Textile Artists
Fran Brammer, textiles
FRAN left behind
Worcestershire for Yorkshire to teach art and design, then textiles, until
succumbing to the allure of a historical costume-making course.
She now works as a
textile artist and tutor, specialising in personal landscapes “drawn” using
freehand machine stitching that she produces for sale, exhibitions or private
commissions.
“My work is created by
building, then cutting away layers of found fabrics and stitching,” says Fran. “The
images explore individual experiences and histories both large and small.”
In her teaching
capacity, she hosts workshops, demonstrations and talks focusing on freehand
machine work and creative textiles.
“The images explore individual experiences and histories both large and small,” says Fran Brammer of her textile work
Fran, a founder member
of York Textile Artists, writes on her latest blog: “If you are a bored
creative, feeling a bit isolated and frustrated, try out the York Textile
Artists public Facebook page.
“We are planning to post
challenges and projects for you to get involved with, some as daft as a brush,
others more proper and ‘textiley’. If you don’t do Facebook, go on to our
website, yorktextileartists.com, and sign up for newsletter. We have plans.”
As for how Fran’s
artwork is responding to the Coronavirus shutdown, she writes: “All of the
current pieces are tied to opportunities lost due to social distancing…so time
to start anew and work with the restrictions.
“This has no deadline, no
purpose or goal, it just is. It is about being in the landscape, about being
alone with that landscape and how perception shifts, given time and space.
Interpretation and response rather than fact.” Read more at franbramm.wordpress.com.
Geraldine Bilbrough at work on an illustration
Geraldine Bilbrough, illustration
INSPIRED by music, film, stories and human emotions, using pencil and sometimes watercolour, before re-touching digitally, Geraldine tries to capture beauty and feeling within her thought-provoking images.
This York illustrator and designer has been drawing
all her life and considers art her biggest passion, creating detailed
illustrations, often based around portraiture with an occasional hint of
fantasy.
A portrait by Geraldine Bilbrough
“I enjoy nothing more than finding inspiration for new work and discussing ideas with other creatives,” her website profile says. “When I’m not drawing, I love to travel and explore new places, eat my way around cafés and restaurants, visit art galleries and learn French.” Learning French will have to hold sway for now, but roll on a return to those other joys, Geraldine, whenever that day may come.
2020 would have marked her York Open Studios debut.
Cast an eye over geraldinebilbrough.com.
“The thing about jewellery is that it’s never practical,” says Ruth Claydon
Ruth Claydon, jewellery
HOW would Ruth Claydon
sum up her jewellery? “Old, found, turned around,” she says, picking the title
Moth And Magpie for her brand of re-purposed cast-offs mixed with ancient
treasures, in acknowledgement of how her instincts match both.
“My ideal Magpie-upcycler scenario is discovering a vintage
or antique piece of jewellery and taking it back to my studio whilst I’m still
giddy with excitement to create new jewellery from it straight away,” she says on
her mothandmagpie.com blog.
Sharp-eyed Ruth sees the
potential in re-working cast-off old jewellery, making a virtue of the unwanted
by merging it with heirlooms and ancient finds such as salvaged Roman glass
beads and metals. In doing so, she makes old into new, modern designs, enhanced
by techniques such as hammering, melting and enamelling.
“Old, found, turned around”: Ruth Claydon’s definition of her jewellery
“Because the thing about jewellery is that it’s never practical,”
her blog contends. “It’s not about what will ‘do’. You absolutely have to love
it. It’s emotional. It’s the icing on the cake. It’s as personal as perfume. It’s
about how it looks, but even more it’s about how it makes you feel.”
A light carbon footprint sparks joy for Ruth. “Because I want to wear things that have also made other women feel special,” she says. “Because I want to create value from individuality, exclusivity from design, and if an Elizabeth Taylor diamond winks at me across a room, I can twinkle right back knowing that pinning down my glamour is as complex as the history entwined in the piece I am wearing.”
Find out more at
mothandmagpie.com.
