Adele Karmazyn Archives - charleshutchpress

August 1, 2024August 1, 2024

York River Art Market returns with more artists than ever wanting to take part

*Laura Joy’s poster for the 2024 York River Art Market summer season*

YORK River Art Market returns for its ninth summer season this weekend on the riverside walkway at Dame Judi Dench Walk.

Organised by artist and York College art tutor Charlotte Dawson, York’s answer to the markets on the Parisian Left Bank will be held on August 3 and 4, 10 and 11 and 17 and 18 from 10am to 5pm.

Along the riverside railings, up to 30 artists and makers per day will be exhibiting ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, T-shirts, shaving products and much more. “We care that each of the six events are never the same, and so we host a different variety of creatives at each one,” says founder and director Charlotte. “That means there is always something for everyone’s creative tastes and budget.

“York River Art Market’s relaxed and vibrant atmosphere has been compared to the Left Bank and we welcome everyone. Admission to the market is free of charge to come along and browse or buy directly from an array of Yorkshire-based artists.”

Looking forward to this weekend, Charlotte says: “Each year presents fresh challenges, but just don’t say the ‘W’ word [the weather}!” Fear not, Charlotte, sunny intervals and a gentle breeze are forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

*Charlotte Dawson: York River Art Market founder-director and jewellery designer*

“We’ve had more artists and makers than ever wanting to take part – quite a change from our early days. We get hundreds applying now and I do the selection process with a heavy heart, as we can’t feature everyone. We have a reserve list and people are already asking about next year.”

Why is it so popular, Charlotte? “This area of York lends itself to such an event, working in harmony with the York Museum Gardens, the eateries around here, and the whole ambience by the riverside,” she says.

“I think the river is great for a sense of wellbeing, especially for the artists who are spending the day there, saying ‘it’s so relaxing here’. There’s an ambience you can’t get anywhere else in the city.

“York River Art Market really does celebrate art and York’s creative talent, but not only York, as we have artists and makers from Yorkshire among our variety of new participants, such as Ounce Of Style [Lee Henry], a funky graphic designer and illustrator with a food obsession, who works in really bold colours, and Taken Twice, from Derbyshire, who uses that name because she creates jewellery inspired by ancient Greece and Rome, which is interesting for York with our Roman history.”

Among the returnees will be digital photomontage artist Adele Karmazyn; architectural illustrator Elliot Harrison (York 360); Gerry and Lynn Grant of Fangfoss Pottery; Katrina Mansfield, from PICA Studios in Grape Lane, who specialises in creating “fluid art animal inks” on Yupo paper, and Lincoln Lightfoot, whose surrealist B-movie poster pastiches “tap into the present condition of fear that our news media and politicians perpetuate in a post Covid-19 world”.

*Woodburning artist Anna Kirsty Wood: Travelling from Italy for York River Art Market on August 10 and 11*

York artist Emma Whitelock, who took part in the first York River Art Market and now exhibits internationally, including in New York, will be returning to the riverside this summer.

Travelling the farthest to take part is woodburning artist Anna Kirsty Wood, who is heading from Frascati, Italy, with a suitcase full of art to stay with her mother in York. She will be showing her original artwork and prints, created from fragments of memories pieced together and hand-burned on to wood, on August 10 and 11.

Busker and folk singer Deb Simpson is likely to pop up at some point, just as she has in past years, and York singer-songwriter Heather Findlay, from the York duo The Bee Tellers, will be busking on August 18. “She’s an artist too, and hopefully she’ll be showing her work next year,” says Charlotte.

To find out the line-up of artists and makers for each of the six days, head to York River Art Market’s Facebook site, facebook.com/YorkRiverArtMarket. Click on More, then Events, then Discussion.

This year’s poster was designed by the aptly named illustrator and maker Laura Joy, of Laura Joy Design, who will be attending all six events this summer. Artistic joy does indeed await on the banks of the River Ouse from this weekend.

Copyright of The Press, York

*Heather Findlay: Busking on August 18. Picture: Adam Kennedy*

May 18, 2023May 27, 2023

Project: Thursday life drawing classes at St Olave’s Church Hall. Result: Donderdag Collective exhibition at Pyramid Gallery

*Tranquillity, chalk and charcoal, by Diane Cobbold*

THE Donderdag Collective will be exhibiting at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York from Saturday to June 25.

