YORK Open Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April weekends, has had to be 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 ceramics, collage, digital, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, sculpture and textiles.
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 will have been created for the event and still needs a new home. Addresses will not be included at this time.
Dee Thwaite, painting
YORK Open Studios newcomer Dee uses acrylic paint, inks, graphite and charcoal in her sea and landscape paintings and drawings, marked by expressive skies, storms and the changing seasons.
Mainly self-taught, this contemporary abstract artist expresses her love of the North Yorkshire coastline on canvas, board and paper in works that combine both a physical and emotional response when she paints, predominantly with her hands, as opposed to brushes. Contact Dee via deethwaite@hotmail.com.
Anna Vialle, drawing
INSPIRED by the style and colours of both Japanese woodblock and Victorian prints, Anna limits herself to drawing insects, birds, landscapes, anatomy and trees.
Anna had trained in art education in 1997. Twenty-two years later, when trying
to relax after working difficult shifts as a mental-health nurse, she started a pen and watercolour illustration of 24 individually drawn moths.
Exploring the connection between repetition and focus, she began using dots to create her artwork, whereupon a stress-free style of art emerged. Cue a “more relaxed” mental-health nurse! Visit annavialle.co.uk for more info.
Rosie Bramley, painting
ROSIE’S colourful paintings explore her devotion and connection to the land and sea. Gestural marks dance around the surface of each painting as she creates abstract works inspired by nature.
Rosie studied fine art painting and printmaking, graduating from Bretton Hall College, University of Leeds, in 1996. Now head of art at Driffield Secondary School and Sixth Form in East Yorkshire, where she teaches both fine art and photography, she has exhibited regularly in York, latterly at Fossgate Social, City Screen and Angel on the Green.
Her first Open Studios show since 2011 would have featured new works inspired by the landscape. Her website, rosiebramley.com, divides her work into Abstracts, The Cruel Sea and Mountains.
Tabitha Grove, painting
SELECTED for York Open Studios for the first time, Tabitha uses bold colour, contrast, ink, watercolour, gold leaf and collage on handmade paper to explore perceptions of the body and how they can be challenged and celebrated.
Her career as an actor and costume designer for film and theatre has informed Tabitha’s passion for storytelling and her fascination with the way our bodies interact with our environments.
Tabitha’s career portfolio career extends to having co-managed Look Gallery, in Helmsley, and now working in piano restoration, where she learns rare skills that influence her art.
Each experience has informed Tabitha’s style, she says, leading to her “bringing diverse technique to a new perspective”. Find her work via tabithamayg@gmail.com.
Peter Heaton, photography
PETER specialises in black and white limited-edition photographic prints of woodlands and dark landscapes: images that need careful time and observation as the space they inhabit is full of visual surprises, he says.
Before the camera lens and digital imaging took precedence, Peter studied fine art at Nottingham Trent University and later gained an MA in fine art from Leeds Metropolitan University.
Over the past few years, Peter’s work has revolved around the complexities of layering visual information and our interpretations of the resulting images. In 2010, he set up Vale of York Darkrooms, where he teaches courses in both traditional chemical-based black-and-white photography and digital imaging. Take a look at his photographs at peterheaton.co.uk.
Tomorrow: Sarah K Jackson; Kate Pettitt; Reg Walker; Constance Isobel and Chris Utley.