Jacqueline James with her large and sturdy Swedish floor loom
Jacqueline James, textiles
JACQUELINE creates one-of-a-kind,
custom-dyed, hand-woven rugs and wall hangings, mainly contemporary in style,
using natural and durable materials in geometric patterns and stripe rhythms.
Born in Dumfries, Scotland, she grew up in the Pacific Northwest, USA, before moving to York in 1982. From 1985 to 1988, she studied woven textile design and construction at Harrogate College of Art and Technology, where she focused on rug weaving.
In 1989, Jacqueline
established her weaving studio in York, since when her textile work for
commission and exhibition has blended traditional techniques with contemporary
design style.
“Everything is made by hand on my large and sturdy Swedish floor loom,” she says. “Inspiration for new designs comes from everywhere, especially all the colours and patterns I see in nature, landscapes and architecture.”
Geometric patterns by Jacqueline James
Jacqueline’s work is in public and private collections in Britain and North America and her major commissions include weaving for York Minster, Westminster Abbey and the British Library. “I particularly enjoy designing and weaving bespoke commissioned work from private clients, interior designers, architects and places of worship,” she says.
“For me, weaving is a
lifestyle occupation which gives me a great sense of purpose. I adore the
tactile qualities and the rich colours of the threads I use and find the action
of weaving very engaging.
“Rug weaving is the perfect vehicle for
my visual interpretation and expression. As a rug weaver, I feel
privileged being part of the international weaving community and continuing an
important heritage craft tradition.” Discover more at handwovenrugs.co.uk.
Jean Drysdale: Designing sculptural objects, wall pieces and items to wear
Jean Drysdale, textiles
JEAN has worked in felt textiles since leaving
modern language teaching in 2007.
“I was drawn firstly by the apparent simplicity
of a process that produces wonderful results,” she says. “Then I looked
further, researching the great history, breadth and the depth of the felt-making
tradition.”
In 2011, she completed a City and Guilds course and since
then she has developed her felt-making process to create highly textured
sculptural objects, wall pieces and items to wear.
Textile with style: The work of Jean Drysdale
“Now I delight in achieving a contemporary result through use of
wide-ranging and ever-evolving techniques,” says Jean. “I work with unspun
sheep’s wool fibre, ranging from British and European rare breeds to fine
Australian merino. The felting process bonds the wool with silks and other
natural fibres.”
She likes to
explore texture, form and colour. “I use traditional and contemporary wet-felting
and hand-dyeing techniques and enjoy contrasting colours which migrate and
transform during the process,” says Jean, who has exhibited in York, Leeds, North
Yorkshire and Scotland, including at Helmsley
Arts Centre and Kunsthuis Gallery at The Dutch House, Crayke. More info at
jdrysdalefelt.co.uk.
TOMORROW: Harriet McKenzie; Harriette Rymer; Steve Williams; Sam Jones and Gerard Hobson.
YORK Open
Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April
weekends, should have started with a preview this evening, but the annual event
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.
More Alike Than Different, by Lu Mason
Lu Mason, multi-media
IN her latest work, Lu is looking at how we connect as human
beings, using the theme that we are all cut from the same cloth.
“My installation consists of one long series of paper figures,
all connected to each other, all cut out from the same roll of paper: More
Alike Than Different,” she says.
Lu has had an unusual
journey to where she is now as an artist. She worked for many years as an
occupational therapist, but she always painted patterns for her own enjoyment
and had a small business making rag rugs.
Lu Mason: Unusual journey
Fifteen years ago, she
started making cut-paper mobiles, since when she has enjoyed putting her work in public places in
the form of installations, as well as creating mobiles using Perspex shapes
over the past year.
“I make site-specific work, in collaboration with
clients,” she says. “I’m interested in doing installations, residencies and workshops
and I’m now producing a range of brooches made out of Perspex too.”
Lu was one of the 2020
York Open Studios multimedia bursary recipients in a
scheme set up to enable artists to create experiences such as digital works,
installations, films or performances for the annual event. Take a look at
madebylumason.weebly.com.
