John Hegley: Two poetry peformances at Helmsley Literary Festival. Picture: Jackie di Stefano
HELMSLEY Literary Festival leads off Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations to fill the cultural diary, joined by drag, folk and blues acts and an American coming-of-age classic.
Festival of the week highlight: Helmsley Literary Festival, Helmsley Arts Centre, John Hegley, New & Selected Potatoes, Saturday, 7pm to 8pm; I Am A Poetato, Sunday, 11am to 12 noon
POET, comic, singer, songwriter and spectacles wearer John Hegley heads to Helmsley with two shows, the first being his seriously funny, cleverly comic “best of golden oldies compilation with some new stuff” about love, family, France, art, the sea, dogs, dads, gods, taxidermy, carrots, glasses and…potatoes.
Second gig I Am A Poetato features An A-Z of Poems about People, Pets and other Creatures! Spelling it out for Helmsley, he promises Hedgehogs. Elephants. Laughing. Mandolin. Singing. Luton. Even a cardboard camel with moving parts. Yo! For full details of two days of talks, signings, readings, open mic and a quiz, with Hegley, Anne Fine, Joanne Harris, Harriet Constable and The Chase’s Paul Sinha, visit helmsleyarts.co.uk. Box office: 01439 771700.
Bianca Del Rio: Discussing politics, pop culture and political correctness at York Barbican
Drag show of the week: Bianca Del Rio, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm
COMEDY drag queen and RuPaul’s Drag Race champion Bianca Del Rio heads to York on her 11-date stand-up tour. Up for irreverent discussion will be politics, pop culture, political correctness, current events, cancel culture and everyday life, as observed through the eyes of a “clown in the gown”, who will be “coming out of my crypt and hitting the road again to remind everyone that I’m still dead inside”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ryan Adams: Heading back to York Barbican on Friday
Return of the week: Ryan Adams, Solo 2024, York Barbican, Friday, doors 7pm
NORTH Carolina singer-songwriter Ryan Adams returns to York Barbican next week after playing a very long, career-spanning set there with no stage lighting – only his own side lamps – in April last year. This time he will be marking the 20th anniversary of 2004’s Love Is Hell and tenth anniversary of 2014’s self-titled album, complemented by Adams classics and favourites. Adams, who visited the Grand Opera House in 2007 and 2011, will be performing on acoustic guitar and piano. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Harp & A Monkey: Songs of everyday life, love and remembrance at Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Folk gig of the week: Friday Folk presents Harp & A Monkey, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm
GREATER Manchester song-and-storytelling trio Harp & A Monkey specialise in poignant, uplifting and melodic short stories, both original and traditional, about everyday life, love and remembrance. In a nutshell, the extraordinary ordinary, from cuckolded molecatchers and a lone English oak tree that grows at Gallipoli to care in the community, medieval pilgrims and Victorian bare-knuckle boxers.
This versatile collective of artists, animators, storytellers and multi-instrumentalists has undertaken bespoke songwriting for soundtrack, film and art projects for the likes of Sky Arts and the Department of Sport, Media and Culture. Fylingdales Folk Choir will perform too. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
York actress Kate Hampson in the matriarchal role of Marmee in Little Women at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Play of the week: Little Women, York Theatre Royal, Saturday to October 12
CREATIVE director Juliet Forster directs York Theatre Royal’s new production of Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age story of headstrong Jo March and her sisters Meg, Beth and Amy as they grow up in New England during the American Civil War.
Adapted by Anne-Marie Casey, the production features Freya Parks, from BBC1’s This Town, as Jo, Ainy Medina as Meg, Helen Chong as Amy and York actress Laura Soper as Beth. Kate Hampson returns to the Theatre Royal to play Marmee after leading the community cast in The Coppergate Woman. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Seedling, by Sarah Sharpe, on show in Leeds Fine Artists’ 150th anniversary show at Blossom Street Gallery
Exhibition of the week: Leeds Fine Artists Celebrating 150 Years, Blossom Street Gallery, York, until October 31
LEEDS Fine Artists is celebrating its 150th anniversary with an exhibition at its regular York host, Blossom Street Gallery, featuring an inspirational collection of work demonstrating a wide range of styles and different media.
Taking part are: Sharron Astbury-Petit; Dawn Broughton; Jane Burgess; Mark Butler; Pete Donnelly; Alison Flowers; Roger Gardner; Margarita Godgelf; Dan Harnett; Peter Heaton; Nicholas Jagger; Michael Curgenven; Catherine Morris; Martin Pearson; Clare Phelan; Trevor Pittaway; Neil Pittaway; Annie Robinson; Annie Roche; Sarah Sharpe and John Sherwood. Opening hours: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10am to 4pm; Sundays, 10am to 3pm.
Tim Peake: Exploring the evolution of space travel at York Barbican
Travel show of the week: Tim Peake, Astronauts: The Quest To Explore Space, York Barbican, September 25, 7.30pm
BRITISH astronaut Tim Peake is among only 610 people to have travelled beyond Earth’s orbit. After multiple My Journey To Space tours of his own story, he makes a return voyage with his stellar new show, sharing the collected stories of fellow astronauts as he explores the evolution of space travel.
From the first forays into the vast potential of space in the 1950s and beyond, to the first human missions to Mars, Peake will traverse the final frontier with tales of the experience of spaceflight, living in weightlessness, the dangers and unexpected moments of humour and the years of training and psychological and physical pressures that an astronaut faces. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Lightning Threads: Showcasing their debut album, Off That Lonely Road, at Milton Rooms, Malton
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club, Lightning Threads, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 26, 8pm
SHEFFIELD blues-rock trio Lightning Threads are influenced by the great rock musicians of another time, drawing comparisons with The Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr, Cream and The Doors.
Tom Jane, guitar and vocals, Sam Burgum, bass and vocals, and Hugh Butler, drums and keyboards, have been nominated for Best Album in the 2024 Blues Awards for their November 2023 debut, Off That Lonely Road, recorded with Andrew Banfield, of Superfly Studios, and graced by Kelly Michaeli’s gospel vocals. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Guy Rhys’s Captain Ahab, centre, leads the whale hunt in Simple 8’s Moby Dick, on tour at York Theatre Royal
SEEKING a whale of a time? Head off to Moby Dick, open studios and musicals full of physical exercise, suggests Charles Hutchinson.
Touring play of the week: Simple8 in Moby Dick, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
SEBASTIAN Armesto’s stage adaptation captures the romantic, ambiguous, richly allegorical spirit of Herman Melville’s novel for Simple8, specialists in creating worlds out of nothing in bold new plays that tackle big ideas with large casts.
Armed with sea shanties played live on stage, planks of wood, tattered sheets and a battered assortment of musical instruments, the ensemble of actors and actor-musicians, led by Guy Rhys’s whale-seeking Captain Ahab, brings Moby Dick ingeniously to life. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Wildlife and landscape artist Jonathan Pomroy: Opening his studio at 4 Pottergate, Gilling East, for North Yorkshire Open Studios
Art event of the week: North Yorkshire Open Studios 2024, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm
STRETCHING from the coast to the moors, dales and beyond, 169 artists and makers from North Yorkshire’s artistic community invite you to look inside their studios this weekend.
Among them will be Steve Page (Sheriff Hutton); Russell Hughes (Easingwold); Richard Gray (Easingwold); Justine Warner (Sheriff Hutton); Patrick Smith (Sheriff Hutton); Calum Balding (Thornton le Clay); Sue Walsh (Cawton); Jonathan Pomroy (Gilling East); Stephen Bird (Ampleforth); Mary Raynar (Helmsley); Ruth King (Boltby) and Marcus Jacka (Boltby). For full details, go to: nyos.org.uk. A full brochure is available.