Founded in 2011 by a group of artists in York, they meet at St Olave’s Church Hall, in Marygate Lane, on Thursday evenings to sketch or paint from a life model (‘Donderdag’ being Dutch for ‘Thursday’).

The group comprises both professional artists and keen amateurs who want to hone their technique or explore new ideas by working freely with a life model.

*Comfortable In Your Own Skin,* *life drawing artwork, by Donderdag Collective member Carolyn Coles*

“This exhibition is a celebration of the art of life drawing and an opportunity for the collective to show together the art that they make for pleasure or as a means of earning a living,” says Pyramid Gallery owner and curator Terry Brett.

Fifteen members will feature in the Artists And The Human Form show, exhibiting both life drawings made during the Thursday sessions and other artworks for sale.

Taking part will be: Julie Mitchell; Rory Barke; Bertt deBaldock (aka Terry Brett); Diane Cobbold; Carolyn Coles; Leon Francois Dumont; Jeanne Godfrey; Anna Harding; Adele Karmazyn; Michelle Galloway; Andrian Melka; Kate Pettitt; Swea Sayers; Barbara Shaw and Donna Maria Taylor.

The artists will attend Saturday’s official opening from 11am to 2.30pm, when wine, soft drinks and nibbles will be served. Gallery opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday; closed Sundays.

*Ring Of Fire, oil, by Leon Francois Dumont*

December 13, 2022December 14, 2022

Adele Karmazyn’s imaginarium of creatures, objects and other lives ventures into Hidden Spaces in City Screen café exhibition

*Out Of Sight, digital photomontage, by Adele Karmazyn, from her City Screen Picturehouse exhibition in York*

INSPIRED by October’s York Unlocked event, York Open Studios regular Adele Karmazyn is opening doors to Hidden Spaces in her new exhibition.

Embracing the opportunity to visit the city’s historic hidden places, she took photographs on the way, and now those photos form the backdrop for her new body of digital photomontages on show in the City Screen Picturehouse café, in Coney Street, York, until January 14 2023.

Each piece in Hidden Spaces evolves into an individual story when Adele brings in her 19th century characters, taken from old cabinet photographs, and combines these with other photographs of objects, landscapes and creatures.

By merging multiple layers and concentrating on light and depth, she creates “realistic, believable scenarios, which at the same time could never possibly be”.

*Adele Karmazyn at work in her Holgate garden studio*

Here CharlesHutchPress asks questions to send Adele into her flights of fantasy…or maybe ghost stories of lives that could have been.

What drew you to the City Screen café as a location for an exhibition? Is this the first time that you have exhibited there?

“I love the City Screen building with the river backdrop. I’ve exhibited once before upstairs but never in the café. It’s a wonderful spot for my work, being full of stories and imagination, just like the films on show there.”

Which hidden places in York did you visit during the York Unlocked weekend in October?

“York Unlocked was a great opportunity for me to take lots of photographs to use in my work. I ran around the city like a headless chicken! I was particularly impressed with the Masonic Hall and the York Guildhall, which I‘d never been to before. I’m sure these spaces will feature not only in this collection but again in future collections.”

How did the buildings spark your imagination for Hidden Spaces?

“I was already planning to create a collection centred around the old (Grays Court) and present Treasurer’s House, which I’d visited and photographed already. So when I heard about this event, I decided ‘Hidden Spaces’ could be any historic building in York.”

How did you settle on that title?

“Well, when I choose a title, I spend a moment looking at the images as they are ‘in progress’. They all look like secretive places, hidden away from the crowds. This is the feeling I got also when these doors opened, and I got to see behind these (often) closed doors.”

Why do creatures as well as humans feature so prominently in your work?

“I think there’s a creature of some sort in every image, be it a bird, a butterfly or a beetle. I feel it brings more life to the image and creates a connection between the character and nature. I also love it when you don’t always see everything on first glance, and hiding some creature makes the images more interesting and surprising.”

*The 19th century photograph of a father and daughter, adapted by Adele in Cat And Canaries*

How long does it take to create each multi-layered work?

“Some pieces flow really nicely and I can complete it in a few weeks, but some can have a rough ride, where I get stuck and nothing makes sense or I don’t have the right character.