Andre, by Nick Kobyluch
Nick Kobyluch, drawing
NICK’S pen and ink drawings explore line, form and colour
through both landscape and portraiture work, most of his final pieces
originating from drawings initially done in his sketchbooks.
Born in Bradford, he moved to London to work as a freelance
illustrator for design, editorial and advertising clients, from the Observer
and the National Lottery to Barclays
Bank and Oxford University Press, after completing his BA in graphic design at
Hull College of Art in the 1980s.
Over the years, he has moved away from commercially commissioned work to pursue his own interests in drawing, motivated by a desire to experiment and evolve as a line artist, favouring the pen, “the most unforgiving of mediums”, over pencil and charcoal.
Nick Kobyluch: Motivated by a desire to experiment
The urban environment inspires Nick. “I love cities and the way
they represent in complex physical form the many ways we interact as
individuals and as a society,” he says. “It’s all there in the odd
juxtapositions, hidden corners and strange compromises.”
He names Frans Masereel, George Grosz, Edward Bawden, Eric
Ravillious, Richard Diebenkorn and David Gentleman as artists he “comes back to
time and again”. “All share a mastery of line and form,” he says.
This would have been his first year as a York Open Studios exhibitor: the latest affirmation of his desire to “keep moving forward” as an artist. Contact him via nickkobyluch2@gmail.com.
Hole Of Horcum, by Michelle Hughes
Michelle Hughes, printmaking
MICHELLE is a printmaker
and graphic designer, creating linocut prints inspired by nature and the great
British countryside.
“I love exploring the
countryside by bike or on foot, camera in hand, capturing ideas for my next
prints,” she says.
Once back in her garden
studio, Michelle makes simple but stylised silhouettes based on her
photographs, then cuts these shapes into lino. She hand-prints with an etching
press, using oil-based inks to create tonal blocks of colour.
Michelle Hughes: Artist and workshop tutor
For 25 years, Michelle
designed homeware and fashion ranges for large corporate companies such as
Disney, George Home at Asda, Arcadia and Shared Earth. In June 2016, she took
the leap of faith to set up her own business, initially in graphic design, then
printmaking, bringing together her love of craft, photography, colour, nature
and exploring.
“I’ve always loved working with my hands and making things,” says Michelle, who also holds workshops in her Holgate studio. “I like the spontaneity of making marks with the tools, the quality of line and the graphic style of the final print. It enables me to distil the landscape down into simple lines.”
Michelle has designed a series of a dozen linocuts, A Landscape Speaks, for the National Trust property Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. Learn more at michellehughesdesign.com/.
Oil on canvas by Lucy McElroy
Lucy McElroy, painting
AFTER 15 years as an art teacher, Lucy balances her time between
the “joys and challenges of being a mother, teaching part-time at All Saints RC
School and spending time developing her own practice in her home studio”.
“Traditional techniques enable me to create a true likeness of
my subjects, while exploring ways to capture beautiful and emotive moments on
paper and canvas,” says Lucy, who studied fine art at the University of Leeds.
Lucy McElroy: Capturing beautiful and emotive moments
She works in pencil, pastel, charcoal and oil on canvas and
finds time for a few portrait commissions each year, undertaken in between her
own creative projects.
This would have been the first year that Lucy had participated
in York Open Studios. View her work at lucymcelroy.co.uk.
The Blue Bell, in Fossgate, York, one of 30 new works Ian Cameron made for York Open Studios 2020
Ian Cameron, painting
IAN’S artwork is created
using crayon wax rubbings, vibrant Brusho-coloured washes and Indian ink
drawings, embellished with collage and watercolours to create a multi-layered
effect.
“I love to draw in my
sketchbook,” he says. “I usually draw with a black gel pen and often use
watercolours. Sometimes I rub over embossed surfaces such as manhole covers
with a wax crayon and then paint over with a colour wash to create a resist
effect. The final picture has a great deal of depth brought about by the
different layers or levels.”