Tim Pearce’s poster artwork for Life Forms In Motion at Blossom Street Gallery, York
York exhibition of the week: Life Forms In Motion, Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York, until June 30
SIX Yorkshire artists give individual responses to the challenge of interpreting the motion of life forms in a range of static media. In a nutshell, time and space condensed into single, dynamic images.
Taking part are Tim Pearce, painting and sculpture; Cathy Denford, painting; Jo Ruth, printmaking; Adrienne French, painting; Mandy Long, ceramic sculpture, and Lesley Peatfield, photography. Opening hours: Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm; Sundays, 10am to 3pm.
Save our lido: Drip Drop Theatre in All Those On Board at Helmsley Arts Centre
Making a splash: Drip Drop Theatre in All Those On Board, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm
NORTH Yorkshire company Drip Drop Theatre presents the premiere of E C R Roberts’s new musical All Those On Board, wherein Bingham-by-the-Sea’s Save The Lido group members are determined to save the town’s long-closed 1930s’ swimming pool from demolition.
They need to come up with the funding before the deadline, no matter to what lengths they must go. Fifteen original songs, live instruments, leg-kicking choreography and colourful swimming hats combine in this lido-themed show for fans of upbeat musical theatre and outdoor swimming in whatever form. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Gary Stewart: Playing the Paul Simon songbook at Helmsley Arts Centre
Ryedale gig of the week: Gary Stewart, The Only Living Boy In (New) York: The Songs of Paul Simon, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
PERTHSHIRE-BORN singer, songwriter, folk musician and Hope & Social drummer Gary Stewart’s compositions are influenced by Sixties and Seventies’ folk artists. Chief among them is New Jersey’s Paul Simon, whose songs Easingwold-based Stewart grew up learning and performing.
Here he interprets such Simon standouts as The Boxer, Mrs Robinson, Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard, Kodachrome and Graceland. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Ryedale Primary Choir: Taking part in Across The Whinny Moor at St Peter’s Church, Norton, on Saturday
Ryedale Festival community event of the week: Across The Whinny Moor, St Peter’s Church, Norton, Saturday, 4pm
THE world premiere of the Community Song Cycle: Across The Whinny Moor follows the trail of North Yorkshire’s Lyke Wake Walk, meeting cheeky hobs, angry mermaids, resourceful giants and wise witches along the way.
The all-age cast for a walk through stories and songs by John Barber and Hazel Gould includes the schoolchildren of the Ryedale Primary Choir, the Ryedale Voices, Harmonia and The RyeLarks choirs, Kirkbymoorside Town Junior Brass Band, storyteller Rosie Barrett and mezzo-soprano soloist Victoria Simmonds, conducted by Caius Lee. Box office: ryedalefestival.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173652657.
Mezzo-soprano Victoria Simmonds: Singing in Across The Whinny Moor
Tribute gig of the month: The Belgrave House Band presents Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black, Milton Rooms, Malton, June 16, 8pm
THE Belgrave House Band, specialists in reimagining classic albums, have visited Malton previously with their interpretations of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.
Now they return with their take on Amy Winehouse’s second album, 2006’s Back To Black, joined by London vocalist Lydia Kotsirea and a full horn section, backing vocalists and rhythm section from the burgeoning Leeds jazz scene. York singer-songwriter Maggie Wakeling supports. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
The poster artwork for Calamity Jane, whip crackin’ its way to the Grand Opera House, York, next spring
Show announcement of the week: Carrie Hope Fletcher in Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, April 29 to May 3 2025
IN the week when Nikolai Foster’s production of An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical is on tour at the Grand Opera House, the York theatre announces the booking of another show with the North Yorkshire director at the helm, this one bound for the West End.
Three-time WhatsOnStage Best Actress in a Musical winner Carrie Hope Fletcher will star in the whip-crackin’ musical as fearless Dakota gun-slinger Calamity Jane. “She is one of those roles that doesn’t come around all too often,” she says. “She’s action, romance and comedy all packed into one character, and I can’t wait to take on the challenge of filling her shoes.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Dr Hannah Thomas, special collections manager at the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, with Father Edward Oldcorne’s crucifix from the Hide & Seek: The Aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot exhibition, opening today. Picture: Frank Dwyer
AN historic crucifix, a Wolds art trail, 40th anniversaries at the quadruple and a York-made horror double bill promise a heap of interesting encounters for Charles Hutchinson and you alike.
Exhibition launch of the week:Hide & Seek: The Aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, today until November 16
THE only surviving item from thousands seized in raids on Catholic houses after the 1605 Gunpowder Plot goes on show in York. The late 16th/early 17th century crucifix belonged to Father Edward Oldcorne (1561-1606), who was hanged, drawn and quartered despite being innocent of involvement. His crime: he attended school in York with infamous plotter Guy Fawkes and committed the treasonous act of becoming a Catholic priest.
On display will be new research into the crucifix, more information on Oldcorne and the men he was caught alongside, and an exploration of how priest hiding holes were constructed within the fabric of buildings. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.
Andy And The Oddsocks: Songs, slapstick and silliness from Andy Day, centre, and co at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Alex Lake
Children’s gig of the week: Andy And The Odd Socks, York Theatre Royal, today, 1pm
STRAIGHT off the telly and onto the live stage, Andy And The Odd Socks bring their madcap mix of songs, slapstick and silliness to life with a 70-minute show to entertain families of all ages.
Fronted by Andy Day, CBeebies regular and 2021 York Theatre Royal panto star as Dandini in Cinderella, their sock’n’roll makes for the ideal first concert for children. Andy And The Odd Socks are patrons for the Anti-Bullying Alliance, by the way. Tickets update: filling up fast; 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Michael Mears and Riko Nakazono in Essential Theatre’s The Mistake
Studio show of the week: Essential Theatre in The Mistake, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 7.45pm
DIRECTED by Rosamunde Hutt, Michael Mears’s Spirit of the Fringe award-winning play explores the events surrounding the catastrophic ‘mistake’ that launched the nuclear age, followed by a post-show discussion.
1942. On a squash court in Chicago, a dazzling scientific experiment takes place, one that three years later will destroy a city and change the world forever. Two actors, one British (Mears), one Japanese (Riko Nakazono), enact the stories of a brilliant Hungarian scientist, a daring American pilot and a devoted Japanese daughter, in a fast-moving drama about the dangers that arise when humans dare to unlock the awesome power of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Delta Saxophone Quartet: Playing Steve Martland and The Soft Machine works at York Late Music’s concert tonight
Season start of the week: York Late Music, Franko Bozak, 1pm; Delta Saxophone Quartet, 7.30pm, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, today
FRANKO Bozac showcases the reasons why the accordion should not be underestimated in his afternoon programme, featuring a collaboration between composer James Williamson and visual artist Romey T Brough.
Celebrating their own ruby anniversary, the Delta Saxophone Quartet mark York Late Music’s 40th year by performing Steve Martland, The Soft Machine and new works. Box office: latemusic.org or on the door.
Elijah Dsenis-Constantine, as Tony, and Rebecca Ulliott, as Maria, in Be Amazing Arts’ West Side Story at the JoRo
Musical of the week: Be Amazing Arts in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today and tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
MALTON company Be Amazing Arts present Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s musical transition of Shakesespeare’s Romeo And Juliet to modern-day New York City, where two young idealistic lovers find themselves caught between warring street gangs, the “American” Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks.