“I may have ‘something’ but there’s a missing piece and these can sit in my folders for months. My images are a tornado of imagination and chance. It’s a really fun and also sometimes frustrating process, but when that magic happens and the ideas and images come together, it’s really exciting and why I love working this way.”

Further explore your assertion that each piece features a “realistic, believable scenario, which at the same time could never possibly be”…

“Digital collage artists can create so many scenarios, from totally surreal and roughly pieced-together images to the subtle changes of a realistic photograph.”

“What I’m trying to achieve is an image that looks almost painted, as opposed to ‘photographic’, and by mixing water where there would never be, or a cloud in a room, or wild animals inside a Victorian skirt, so your eyes see this is actually happening in the image but the brain knows this could not actually happen. I believe it’s called ‘Magic Realism’.”

Are they images of ghosts coming alive or of lives that could have been?

“I like to think of it as giving them another life, full of adventure and stories untold. Of course there is a ghost-like quality to the images but nothing too dark.”

Is it lazy to label them as “surrealist”?

“A couple of my pieces I would say are bordering on surreal, but mostly they are dreamlike images, theatrical, imaginative and curious.”

*Two Girls, 19th century photograph, whose image re-emerges in Adele Karmazyn’s All Of A Flutter*

Are there hidden meanings to these Hidden Spaces?

“If the viewer finds a meaning, then that is what it is. I like to leave the interpretation up to each individual. I do like to work with a theme, and some have meaning to me that may mean something entirely different to someone else.”

Who would be your influences? Magritte? Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam? Maybe even Glen Baxter?

“I do love the work of Magritte. I follow many modern-day artists who inspire me, such as Daria Pertilli, Maggie Taylor and Christian Schloe.”

*“My images are a tornado of imagination and chance,” says Adele. Witness Into The Lights, above*

There seems to be a balance between humour and something more troubling: the images are frozen in time past awaiting release in the viewer’s imagination that could take both the incumbents and the viewer anywhere. See above: Those Canada Geese in flight….how did they get in there? Where are they going? Why are they in there? Will they get out? So many possibilities! Like in Tracy Chevalier’s novel, inspired by Johannes Vermeer’s Dutch Golden Age oil painting Girl With A Pearl Earring. Discuss…

“Wouldn’t it be amazing if a whole story was written from an image. This is what I love about the process of image making. I start with nothing, then I find a character, then a space, then things get thrown in and taken out and a story evolves and changes.

“My best-selling image is ‘Survival’, a picture of a young girl sailing in an upturned umbrella with a bird and a nest on her head. Part of the success of this image I think is the girl herself.

“She speaks volumes just to look at her. She is strong-willed and she will survive! This could easily be a still from a film and the rest of the story is up to the viewer to imagine.”

“The young girl is strong-willed and she will survive,” says Adele of Survival, *the York digital photomontage artist’s best-selling work*

What’s coming up for you in 2023?

“Next year begins with York Open Studios [April 15, 16, 22 and 23], hopefully followed by Saltaire Open Houses arts trail [May 27 to 29] (although this hasn’t been confirmed yet).

“I’m bringing in oil paintings and working on creating curiosity boxes too, as something new to accompany my digital images.

“I’ve also written a children’s book, which I’m now illustrating, so it’s all go in my Holgate garden studio. The book is called ‘The Life Of A Bee, It’s Not For Me’ and it’s a rhyming story for ages three to five, I would say. It’s all about a bee called Clive, who saves the world with the help of the swallows…I don’t want to give any more away!

“It’s very exciting as I may have a contract…once I send off the illustrations, which is my project for in between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.”

*The exhibition poster for Adele Karmazyn’s Hidden Spaces in the City Screen café*

September 8, 2022September 9, 2022

Adele Karmazyn opens Pleasure Gardens for Village Gallery show of digital montages

*All Swings And Roundabouts, by Adele Karmazyn*

YORK Open Studios regular Adele Karmazyn is exhibiting new works in her Pleasure Gardens show at Village Gallery, Colliergate, York, until October 25.

Using her digital camera, scanner and Photoshop, Adele creates digital photomontages at her Wilton Rise studio in Holgate, printing the images onto archival paper before hand-finishing them with paint, pastel and gold leaf.