Ian Cameron in the wooden studio he built in his garden
Ian developed an interest in art “quite late in life”, at 50 to be precise, in 2003 when he attended GCSE Art evening classes. A-level studies and an art and design foundation course at York College ensued.
2020 was to have been his seventh year in York Open Studios, exhibiting 30 new works created in the wooden studio he built in his back garden. For more info, visit ifcameron.tumblr.com.
TOMORROW: Fran Brammar; Geraldine Bilbrough; Ruth Claydon; Jacqueline James and Jean Drysdale.
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 Dignum in her studio
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.
Filey, by Carolyn Coles
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.
Forest Boy, by Adele Karmazyn
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.
A North Eastern scene by Nathan Combes
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.
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.
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.
Camera Obscura, by Jill Tattersall
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.”
Jill Tattersall: Left Brighton for York
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?
Scarlet, by Lauren Terry
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.
Lauren Terry in her new studio in York
“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
YORK Open
Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April
weekends, has been cancelled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However,
with doors sadly shut for the April 17 to 19 and April 25 to 26 event,
CharlesHutchPress wants to champion the creativity of York’s artists and
makers, who would have been showcasing their ceramics, collage, digital,
illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, sculpture
and textiles skills.
Each day,
in brochure order, five artists who now miss out on the exposure of Open
Studios will be given a pen portrait on these pages, because so much art and
craft will have been created for the event and still needs a new home.
Addresses will not be included at this time.
Meanwhile,
York Open Studios artists are finding their own way to respond to the shutdown
by filling their windows with their work instead. Look for #openwindowsyork2020 to locate them.
“If you see one in your area while taking your daily exercise, take a picture
and let us know,” they say.
Ovoid On Ball, by Ben Arnup
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.
Linked pendant, by Jo Bagshaw
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”.
Francesca KIng at work
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.
The Tree On The Beach, by Simon Palmour
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.
Julerry, by Elena Panina
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.
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.”
Ebb Tide, Filey, by Jack Hellewell
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.
YORK Open
Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April
weekends, has been cancelled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However,
with doors sadly shut for the April 17 to 19 and April 25 to 26 event,
CharlesHutchPress wants to champion the creativity of York’s artists and
makers, who would have been showcasing their ceramics, collage, digital,
illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, sculpture
and textiles skills.
Each day,
in brochure order, five artists who now miss out on the exposure of Open
Studios will be given a pen portrait on these pages, because so much art and
craft will have been created for the event and still needs a new home.
Addresses will not be included at this time.
Meanwhile,
York Open Studios artists are finding their own way to respond to the shutdown
by filling their windows with their work instead. Look for #openwindowsyork2020 to locate them.
“If you see one in your area while taking your daily exercise, take a picture
and let us know,” they say.
Wool scarf, by Angela Anning
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.”
Angela Anning in her workshop
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.
Teapot, by Isabel K-J Denyer
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.
Isabel K-J Denyer at the wheel
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: Art on the Edgelands
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.”
Pennie Lordan: painter of landscapes
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.
YORK Open
Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April
weekends, has been cancelled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, with
doors sadly shut for the April 17 to 19 and April 25 to 26 event,
CharlesHutchPress wants to champion the creativity of York’s artists and
makers, who would have been showcasing their ceramics, collage, digital,
illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, sculpture
and textiles skills.
Each day,
in brochure order, five artists who now miss out on the exposure of Open
Studios will be given a pen portrait on these pages, because so much art and
craft will have been created for the event and still needs a new home.
Addresses will not be included at this time.
Meanwhile,
York Open Studios artists are finding their own way to respond to the shutdown
by filling their windows with their work instead. Look for #openwindowsyork2020 to locate them.
“If you see one in your area while taking your daily exercise, take a picture
and let us know,” they say.
“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.
Wet York, by Kay Dower
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.”
Kay Dower in her studio
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.
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.
Answering Light, by Emma Whitelock
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.