Arthur Laurents’s book remains as powerful, poignant and timely as ever, charting the lovers’ struggle to survive in a world of hate, violence and prejudice in this innovative, heart-wrenching landmark Broadway musical. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Ceramicist Gerry Grant: Taking part in Pocklington Area Open Studios 2023 at Venue 4, Fangfoss Pottery, with illustrator Sarah Relf
Art event of the weekend: Pocklington Area Open Studios 2023, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm
TAKING in Pocklington, villages with ten miles of the East Yorkshire market town, the Yorkshire Wolds and North Derwent Valley, Pocklington Area Open Studios 2023 features 28 artists in 14 venues.
This compact art trail features paintings, ceramics, textiles, jewellery and photography, with the chance to meet diverse painters and makers, many in their own studios, who will preview their latest works for sale, discuss their creative processes, potential commissions and upcoming workshops and courses.
Venue 1: Park Lane End Studio, Park Lane, Bishop Wilton: Colin Pollock, oils, acrylics and watercolour; Judith Pollock, printmaking and mixed media.
Venue 2: The Studio, The Old School, Skirpenbeck: Lesley Peatfield, fine art and abstract photography; Richard Gibson, sculptures.
Venue 3: Rocking Horse Studio, Rocking Horse Yard, Fangfoss: Shirley Davis Dew, painting; Sue Giles, textile art exploring Japanese Shibori techniques of dyeing; Richard Moore, handmade ceramic tiles.
Venue 4: Fangfoss Pottery, The Old School, Fangfoss,: Gerry Grant, ceramics; Sarah Relf, drawing and illustration.
Venue 5: I Woldview Road, Wilberfoss: Mo Burrows, jewellery; Bernadette Oliver, acrylic, ink and collage; Tori Foster, jewellery.
Venue 6: 4 Archibald Close, Pocklington: Peter Schoenecker, 2D and 3D art works.
Venue 7: 35 St Helens Road, Pocklington: Mary Burton, acrylics and pastels; Lee Steele, ceramics; Ingrid Barton, mixed media.
Venue 8: Newfold House Granary Studio, Newton upon Derwent: Chris Cullum, textile arts.
Venue 9: Tullyframe, Main Street, Barmby Moor: Penny De Corte, ceramic art; Avril Cheetham, jewellery.
Venue 11: Church Farm, Town Street, Hayton: Noreen Thorp, pastel, watercolour and mixed media, Lynda Heaton, watercolour and mixed media.
Venue 12: Hayton Studio, Manor Farm, Town Street, Hayton: Peter Edwards, mixed media; Harry Hodgson, mixed media.
Venue 13: Plum Tree Studio & House, Pocklington Lane, Huggate: Belinda Hazlerigg, paintings, printmaking, silk scarves and ceramics.
Venue 14: 3 Stable Court, Londesborough: Tony Wells, ceramics.
For the brochure, map and artist details, head to: pocklingtonareaopenstudios.co.uk/info.html.Free entry.
Hannah Sinclair Robinson’s Grete and a suspended Felipe Pacheco’s Gregor Samsa in Frantic Assembly’s Metamorphosis, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Tristram Kenton
Touring play of the week: Frantic Assembly in Metamorphosis at York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
POET, author, broadcaster and speaker Lemn Sissay has adapted Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis for Frantic Assembly, visceral purveyors of theatre full of physicality, movement and emotional truths, who last toured Othello to York.
Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed from breadwinner into burden in this absurd and tragic story, wherein humans struggle within a system that crushes them under its heel in Kafka’s existential depiction of the limitations of the body and mind, imagination and aspiration. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Howard Jones: Songs old and new at York Barbican on Wednesday
Sing something synth-full: Howard Jones: Celebrating 40 Years 1983-2023, York Barbican, Wednesday, doors, 7pm
SINGER, songwriter and synth player Howard Jones, 68, is marking the 40th anniversary of his revolutionary debut single, New Song, performing in a five-piece with Kajagoogoo’s Nick Beggs on bass and Robert Boult on guitar. Expect a “sonic visual feast” of hits and fan favourites and a support spot from Blancmange.
“I think my ’80s’ work still resonates through the generations because of the positive message in the lyrics,” says Jones. “I’ve always believed that music can give the listener a boost, especially when things in life prove challenging. Things can only get better when we realise the power of our own actions and engagement.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Mike Scott: Leading The Waterboys for the seventh time since 2012 at York Barbican
More 40th anniversary celebrations: The Waterboys, York Barbican, Thursday, 7.30pm
MIKE Scott has made a habit of playing York Barbican, laying on his Scottish-founded folk, rock, soul and blues band’s “Big Music” in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and October 2021.
Since then, The Waterboys have released 15th studio album All Souls Hill in 2022; re-released 2000’s Rock In A Weary Land, 2003’s Universal Hall and 2007’s Book Of Lightning on vinyl; appeared on Sky Arts’ The Great Songwriters and announced a six-CD box set of This Is The Sea for early 2024. Joining Scott will be Memphis keyboard player “Brother” Paul Brown, British drummer Ralph Salmins and Irish bassman Aongus Ralston.
Level 42’s Living It Up tour date on Friday the 13th is unlucky for some – it has sold out – but tickets are still available for fellow Eighties’ combo The Waterboys at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The horror, the horror: Book Of Monsters and Zomblogalypse, made in York, screened in York on Friday the 13th
Spooky screening of the week: Book Of Monsters and Zomblogalypse, Spark: York, Piccadilly, York, Friday, 6pm to 11pm
YORK’S horror filmmaking community gathers this Friday The 13th for a special double screening of Dark Rift Horror’sBook Of Monsters and MilesTone Films’Zomblogalypse.
Both York-made indie films have enjoyed award-scooping film festival tours, with Dark Rift’s follow-up feature, How To Kill Monsters,now screening internationally.
Meet the filmmakers, cast and crew of each movie, including directors Stewart Sparke, Hannah Bungard, Miles Watts and Tony Hipwell and star Lyndsey Craine. Add in signings, photo opportunities with cast and props, and merchandise to buy, including both films on Blu-ray, official posters, art cards and other fun stuff. Box office: ticketpass.org/event/EGUKTC/dark-rift-double-bill. 18-plus only.
In Focus: How York composer James Williamson, artist Romey T Brough and Croatian accordionist Franko Bozac collaborated for Late Music premiere and Blossom Street Gallery exhibition
Croatian accordionist Franko Bozac: Premiering James Williamson’s Romey Collages at York Late Music today
YORK composer James Williamson’s composition, Romey Collages, will be premiered by accordionist Franko Bozac as part of the 2023 York Late Festival season today.
The work is a collaboration between James and artist Romey T Brough that emerged from him seeing her work at Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York.
Romey, who lived and worked in York for many years, now resides at her studio in the Hertfordshire countryside. Her latest collages will be on show at Kim Oldfield’s gallery until October 29 under the exhibition title of A Collaboration in Music and Colour
“It’s a really interesting exploration of the relationship between the audible and visual,” says Kim.
Croatian accordion virtuoso Franko Bozac will be making his Late Music debut at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel this afternoon, when Romey Collages will be showcased.
York composer James Williamson delivering Romey T Brough’s collaborative collages to Blossom Street Gallery
Composer James Williamson says: “This set of five pieces is a direct response to a set of monoprint collages by Romey. I first came across her work in 2016 in Blossom Street Gallery, where one of Romey’s collages was displayed on the wall and it immediately caught my eye.
“The collage was a vibrant display of repeated strips of colours, each strip with its own character, yet similar to the one before and after; a kind of self-similarity.”
At the time, James was working towards his PhD in composition, which drew on minimalist visual art and a fascination with the Deleuzian idea of difference and repetition and how might this apply to composing.