Her love of antiquities and oddities, weathered surfaces and nature is the foundation of her work.

“For Adele, collecting 19th century photographs is where the journey begins,” says gallery owner and curator Simon Main. “From her ever-growing collection, she chooses her characters and brings them back to full colour, intertwining them with creatures big and small, coupled with delicate foliage, creating images both sophisticated and slightly surrealist.

“Adele often uses idioms, metaphors and musical lyrics for inspiration and to add narrative to her work. It is ultimately the love of the Victorian era, costume and interiors that drives her to create the images she does, with the added freedom to insert an element of playful surprise.”

After studying for her BA (Hons) in textile art at Winchester School of Art, Adele completed a diploma in children’s book illustration that brought her back to the use of Photoshop, now her main tool.

Village Gallery opening hours are 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

February 1, 2022February 3, 2022

Westside story as York artists gather for Into The Blue exhibition at Pyramid Gallery

Adele Karmazyn’s show poster for Westside Artists’ Into The Blue

INTO The Blue, an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and prints by York’s Westside Artists, is running at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until March 13.

“This is an eclectic show of work by this collaboration of artists from the West of York,” says gallery owner Terry Brett. “In Pyramid’s 40th year in York, we’re keen to celebrate the wealth of talent here in our city, starting the year off with this beautiful show.”

*Jane Dignum’s poster for Westside Artists’ Into The Blue exhibition*

“Each artist has created new work to portray their personal interpretation and concept of the exhibition title, Into The Blue. With so many diverse disciplines, the exhibition really is a sight to behold.”

Taking part are Adele Karmazyn (digital photomontage); Carolyn Coles (painting); Donna Marie Taylor (mixed media); Ealish Wilson (mixed media and sculpture); Fran Brammer (textiles) and Jane Dignum (printmaking).

So to are Jill Tattersall (mixed-media collage); Kate Akrill (ceramics); Lucie Wake (painting); Mark Druery (printmaking); Richard Rhodes (ceramics); Sharon McDonagh (mixed media) and Simon Palmour (photography).

Pyramid Gallery is open from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, but closed on Sundays at present.

*Wake-up call: Lucie Wake’s poster to attract visitors to Into The Blue*

November 17, 2021November 17, 2021

Mim Robson launches Grapevine Project online exhibition, linking works by 120 photographers, writers and creators

The first image from the Grapevine Project’s Vine #9 by Richard Little, sent on anonymously to Adele Karmazyn, who did likewise when forwarding her work to Rich Whittington. View them in turn for a demonstration of how each artwork influences the next

THE Grapevine Project, a collaborative York art project and exhibition of 120 artists, writers and creators, each creating work influenced by fellow participants, is launched online on Friday.

Mostly based in York, these artists anonymously received a work, to which they had to respond creatively before then anonymously passing their own work on to the next artist.

“The resulting exhibition is a marvellous online display of painting, poetry, film, sculpture and more, and demonstrates the hidden threads of influence and creativity that connect those in the arts, even in times of isolation and separation,” says organiser and multi-disciplinary artist Mim Robson.

Initiated by Mim at the start of lockdown, the project began with 11 photographers, who each anonymously submitted an image to be forwarded to artists. “These artists then produced a new artwork in response, starting a thread of work that grew into a ‘grapevine’ of original art, poetry, film, sculpture and more,” she says.

“The process led to a series of beautifully interwoven transitions of thought, ideas and themes, demonstrating art’s ability to communicate and connect people. Every submission was passed on anonymously to the next artist, who would create a work in response, resulting in 11 separate ‘vines’ of art, each made up of 11 artists.”

*Adele Karmazyn’s White Tails, from the Vine #9 thread of the Grapevine Project*

The artists, although primarily based in Yorkshire, are spread across Britain and even into Europe. “The project has resulted in a rich and varied collection of work that celebrates our differences while also looking at what connects us,” says Mim.

“All of the artwork created is wonderful in its own unique way, and the results within each group are fascinating.”

The project ran for almost a year and is now at a stage where the art is ready to be revealed to the world on Friday in an open-ended online exhibition.