“To cut a long story short, I contacted Romey through the gallery to learn more about her work. We immediately connected over a coffee and thought it would be a great idea to collaborate on a project,” says James.
“Romey then created a series of five collages that drew inspiration from music, with each work having a musical title: Chaconne, Aubade, Nocturne, Pastorale and Berceuse. I then responded to these works and created a set of five pieces, each one being a musical interpretation of the works and their titles.
Chaconne Midday, mono’collage, by Romey T Brough
“Like most of my recent work, I use one or two ideas in each piece. I flesh these ideas out using repetition of singular fragments or phrases, juxtaposed by other contrasting fragments, similarly to Romey’s collages.”
Around the same time, James was contacted by Franko Bozac to commission a new piece. “I thought it would be great to tie the two projects together. I have always loved the accordion for its sound and versatility, and rather fittingly, when the bellows open up, it reminds me of collages themselves.”
In turn, Romey recalls: “I had a phone call from Kim, when I was exhibiting my monoprint collages in Blossom Street Gallery, saying that a young composer was interested in meeting me as he composed music the way I created my collages.
“I was very intrigued, and we met up for coffee outside York Theatre Royal. I hadn’t heard any of James’s compositions but was amazed by how we both could understand each other’s creative processes, and when he suggested a collaboration I was delighted to agree.”
Artist Romey T Brough at work on her mono’collages
On the bus back to her York studio, she thought of moods of the day from dawn to night. “Early the next day I travelled to Monks Cross on a very misty morning and Aubade/Dawn came to me,” she says. “The rest followed on, culminating in Nocturne/Night, inspired by the view from my studio through an established beech hedge of car headlights flashing past.
“I have since then indulged in listening to James’s compositions and created more collages inspired by his work. It’s been an exciting collaboration for me, and I hope to continue creating music-inspired images.”
Describing her modus operandi, Romey says: “My monoprints are created by painting with acrylic paint onto glass; the image is then transferred to paper. The glass is wiped clean each time a print is taken, therefore each one is unique.
“The collages are a development following on from the photographic ones I occasionally create. I am fascinated by how reorganising strips of my monoprints can bring more intensity to the colours and evoke memories and emotions.”
Berceuse Twilght, mono’collage, by Romey T Brough
DrJames Williamson: the back story
STUDIED at University of Huddersfield and Royal Academy of Music, completing PhD in Composition at University of York.
His works have been performed by: Psappha; Aurora Orchestra; Hebrides Ensemble; London Sinfonietta; CoMA London; Croatian Philharmonic Orchestra; Lunar Saxophone Quartet; Delta Saxophone Quartet; Quatuor Diotima; Ligeti String Quartet; University of York Symphony Orchestra; RAM Symphony Orchestra; Kate Ledger (piano); Anna Snow (voice); Ian Pace (piano), Franko Bozac (accordion) and Stephen Altoft (19-division trumpet).
Broadcasts include BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction and Hear And Now, Beethoven FM (Chile) and Radio 3 Beograd.
Nocturne Night, mono’collage, by Romey T Brough
Romey T. Brough: the back story
STUDIED initially at Harrow Art School in Middlesex, north of London. Awarded various certificates including national Diploma in Design.
Studied overseas in Italy in Positano, winning a scholarship. Studied with Professor Spadini at Rome Academy.
Work exhibited regularly at Royal Academy, London, and is in archives of Tate Gallery, London, and galleries and collections throughout UK, Japan, Australia and United States of America.
Delta Saxophone Quartet: Martland, Soft Machine and new works on Saturday
WHO better than the Delta Saxophone Quartet to give York Late Music’s 2023-2024 concert season early momentum on Saturday?
A double celebration this weekend will mark not only 40 years of Late Music, but also the ruby anniversary of the Delta musicians, regular participants in the York series.
Saturday’s 7.30pm programme at the Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, will be “typically Delta-eclectic”, featuring the music of Steve Martland, The Soft Machine and some new works.
Stuart O’Hara: Season-opening concert of English songs
The new series will begin on Friday at 1.30pm when bass singer Stuart O’Hara and pianist Marianna Cortesi take a tour through some of the finest English songs from the past decade: works by La Monte Young, Richard Rodney Bennett and Jonathan Harvey, complemented by world premieres of York composers’ settings of words by local poets.
On Friday evening, Late Music will pose the intriguing question: would you attend a concert where all the music was played twice? Would it help you appreciate the music more? Late Music wants to discover the answers in Ruth Lee’s innovative concert of music for harp and electronics. This one is a free/pay-what-you-like event. You could even choose to pay twice!
If your knowledge of accordion is limited to scene-setting via Hollywood movie conceptions of Paris – as sent up by American filmmaker Woody Allen in Everyone Says I Love You – Saturday’s lunchtime concert will put you right.
Franko Bozac: Never underestimate the accordion
Virtuoso Franko Bozac will showcase the reasons why this instrument should not be underestimated in his 1pm programme, featuring a collaboration between composer James Williamson and visual artist Romey T Brough, presented in tandem with Blossom Street Gallery, York.
November 4’s lunchtime concert will be a tribute to Dylan Thomas to mark the 70th anniversary of his death. Tenor Christopher Gorman and pianist David Pipe will present new settings of the Welshman’s poetry by composers Philip Grange, Sadie Harrison, Hayley Jenkins, David Lancaster and Rhian Samuel at 1pm.
In the evening, Beethoven will feature via Franz Liszt piano transcriptions, played by another Late Music favourite, Ian Pace. His 7.30pm programme will include Michael Finnissy’s Gershwin song transcriptions and Late Music concert administrator Steve Crowther’s Piano Sonata No. 4. Box office: latemusic.org.
Ruth Lee: Innovative concert of music for harp and electronics
Opera singer Jennifer Coleman: Soprano soloist on song at York Proms
PROMS, outdoor festivals and carnivals, here comes the sun and summer fun as Charles Hutchinson reaches for the cream.
Outdoor event of the weekend: York Proms, Museum Gardens, York, Sunday, gates open at 5pm
BRITISH-IRISH soprano Jennifer Colemen, Opera North tenor Tom Smith and West End musical theatre singer, actress and TV presenter Shona Lindsay will be the soloists for Sunday’s York Proms.
Musical director Ben Crick conducts the 22-piece Yorkshire Festival Orchestra in a musical theatre tribute, from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel and Bernstein and Sondheim’s West Side Story through to Les Miserables and Wicked. The rousing Proms finale will be accompanied by The Fireworkers’ fireworks. Tickets update: sold out; waiting list for returns at yorkproms.com/contact.
Tom Smith: Tenor soloist at Sunday’s York Proms
Shakespeare Shorts: Twelfth Night, Barley Hall Great Hall, Coffee Yard, York, today, on the hour, every hour, from 11am to 3pm
SHAKESPEARE in only 15 minutes presents an immersive re-telling of Twelfth Night, the one with heaps of mistaken identities, cross-dressing and long-lost siblings.
Barley Hall’s costumed storyteller promises to “make simple a story that has even the characters confused, all while exploring themes of gender identity and the history of cross-dressing in theatre”. Barley Hall admission: barleyhall.co.uk.
Shakespeare Shorts: The artwork for the 15-minute Twelfth Night at Barley Hall
Strensall Community Carnival, Strensall Village Hall and Field, Northfields, Strensall, York, today, 12 noon to 5pm
BACK for its 8th year, Strensall Community Carnival has attractions for all the family, with a procession from Hurst Hall, a food court, 30-plus charity and business stalls and entertainment on the outdoor arena.