“The Grapevine Project started as a simple idea that transformed into a huge discovery of how artists take inspiration and make it their own,” says Mim. “I’ve loved seeing the threads of ideas and themes grow and evolve in each of the 11 vines within the project”

To view the exhibition from Friday, go to: thegrapevineproject@outlook.com.

*Rich Whittington’s Reflection, the third image in sequence from Vine #9 of the Grapevine Project*. *Note the reflection of Adele Karmazyn’s work in the deer’s eye*

July 29, 2021July 29, 2021

More Things To Do in and around York as corny summer panto ride arrives at a maze. List No. 42, courtesy of The Press, York

Detective at work: Sir David Suchet will dig up his past at York Theatre Royal in October

SUMMER panto in a maze, David Suchet on Poirot, Yorkshire Day celebrations, a SeedBed of new ideas, riverside art, a cancer charity fundraiser and comedy at the double catch Charles Hutchinson’s eye.

New signing of the week: David Suchet, Poirot And More – A Retrospective, York Theatre Royal, October 13, 3pm and 8pm

SIR David Suchet retraces his steps as a young actor in his 20-theatre tour of Poirot And More, A Retrospective, where he looks back fondly at his five-decade career, shedding a new, intimate light on his most beloved performances.

Geoffrey Wansell, journalist, broadcaster, biographer and co-author of Poirot And Me, interviews the actor behind the detective and the many characters Suchet has portrayed on stage and screen. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Joshing around: After York Theatre Royal’s Travelling Pantomime last Christmas, now Josh Benson s magic beans have created the new Crowmania Ride summer panto at York Maze

Summer pantomime on wheels? Yes, on York Maze’s Crowmania Ride until September 6. Maze opening hours: 10am to 6.30pm; last admission, 3.30pm

CORNTROLLER of Entertainment Josh Benson is the creative mind behind the new Crowmania Ride at York Maze, Elvington Lane, York.

York Maze reopened for the first time since 2019 on July 17, with York actor, magician, comedy turn and pantomime star Benson and his team of actors taking the redeveloped Crowmania attraction “to a new level” on a trailer towed by a tractor every 20 to 30 minutes from 11am to 5pm. “The scariest thing is the bad puns!” promises director of operations David Leon.

In a 20-minute pantomime on wheels, Crowmania’s loose plot involves The Greatest Crowman encouraging the crows to eat farmer Tom’s corn, while his villainy stretches to creating genetically modified corn-based creatures too. Expect theatrical set-pieces, multitudinous curious animatronics and special effects.

Erika Noda: Reflecting on her dual heritage on tonight’s SeedBed bill at At The Mill, Stillington

“Fantastic nights of artistic creation”: SeedBed at At The Mill, Stillington, near York, tonight until Saturday, 7pm to 10pm nightly

BILLED as “New Work. Good Food. Big Conversations”, the first ever SeedBed promises three nights, three different line-ups, three opportunities to see new ideas on their first outings, each hosted by Polly from Jolly Allotment, who will cook a nutritious supper each evening and discuss nourishment.

Tonight features At The Mill’s resident artists, plus Paula Clark’s class-and-disadvantage monologue Girl, Jack Fielding’s stilt act in Deus and Erika Noda’s Ai, examining growing up dual heritage in predominantly white York.

Tomorrow combines Robert Douglas Finch’s Songs Of Sea And Sky; Jessa Liversidge’s Looping Around set of folk tunes, original songs and layered looping and Henry Bird’s combo of classical poetry extracts and his own words.

Saturday offers The Blow-Ins’ A Gentle Breeze, an acoustic Celtic harp and guitar set, to be experienced in silence; Gong Bath, a session of bathing in the sound of gongs, and Jessa Liversidge’s second Looping Around (Your Chance To Sing) session.

Papillon, by Adele Karmazyn, who is taking part in Saturday’s York River Art Market

York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, Saturday and Sunday, 10.30am to 5.30pm

MORE than 30 artists and makers will take part in days five and six of this summer’s riverside weekend art markets, organised by York abstract painter and jewellery designer Charlotte Dawson.

Given the busy traffic across both days last weekend, Charlotte is considering doing more full weekends next year rather than the present emphasis on Saturdays.

Among Saturday’s artists will be York digital photomontage artist and 2021 YRAM poster designer Adele Karmazyn and Kwatz, the small indie fashion label directed by Amanda Roseveare.