Look out for Ebor Morris, The Cadet Band, York Karaoke DoJo, Dynamics Band and Generation Groove in the arena; the Robert Wilkinson School Choir and Band and Mark’s Magic Kingdom Puppet Show in the main hall, and the Captivating Creatures animal show, medieval mayhem with the Knights of the Wobbly Table storytellers, Messy Adventures sensory play and Generate Theatre drama games in the outdoor space.
The Grand Old Uke of York: “Almost unplugged” at Stillington
Uke over there: The Grand Old Uke of York, At The Mill, Stillington, near York, tonight, 7.30pm
YORK collective The Grand Old Uke of York grace the At The Mill stage in an unusual twist to their norm: turning their usual set list on its head to bring gorgeous, pared-back vocals, buttery harmonies and ukuleles played with summery vibes – rather than their usual rock mode – to the garden.
Formed more than ten years ago, they love nothing more than to transform expectations of the ukulele’s bounds. Tonight is a rare chance to see the dynamic group stripped back and “almost” unplugged. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill/925922
Party time: Just Josh celebrates a decade of entertaining children’s parties with a JoRo show
Big kid of the weekend: Josh Benson: Just Josh’s 10th Birthday Party!, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 4pm
AFTER a decade of doing other kids’ parties, York family entertainer, magician and pantomime silly billy Josh Benson has decided he should have his own bash.
Expect all Just Josh’s usual mix of daft comedy chaos, magic, juggling, balloons, dancing and games, plus extra-special surprises. “It’s the perfect Sunday afternoon treat for the whole family,” he says. “Yes, even Dad. It is Father’s Day after all!” Ticket update: last few on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
The poster for York Printmakers’ summer showcase at Blossom Street Gallery
Exhibition of the week: York Printmakers: A Showcase, Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York, until July 31, open Thursdays to Sundays
SIXTEEN York Printmakers members demonstrate techniques and printing processes that date back hundreds of years through to those that push the boundaries of contemporary practice, with laser-cut plates, digital elements and 3D techniques.
Taking part are: Harriette Rymer; Lyn Bailey; Bridget Hunt; Carrie Lyall; Patricia Ann Ruddle; Jane Dignum; Jo Rodwell; Lesley Shaw; Phill Jenkins; Sally Parkin; Emily Harvey; Gill Douglas; Becky Long-Smith; Vanessa Oo; Sandra Storey and Rachel Holborow.
Two women up a hillside with ashes stuck to their trouser leg”: Terrain Theatre in Helen at Theatre@41
New play of the week: Helen, staged by Terrain Theatre/Theatre 503 at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
HELEN is 40 when she loses her husband. Becca is 15 when her dad dies. Now it is only the two of them, what do they do next? From Maureen Lennon, the Hull-born writer of York Theatre Royal’s 2022 community play, The Coppergate Woman, comes Helen, a series of snapshots of their relationship’s joys and traumas, laughs and arguments over the next 40 years.
Presented by new northern company Terrain Theatre and directed by Tom Bellerby, this 85-minute play about love, death, grief, postnatal depression, eating disorders, alcoholism, dementia and cancer, and two women up a hillside with ashes stuck to their trouser leg, explores the thread that binds them together and the different ways they damage and save each other. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster for the return of Mrs. Brown Rides Again: Heading to Hull in October
Comedy booking of the week: Mrs. Brown Ride Again, Hull Bonus Arena, October 27, 7.30pm, and October 28, 2pm and 7.30pm
BRENDAN O’Carroll and Mrs. Brown’s Boys will be back on stage in their “classic play” Mrs. Brown Rides Again from August to November. The only Yorkshire shows of the ten-venue tour with the television cast will be at Hull Bonus Arena in late-October.
Written by and starring O’Carroll as the beloved “Mammy”, the play finds Agnes Brown and her dysfunctional family romping their way through what seems to be her last days at home. After hearing of a plot by her children to have her put into a home, Agnes decides to prove them wrong by displaying a new lease of life. Box office: bonusarenahull.com.
The Prodigy: “Full attack mode, double barrel” at Leeds First Direct Arena this autumn. Picture: Andrea Ripamonti
Gig announcement of the week: The Prodigy, Army Of The Ants Tour, Leeds First Direct Arena, November 18
THE Prodigy’s Liam Howlett and Maxim will play Leeds on night three of their seven-date autumn arena tour after a spring and summer run of international festival headline dates. Support will come from Soft Play, the British punk duo of Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman, formerly known as Slaves.
“Army Of The Ants is a calling to The Prodigy peoples,” says Howlett. “We’re comin’ back for u the only way we know, full attack mode, double barrel.” Box office: tix.to/TheProdigy
Soft Cell’s Dave Ball and Marc Almond: Headlining Let’s Rock Leeds
Recommended but general and VIP admission sold out already:Let’s Rock Leeds, Temple Newsam, Leeds, today, gates 11am; 10.30pm finish
HOMECOMING Leeds duo Soft Cell and OMD top the bill at this retro festival. Tony Hadley, Midge Ure, Stray Cats’ Slim Jim Phantom, The Farm, The Real Thing, Roland Gift, Heatwave and Hue & Cry play too. For any form of tickets left, head to: letsrockleeds.com.
In Focus: York Light Opera Company in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, June 27 to July 1
York Light Opera Company cast member Sanna Jeppsson
RIOTOUS, rude and relevant, Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts’s off-Broadway musical comedy I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change looks at how we love, date and handle relationships.
In a revamp of the original 1996 production, York Light Opera Company stage this witty hit show with a cast of seven under the direction of Neil Wood, fresh from his menacing Sweeney in Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. Martin Lay provides the musical direction for the two 7.30pm peformances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee.
Noted for its insights into human nature and catchy-as-a-Venus-flytrap songs, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change explores the joys and challenges of love in songs that chart the heart’s path from dating to marriage to divorce.
Guiding audiences through a series of comedic and poignant vignettes will be Richard Bayton, Emma Dickinson, Monica Frost, Emily Hardy, James Horsman, Sanna Jeppsson and Mark Simmonds.
Cue shocks, surprises and songs aplenty as our love lives are reflected in art, up close and personal. Box Office tickets.41monkgate.co.uk
The poster for York Light Opera Company’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
York Printmakers’ work on show at Blossom Street, York
YORK Printmakers are presenting A Showcase at Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York, until July 31.
On show is an array of printmaking skills, demonstrating techniques and printing processes that date back hundreds of years through to those that push the boundaries of contemporary practice, with laser-cut plates, digital elements and 3D techniques.
Taking part are: Harriette Rymer; Lyn Bailey; Bridget Hunt; Carrie Lyall; Patricia Ann Ruddle; Jane Dignum; Jo Rodwell; Lesley Shaw; Phill Jenkins; Sally Parkin; Emily Harvey; Gill Douglas; Becky Long-Smith; Vanessa Oo; Sandra Storey and Rachel Holborow.
York Printmakers formed in 2015 when a dozen or so printmakers from the York area joined together. The group now numbers around 50 members who meet monthly to share work, discuss ideas about processes in an informal way and learn from each other.
Their work spans a wide variety of methods, from etching, linocut, collagraph, monotype and screen print to solar plate, Japanese woodblock, lithography and stencilling.
Members have a wide range of printmaking backgrounds, from art students to professional artists who exhibit widely, and they work continually work on new opportunities for the group. For example, the logo was created as a group project with several members choosing letters and producing prints of them in their individual ways.
Regular opening hours at Blossom Street Gallery are: Thursdays, 11am to 3pm; Friday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm; Sundays, 10am to 3pm.
Richard Frost: Furniture maker and Tutankhamun enthusiast
BLOSSOM Street Gallery, in York, is playing host to an autumn triple bill of exhibitions until November 30.
Taking part are York furniture designer and cabinet maker Richard Frost, celebrating the centenary of Tutankhamun’s discovery; ceramic sculptor Jenny Chan, showcasing her Wise Woman, and painter Jane Burgess, presenting her In Southern Climes watercolours and oils.
Richard’s exhibition comprises pieces of fine furniture inspired by his fascination with ancient Egypt, alongside a number of smaller items, in the culmination to 18 months’ work, including the study of ancient Egyptian artefacts and architecture.
“On November 4 1922, excavators led by Egyptologist Howard Carter uncovered the tomb of Tutankhamun,” says Richard. “When asked what he saw, he replied, ‘wonderful things’. This exhibition is my tribute to the beauty and elegance of ancient Egypt that he revealed.”
The poster for Richard Forst Design’s exhibition at Blossom Street Gallery
Items exhibited by Richard Frost Design include drinks cabinet inspired by hieroglyphics, a hat stand and wall cabinets prompted by a study of the lotus flower.
Richard says: “Working from my workshop in York, I produce bespoke and limited-edition handcrafted furniture, household goods and gifts. With no single definitive style, I take my inspiration from both the natural world and our industrial heritage. My portfolio includes pieces with a traditional feel and those with more of a contemporary look. At all times, my objective is to produce an exquisite piece of furniture.”
Born in Hong Kong, Jenny Chan spent much of her childhood on the small island of Nauru without the distractions of a television set and not even a radio. Instead, she explored her environment and loved to tinker from an early age.
She started sculpting in 2017, completely unsure of her capabilities after being a housewife for 16 years. “Despite being ‘confidence zero’, I started to create ceramics sculptures, which I found peaceful and fulfilling, the ideal distraction for relieving anxiety and isolation as a new immigrant in the UK,” she says.
Ceramic sculptor Jenny Chan: “Heeding the words of the Wise Woman”
Applying meticulous and reflective craftsmanship, she makes expressive figurative sculptures, each one with its own story. “I find inspiration from the integrity and honesty within people, the vitality, healing and peace,” says Jenny, whose work is intriguingly detailed and touched by her Chinese origins. Her exhibition may continue after November 30, with no closing date set.
Jane Burgess was born in 1948 in Cheshire, where she developed a love of landscape and an interest in drawing and painting from an early age.
“I was influenced greatly by my father, Morgan Hewinson, who was an artist and lecturer at Manchester College of Art,” she says. “He encouraged my enthusiasm for visual art.
“One time, when I wanted to do silk-screen printing, he converted my mum’s tea trolley into a press! Sometimes we went out sketching in the countryside or at slum-clearance and bomb sites in Stockport and Manchester.”
Jenny Chan’s Wise Woman sculptures, Richard Frost’s furniture designs and a Jane Burgess painting on show at Blossom Street Gallery, York
Jane is still fascinated by tangled vegetation, broken fences and dilapidated buildings. “My work sometimes invites the viewer to see beauty in unexpected subjects,” she says.
While at school, she attended Saturday morning classes for sixth-form students at Manchester College of Art, going on to study on a foundation course in Leicester and to gain a BA Hons in art and design at Maidstone College of Art.
After two years of working and travelling in North Africa, the Middle East and India, Jane moved to Huddersfield in 1974 and raised a family. “I started painting in earnest again in the Eighties,” she says. “I work in a variety of media – mostly watercolours and oils – and would describe myself as a tonal and figurative painter.
“Watercolour appeals to me because of its immediacy of use and the luminosity of its colours. With oils, I often paint en plein air, completing a work in one session or creating a piece that I then finish in the studio.”
Jane Burgess’s poster for her In Southern Climes exhibition at Blossom Street Gallery
Jane paints subjects in West Yorkshire, other parts of the UK and abroad. “I’m particularly interested in the effects of light in the landscape and carry a camera everywhere, using photography both as a means of recording and to experiment with composition,” she says.
“Having been an adult education teacher of drawing and painting, I now go out to paint regularly with a group made up largely of my ex-students.”
Jane is an elected member of two professional bodies: Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (MAFA) and Leeds Fine Artists (LFA). “My work has been exhibited widely in solo and joint shows, and many of my pieces are held in public and private collections in the UK, France, Sweden and Spain,” she says.
Blossom Street Gallery opening hours are 12 noon to 4pm, Thursdays (but closed this Thursday); 10am to 4pm, Fridays and Saturdays; 10am to 3pm, Sundays; closed, Monday to Wednesday.
Bull : York band play Deer Shed Festival 12 on Sunday
MUSIC in meadows and parks, a Viking community play and Osmondmania revisited, knitting and a superstar by the sea are Charles Hutchinson’s alternatives to summer holiday queues at ports.
Festival of the weekend: Deer Shed Festival 12, Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, near Thirsk, today and tomorrow
DEER Shed Festival 12 takes the theme of Pocket Planet, “a celebration of different things from different planets”, spanning live music, DJ sets, comedy, science, Fringe and children’s shows, spoken word, films, sports, workshops and wellbeing.
John Grant, from Buchanan, Michigan, headlines the main stage tonight, preceded by a special guest set from Self Esteem, alias Rebecca Lucy Taylor, from Sheffield/Rotherham. Art-rock Londoners Django Django top Sunday’s bill, backed up by South London post-punk hipsters Dry Cleaning, while York’s ebullient Bull headline the Acorn Stage that night. For ticket details, head to: deershedfestival.com.
The Feeling: Headlining MeadowFest in Malton. Picture: Andy Hughes
The other festival at the weekend: MeadowFest, Talbot Hotel gardens and riverside meadows, Malton, today, 10am to 10pm
MALTON’S boutique midsummer music festival, MeadowFest, welcomes headliners The Feeling, Alistair Griffin, New York Brass Band, Huge and Hyde Family Jam to the main stage.
Performing on the Hay Bale Stage will be Flatcap Carnival, Ross McWhirter, Simon Snaize, George Rowell, Maggie Wakeling, Nick Rooke, The Twisty Turns and Graeme Hargreaves.
Children’s entertainment, inflatables, fairground rides, street food and a festival bar are further attractions. Bring folding chairs, picnics…and well-behaved dogs on leads. Tickets: tickettailor.com/events/visitmalton.
Kate Hampson in the title role of The Coppergate Woman, York Theatre Royal’s summer community play
Play of the week: The Coppergate Woman, York Theatre Royal, today until August 7
IN an ever-changing world, how do we hang on to who we are when the grounds are shifting beneath our feet? How do we look forward and rebuild, when the end times feel ever more real? In the heart of York lies a woman with the answers.
Discovered in a shallow pit by the River Foss, the remains of an unknown woman are displayed in a Jorvik Viking Centre glass cage for all to see. Until, one day, the visitors are no more, the city is quiet and the Coppergate Woman rises again in Maureen Lennon’s community play, directed by Juliet Forster and John R Wilkinson with a cast of 90 led by Kate Hampson. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Crowning glory: Annie Stothert’s papier-mâché sculpture at Blossom Street Gallery
Exhibitions of the week: Colourforms, by Fiona Lane and Claire West; Enchanted Forest, by Annie Stothert, Blossom Street Gallery, York
BLOSSOM Street Gallery has two exhibitions running simultaneously until the end of August.