On Sunday, look out for York College graphics tutor Monica Gabb’s Twenty Birds range of screen prints, tea towels, mugs, cards, bags and hanging decorations; York artist Linda Combi’s illustrations and Louise Taylor Designs, travelling over from Lancashire with her floral-patterned textile designs for cushions, tea towels, oven gloves and more besides.

Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie: Headlining Meadowfest

Festival of the week: Meadowfest, Malton, Saturday, 10am to 10pm

MALTON, alias “Yorkshire’s food capital”, plays host to the Meadowfest boutique summer music and street fodder festival this weekend in the riverside meadows and gardens of the Talbot Hotel.

On the bill, spread over two stages, will be headliners Lightning Seeds, Arthur “The God of Hellfire” Brown, York party band Huge, Ben Beattie’s After Midnight Band, Flatcap Carnival, Hyde Family Jam, Gary Stewart, Penny Whispers, The Tengu Taiku Drummers and more besides.

“Expect a relaxed festival of uplifting sunshine bands, all-day feasting and dancing like no-one’s watching,” says the organisers. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/visitmalton/

Forge Zine and Hallmark Theatre present Yorkshire Day: Night Of Arts! at The Crescent community venue in York on Sunday

Marking God’s Own Country’s wonderfulness: Yorkshire Day: Night Of Arts!, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 8pm

FORGE Zine and Hallmark Theatre band together for a Yorkshire Day night of creativity, fun and varied entertainment, replete with actors, musicians, writers and artists.

Expect spoken word, visual art, live music, scene extracts and comedy on a pleasant, relaxed, wholly Yorkshire evening, bolstered by the chance to buy artworks and books. Box office: thecrescentyork.seetickets.com.

Steve Cassidy: Joining up with friends for the Songs And Stories For York Against Cancer fundraiser

Fundraiser of the week: Songs And Stories For York Against Cancer, with Steve Cassidy Band and friends, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

A NIGHT of songs and stories by some of York’s best-known performers, who “celebrate a return to normality” by supporting a charity that helps others still on the road to recovery.

Taking part will be Steve Cassidy, Mick Hull, John Lewis, Billy Leonard, Graham Hodge, Graham Metcalf, Geoff Earp and Ken Sanderson. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Sara Barron: Playing York, Leeds and Selby on her debut British tour of Enemies Closer

Barron nights: Sara Barron on autumn tour in Yorkshire in Enemies Closer

AMERICAN comedian Sara Barron examines kindness, meanness, ex-boyfriends, current husbands, all four remaining friends and two of her 12 enemies in Enemies Closer at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on October 9.

Further Yorkshire gigs on Barron’s debut British tour will be at Sheaf St, Leeds, on October 20 and Selby Town Hall on September 29.

“Touring this show is truly the fulfilment of a dream,” says Barron. “Come if you dig an artful rant. Stay at home if think you’re ‘a positive person’.” Box office: York, at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk; Leeds and Selby, via berksnest.com/sara.

In need of a reviving cuppa: Omid Djalili has just had to change his Pocklington plans for a second time

Third time lucky: Omid Djalili moves Pocklington gigs again, this time to 2022

OMID Djalili’s brace of shows on July 22 at Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC) have been moved to May 18 and 19 next spring.

British-Iranian comedian, actor, television producer, presenter, voice actor and writer Djalili, 55, originally had been booked for this month’s cancelled Platform Festival at the Old Station, Pocklington.

He subsequently agreed to do two shows in one night at PAC to ensure all those who had purchased tickets for his festival gig would not miss out. The uncertainty brought on by the Government’s delay to Step 4 scuppered those plans. Tickets remain valid for the new dates.

June 23, 2021June 24, 2021

Westside Artists to gain Momentum in summer show at Blossom Street Gallery

Autonomous, *mixed-media collage on box canvas*, by Sharon McDonagh, long-listed for the 2021 Aesthetica Art Prize and now to be shown in the Momentum Summer Show at Blossom Street Gallery, York

YORK art group Westside Artists open their Momentum Summer Show at Blossom Street Gallery, by Micklegate Bar, York, on Friday (25/6/2021).

This coterie of artists from the Holgate and West area of York will be showing a varied range of disciplines, from painting and photomontage to textiles, ceramics and mixed-media art.