Colourforms presents brightly coloured paintings by York Open Studios mixed-media artist Fiona Lane and “art to make you smile” painter Claire West, from Beverley. Enchanted Forest brings together a highly imaginative collection of papier-mâché sculptures by Annie Stothert, from Yorkshire, inspired by folklore, myth and fairy tales.
Yoshika Colwell: Knitting together music, metaphysics and words in Invisible Mending at the Stilly Fringe
Edinburgh Fringe taster of the week: Yoshika Colwell in Invisible Mending, Stilly Fringe, At The Mill, Stillington, near York, Sunday, 7pm
IN the summer of 2020 as a pandemic raged, Yoshika Colwell was processing the death of her beloved grandmother, Ann. A woman of few words, Ann’s main outlet was her glorious, virtuosic knitting. As she approached the end of her life, Ann started a project with no pattern and no end goal.
Yoshika takes up this piece where Ann left off, creating a show about love, grief and knitting with fellow experimental music/theatre-maker Max Barton, from Second Body. Original music, metaphysics and verbatim material combine to explore the power in small acts of creativity. Box office: atthemill.org.
How they became big in the Seventies: The Osmonds: A New Musical tells the family story in song at the Grand Opera House, York
Musical of the week: The Osmonds: A New Musical, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday
YOU loved them for a reason. Now, for the first time, family drummer Jay Osmond turns his story into a family drama on the musical stage, offering the chance to re-live the ups and downs, the hits and the hysteria of the clean-living Seventies’ boy band from Utah, USA.
Directed by Shaun Kerrison and choreographed by Olivier Award-winning Bill Deamer, this is Jay’s official account of how five brothers born into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faith were pushed into the spotlight as children on the Andy Williams Show and the hits then flowed, Crazy Horses, Let Me In et al. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Christina Aguilera: Biggest American female star to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre since Britney Spears
American superstar grand entrance of the week: Christina Aguilera, supported by Union J, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Tuesday, gates open at 6pm
CHRISTINA Aguilera piles up the Billboard Hot 100 hits, the Grammy awards and the 43 million record sales, to go with the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the honour of being the only artist under the age of 30 to feature in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest singers of all time.
Add to those accolades her coaching on NBC’s The Voice and her role as a global spokesperson for World Hunger Relief. Tuesday, however, is all about Genie In A Bottle, Beautiful, What A Girl Wants, Dirty and Fighter. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Kate Pettitt: Kate Pettitt: One of the artists taking part in Arnup Studios Summer Open Weekend. Picture: Olivia Brabbs
Open studios of the week: Arnup Studios Summer Open Weekend, Panman Lane, Holtby, near York, August 6 and 7, 10am to 5pm
ARNUP Studios open their countryside doors for a weekend of art, craft and, fingers crossed, summer sunshine.
Once the home and workplace of the late potter and sculptor Mick and Sally Arnup, Arnup Studios are now run by daughter and stoneware potter Hannah, who oversaw their renovation. Liz Foster, Michelle Galloway, Kate Pettitt, Reg Walker, Emma Welsh and Hannah all have working studios there.
All but abstract sculptor Reg of these resident artists will be taking part, showing a mix of painting, print, drawing, ceramics and jewellery. They will be on hand to discuss their work and share processes and techniques with visitors, who are invitated to buy original one-off pieces of art and craft, smaller gifts and cards direct from the makers or simply to browse and enjoy the day.
As well as a small carpark on site, free on-street parking is available in the village. The studios are bike and dog friendly; families are welcome.
Art science interface at Blossom Street Gallery: Artist Clare Nattress and scientist Dr Daniel Bryant stand either side of her pollution-marked bicycle. Picture: Matt Waudby
ARE people really aware of the dangers of polluted air close to home in York, ask arts researcher, educator and cyclist Clare Nattress and atmosphere scientist Dr Daniel Bryant?
Their studies are the subject of a collaborative exhibition under the title of The Art Science Interface: Making York’s Air Pollution Visible, on show at Blossom Street Gallery, York, with project support from the National Environmental Research Council.
“The work shines a light on the air pollution experienced in York while cycling with the objective of making the invisible, visible,” says conceptual artist and University of York St John graphic design lecturer Clare, whose white-painted, pollution-splattered, unwashed bike forms the exhibition centrepiece.
The same Bombtrack Beyond +1 German bike on which Clare had cycled around six countries – Norway, Germany, Spain, then Nepal, and onwards to Australia and New Zealand – in ten months in 2018 when taking a break from work and study as she approached 30.
“Pollution is a hot topic at the minute and a pressing global issue. Air pollution causes serious health risks and costs to the NHS could reach £5.3 billion,” she says.
“Recently I was in the company of air pollution activist campaigner Rosamund Kissi Debrah, who lost her daughter to asthma, the first registered UK resident to have air pollution as her cause of death.”
One of Clare Nattress’s rides on a bus route in York. Picture: Matt Waudby
Airborne particulate species less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, known as PM2.5, are considered to be the most deadly form of air pollution, contributing to millions of premature deaths per year globally.
“However, due to the small size of these damaging airborne particulate species, drawing public attention to the issue is challenging,” says Daniel, from the University of York’s Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, who has worked alongside Professor Jacqui Hamilton. “Our study aims to increase public awareness of PM2.5 through our art-science collaboration.”
Clare has used her bicycle as a performative tool to pedal on low and high infrastructure routes around the City of York – where the roads around the circumference of the University of York and York St John University are highly polluted areas often blighted by heavy congestion – to investigate if there are striking differences in air pollution levels and chemical composition, depending on the routes.
Clare’s bicycle was equipped with a miniature aerosol sampler and air quality sensor to gather street-level data over the course of three months as she cycled up to five hours per ride in urban and rural locations within York and the surrounding areas with a focus on six commuter/bus routes to and from the universities.
The filters collected were extracted and analysed by Daniel through an established method used for PM2.5 filter samples, using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography, high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify known compounds within the samples.
The process of collection and extraction were documented, and the filters also photographed and investigated under a microscope by Daniel.
Clare Nattress on her bike on one of her five-hour rides around York. Picture: Matt Waudby
The data and information gathered have been incorporated onto a digital map of York to reveal collection locations and routes, as well as pollution concentrations and compounds present within filter samples.
“Combining this data with photographs and video snapshots of each performance ride will improve the public’s ability to see for themselves pollution within their city,” says Clare, whose work forms part of her own Digital Smog project, hence the involvement of her partner, Matt Waudby, as photographer and videographer.
His photography, by the way, featured in an exhibition at Cycle Heaven, where he works, during the 2021 York Design Week.
“As an artist, I’m interested in the embodied experience of bicycling using theories of performativity and materiality,” says Clare. “The body becomes a site for academic enquiry. How does the body attune to air pollution? Can we smell it and can we taste it? How does it interact with our bodies while cycling? This other than human collaborator is interconnected with our bodies; we are intertwined.”
Clare and Daniel’s interdisciplinary, frontier-pushing partnership has increased their understanding of environmental hazards that face cyclists and the benefits of a healthier environment through improved infrastructure.
“This study has been beneficial to help monitor and creatively disseminate exactly what cyclists and the public are exposed to and will help to inform effective solutions,” says Clare.
Clare Nattress: Ride 4. Picture: Matt Waudby
“Despite ongoing evidence that suggests art enhances our understanding of science and data, there’s still much to analyse regarding impact and personal realisation for action.
“This research project and resulting exhibition provide initial evidence that the public engages with creative and visual outcomes that aim to make the invisible, visible.”
Clare and Daniel’s research project comes against the backdrop of between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths every year in the UK being attributed to human-made air pollution.
“But it’s very difficult to pinpoint because everyone is subjected to it,” says Daniel. “It’s like how you could smoke all your life and not die from cancer, or you could smoke only one cigarette but die from cancer.
“The whole point of the project is to highlight pollution visually, especially to make you think if you’re travelling in a car.”
Clare points out: “Pollution is worse if you’re sitting in a car in traffic, whereas a cyclist or pedestrian is not exposed in the same way because they’re on the move. In a car, you’re in a hot box for pollution.”
Clare Nattress: Ride 10. Picture: Matt Waudby
Daniel rejoins: “Pollution levels vary, depending on the weather, the temperature, the time of year, the day of the week, the density of traffic. What we do know is that idling in traffic is a big issue in a small city like York where you have to stop a lot, deal with the one-way systems, and everyone trundles along Gillygate, for example.”
Clare adds: “In terms of smelling it, Rougier Street is the worst, the most pungent. That’s because it’s ‘bus central’.
“Look at what’s happening in York. In Gillygate, where Wackers [fish and chips restaurant] is being turned into flats, they’ve been told to keep windows shut…because of the air pollution.”
Clare’s cycling is powering her PhD studies in the School of Art at Leeds Beckett University. Here is the snappy thesis title: “How can cycling be a performative methodology to investigate, reveal and disseminate the problem of air pollution?” As Freddie Mercury once exclaimed, the answer is: “Get on your bikes and ride”.
In practical terms, Clare has learned: “There are cheap, affordable sensors that you can buy to attach to your cycle or backpack to record your exposure, and I now choose my cycling routes more carefully, going on longer routes to avoid pollution,” she says.
York likes to portray itself as the city of cycling. “York is lucky that it has the two rivers [the Ouse and the Foss], with all those cycle paths, but if you took the rivers out of York, it wouldn’t really be a cycling city, with all that heavy traffic,” says Clare bluntly.
Pollution, as captured on a Clare Nattress bicycle ride
Looking at the art and science interface from the artistic perspective, she welcomes the chance to make her Blossom Street Gallery debut with conceptual work that “sits differently to the art it’s positioned alongside, so hopefully it brings a new audience there”.
To prove the point, invitations to the opening private view were extended to the cycling community, scientists and lecturers interested in air pollution, as well as York’s creative network and artists.
Daniel has welcomed the opportunity for collaboration between different disciplines at York’s universities. “Before this work, I would never have thought of doing a project like this. If I just did it for a journal, no-one in the wider public would see it, but the Blossom Street Gallery exhibition makes that possible,” he says.
“We’re now looking for further funding to expand the interface. If we get it, we would look to purchase sensors to make them available for commuters and hobby cyclists to get a breadth of pollution research material and then upload the data.”
Clare adds: “We would also look to run workshops, getting people together from different industries to really look at where pollution is worst in York and what can we do about it.”
The Art Science Interface: Making York’s Air Pollution Visible runs at Blossom Street Gallery, York, until June 30.
Lab work for the Art Science Interface
The science bit:
Particulate Matter 1, 2.5 & 10. (PM1, PM2.5 & PM10) PMs are small solid particles that can penetrate into the lungs with the finest ones even binding to blood vessels. PM10 refers to particles smaller than 10 microns in diameter or a tenth of the width of a human hair. PM2.5 are those smaller than 2.5 microns.
PMs can come from road traffic, energy consumption and natural phenomenons such as volcanic eruptions. PMs can change according to wind speed, weather and temperature, often settling in locations with a lack of wind.
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) NO2 is a suffocating gaseous air pollutant formed when fossil fuels such as coal, oil, gas or diesel are burned at high temperatures. 50 per cent of NO2 emissions are due to traffic.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) VOCs are a combination of gases and odours emitted from many different toxins and chemicals found in everyday products. These can include household paint, new furniture, candles, cooking, cleaning and craft products as well as beauty products and cosmetics. They can also be emitted by traffic and industries. Some VOCs are classified as carcinogenic. (Plume Labs, 2022).
The funding bit:
THE Art Science Interface: Making York’s Air Pollution Visible is one of three projects to share a £76,000 grant from the NERC Discipline Hopping for Environmental Solutions grant awards.
Did you know?
YORK has the highest rate of bicycle thefts in England.
Clare Nattress and Dr Daniel Bryant looking at a book compiled from their research project. Picture: Matt Waudby
Julia Borodina: Russian-born West Yorkshire artist exhibiting at Blossom Street Gallery . Sky competition awaits
WEST Yorkshire painter Julia Borodina will be competing in Sky Arts’ 2022 Landscape Artist of the Year, set for screening in January and February.
Perfect timing for her York exhibition, Into The Light, now on show at Blossom Street Gallery until the end of January.
“She’s managed not to let anything slip regarding the outcome,” says gallery owner Kim Oldfield. “I first met Julia when she exhibited here as part of the Leeds Fine Artists Group, and it’s very exciting that she’s now been selected for the Sky competition.”
Born in Tobolsk, Western Siberia, Russia, Julia graduated with distinctions in Fine Art from Omsk University, later completing a Masters in Painting in the UK in 2002.
Autumn, Woodland, acrylic on board, by Julia Borodina
“I usually work from my studio at the Creative Arts Hub in Mirfield, south of Leeds, or paint outdoors at various locations, depending on the season,” she says. “My main themes are landscapes and townscapes.
“I greatly enjoy working outdoors as it gives me an opportunity to develop suitable compositions and experiment with light conditions.”
Julia is always searching for beauty. “I’m trying to capture a unique moment of life, which on its own is telling a story. I’m interested in painting ‘portraits’ of things and places,” she says.
“The whole experience of painting ‘en plein-air’ is an ideal working environment for me. I start from investigating the area on foot or on my bicycle, noting the places of interest and making quick sketches.
Anglesey, acrylic, by Julia Borodina
“Next step will be to come back to the selected spots and to produce a number of preliminary studies and additional photos if needed. After that the collected material matures and expands in the studio.”
Julia has exhibited her work at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Society of Women Artists, Royal Society of Marine Artists and Society of Wildlife Artists at the Mall Galleries, London.
As well as being a member of Leeds Fine Artists Group, she has taken part in annual exhibitions in York and Holmfirth and at other British galleries and art fairs. Overseas, she shows work at the National Watercolour Exhibition in Russia.
Julia enjoys sharing her creative knowledge with students. “I have extensive teaching experience since graduating and have worked with all age groups, being especially excited to inspire my youngest pupils at primary-school level,” she says.
“I’m trying to capture a unique moment of life, which on its own is telling a story,” says Julia Borodina of her “portraits of things and places”
“We’ve produced some amazing artwork based on climate change, as well as international projects in Chengdu, China, funded by the British Council.
“I teach workshops for children on Saturdays at the Creative Arts Hub, Mirfield, and receive invitations to design and run unique art projects tailored to the needs of both primary and secondary schools.”
Julia also runs painting workshops, teaching short and long-term painting and drawing courses for adults.
From next month, the focus will fall on her Sky Landscape Artist of the Year endeavours after she was selected last summer for the seventh series. “I have very happy memories of the filming and invite you to watch it this winter, when it will be out on Sky Arts TV and Freeview in January and February,” says Julia, still staying tight-lipped on how she fared!
Julia Borodina: Into The Light, Blossom Street Gallery, York, running until January 31; gallery closed from December 25 to January 17. Opening hours before Christmas Day: 10am to 4pm; Christmas Eve, 10am to 3pm. From January 17: 10am to 5.30pm, Tuesday to Saturday; 10am to 4pm, Sundays.
The poster for Julia Borodina’s Into The Light exhibition at Blossom Street Gallery, York