Among the participating artists, and a key organiser too, is Sharon McDonagh, from Holgate, who had her mixed-media work long-listed for this year’s Aesthetica Art Prize, whose accompanying exhibition is running at York Art Gallery. One of Sharon’s submitted pieces, Autonomous, is now featuring in the Momentum show.

Joining her at Blossom Street Gallery are: Adele Karmazyn, digital photomontages; Carolyn Coles, seascapes; Donna Maria Taylor, mixed media; Ealish Wilson, textiles; Fran Brammer, textiles; Jane Dignum, prints; Jill Tattersall, mixed media; Kate Akrill, Skullduggery ceramics, and Lucy McElroy, portraits.

So too are: Lucie Wake, from Facet Painting, paintings and portraits; Marc Godfrey-Murphy, alias MarcoLooks, illustrations; Mark Druery, pen and watercolour sketches; Michelle Hughes, prints; Rich Rhodes, ceramics; Robin Grover-Jaques, painting and metalwork, and Simon Palmour, photographs.

The Momentum Summer Show will be gaining momentum until September 26. Gallery opening hours are: Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 10am to 4pm; Covid-compliant measures are in place.

Untitled, ‘Dark and Light’ acrylic on canvas, by Robin Grover-Jacques

February 1, 2021February 1, 2021

York River Art Market seeks artists and makers for this summer’s weekend stalls

The poster for York River Art Market 2021, designed by Holgate digital print artist Adele Karmazyn, a regular participant in both York River Art Market and York Open Studios

YORK River Art Market 2021 is issuing a call-out to artists for this summer’s riverside event on Dame Judi Dench Walk, Lendal Bridge, York.

This award-winning art and design market had to cancel its fifth summer of weekend stalls last year when council officials advised that the space besides the River Ouse was unsuitable for social distancing.

“See you all in 2021 for the best year yet,” said the official notice at the time. True to that promise, York River Art Market has announced plans to return for markets on June 26; July 3, 24, 25 and 31, and August 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28.

Hence the call-out for applications to participate in a market that hosts 30-plus artists at each event, selling original art and hand-crafted goods.

Those applications should be emailed to yorkriverart@gmail.com with the following information:

* Three quality images of your work;

* A few sentences about your work;

* Links to digital platforms where you show or sell your work (if you have any; if not, do not worry);

* Preferred choice of dates, listed in the YRAM biography on its Facebook page.

“I look forward to your submissions,” says organiser Charlotte Dawson, who oversaw York River Art Market going online for #yramathome virtual winter art markets last November and December.

Let us hope that Government Covid strictures will have been eased sufficiently for this summer’s markets to be given the green light.

November 30, 2020November 30, 2020

Village Gallery to reopen with first group exhibition by York’s Westside Artists

VILLAGE Gallery, in Colliergate, York, will reopen on Wednesday (2/12/2020), when Lockdown 2 ends, to present the first collective exhibition for York’s Westside Artists.

Running until January 23 2021, Immersed will showcase the work of Adele Karmazyn; Carolyn Coles; Donna Maria Taylor; Ealish Wilson; Fran Brammer; Jane Dignum; Jill Tattersall; Lucy McElroy; Marc Godfrey-Murphy; Richard Rhodes; Robin Grover-Jacques and Sharon McDonagh.

“2020 has been an extremely hard year everyone, not least of all for artists, with many exhibitions and events being cancelled,” says gallery owner and curator Simon Main.

“So, Village Gallery is delighted to announce that its next post-lockdown exhibition will feature a group of local artists in their first collective showing.

“The ‘Westside Artists’ is a small group of artists based around Holgate in York, who work in varied disciplines, such as painting, photomontage, print making, collage textile art, pottery and mixed media, and in varied subjects, from landscapes and seascapes to portraiture and abstract.”

Village Gallery’s opening hours are 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday, with Covid-secure social distancing measures in place.

“This exhibition is opening in time for everyone to find a truly unique Christmas gift while supporting local artists,” says Simon.

“Aside from its regularly changing art exhibitions, Village Gallery is York’s official stockist of Lalique glass and crystal, and additionally sells art, jewellery, ceramics, glass and sculpture, much of it the work of local artists.”