Carolyn Coles’s studio at South Bank Studios, Bishopthorpe Road, York
SOUTH Bank Studios, an artists’ group based at Southlands Methodist Church, York, open their doors and studios to the public for their annual Art & Craft Winter Fair on November 13.
From 10am to 5pm, 28 artists are exhibiting jewellery, ceramics, lino prints, textile art and fine art paintings and prints, all available to buy, just in time for Christmas. Entry is free.
“There has never been a better time than now to support local artists” says Donna Maria Taylor, one of the event organisers and artists from the studios in Bishopthorpe Road. “The South Bank Studios ethos is to build our community, so we decided that as well as showcasing our own work, we would invite other artists and makers to join us at the fair.
“We have a great range of artists showing, such as Carolyn Coles, Caroline Utterson, Jane Dignum, Lincoln Lightfoot, Richard Whitelegg, Mandi Grant and Fiona Lane, to name just a few. There really will be a fantastic selection on offer.”
South Bank Studios’ poster for the November 13 art and craft winter fair
When selecting artists and makers to take part, South Bank Studios made sure that collectively they would offer a varied price range, so no-one should miss out, says Donna.
“But it’s not just about shopping,” she continues. “The studios will be open, so visitors get a chance to look behind the scenes. We will also have performances from the York Music Centre ensembles, including the Senior Concert Band (10am), the Guitar Ensemble (11am), the Senior Folkestra (11.30am) and Big Band (12.30pm). There will be delicious homemade refreshments from the church team too.”
Since the group was formed in 2018, South Bank Studios have been involved in community projects and also hold workshops. For more information on the artists and what’s going on, visit their website, southbankstudios.co.uk.
AFTER the Covid-enforced fallow year of 2020, York Open Studios returns this weekend for its 20th parade of the city’s creative talent.
Preceded by Friday’s preview evening, the event will see 145 artists and makers open 95 studios, homes and workplaces on July 10 and 11 and July 17 and 18, from 10am to 5pm.
Among them will be 43 debutants, prompting CharlesHutchPress to highlight six newcomers a day over the week ahead, in map guide order, as York prepares for a showcase of ceramic, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, furniture, sculpture and textiles skills this month.
From a chrysalis to a butterfly: Caroline Utterson’s textile work in progress
CAROLINE combines her two great loves, photography and fabric, in creating one-off embroidered, appliquéd and felted artworks influenced as much by her imagination as by the landscape around her.
After graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University with a degree in textiles, she worked for North Yorkshire Police for eight years before travelling to Thailand to teach English.
On her return, using the tools she had to hand, Caroline taught herself freehand machine embroidery, a craft she likens to drawing with a sewing machine.
Caroline Utterson: Inspired by animals, nature, her northern roots and love of travel and photography
“I’m greatly inspired by animals, nature, my northern roots and my love of travel and photography,” she says. “Forever taking photos of anything that catches my eye, I then convert my pictures into textile artworks, using fabrics, buttons, beads and bits that I have collected over the years. The environment is important to me, so I use many recycled and vintage fabrics in my work.
“Having worked as a seamstress for four years, I collected and saved hoards of fabric from going into landfill and I love nothing more than breathing new life into these discarded ‘scraps’.”
Caroline launched her It’s Cute textile shop in September 2013. “The name was coined as a result of a happy acronym of my name and what I do: Caroline Utterson Textiles and Embroidery,” she says.
REBECCA specialises in batik, a dye-resist technique using wax that she utilises to make silk scarves, ties, brooches, framed pictures, cards and wall hangings, applying both traditional Indonesian and modern methods.
She first became inspired by batik more than 30 years ago in Malaysia. Subsequently she attended batik workshops and evening classes to learn the techniques.
“I love to be creative with colour and the freedom of abstract designs, and I particularly enjoy the fluidity, flexibility, unpredictability and crackle effect of the wax,” says Rebecca, who is influenced and inspired by the shapes and hues of the Yorkshire countryside and the changing seasons.
“I love to be creative with colour and the freedom of abstract designs,” says Rebecca Mason
She specialises in doing batik on cotton and silk, including velour. “My ties and scarves are each uniquely designed, and my cotton pictures are varied in theme and use a range of batik techniques.”
Rebecca will be one of seven artists taking part in York Open Studios at Southbank Methodist Church, along with Nicola Lee, Caroline Utterson, Colin Black, Donna Maria Taylor, Carolyn Coles and Karen Winship. Between them, they specialise in batik, seascapes, landscapes, paintings, textiles, mixed media, collage, work on paper, acrylics and embroidery.
Should you be wondering, the word ‘batik’ originates from the Javanese ‘tik’ and means ‘to dot’. To make a batik, selected areas of the cloth are blocked out by brushing or drawing hot wax over them, and the cloth is then dyed. The parts covered in wax resist the dye and remain the original colour.
Henry Steele: “Relies on his eye to give a sense of aesthetic”
Henry Steele, ceramics, Millthorpe School, Nunthorpe Avenue, York
A DIAGNOSIS of autism gives Henry an unusual vision of the world around him. From an early age, he refused to conform to numerical concepts. Instead, he relies on his eye to give a sense of aesthetic.
In his art, he uses mixed media, focusing primarily on ceramics. “I’m particularly interested in ancient manufacturing techniques that favour sustainable methods and I often employ discarded items as tools for decoration,” he says.
Sarah Cornwall at the wheel
Sarah Cornwall, ceramics, Millthorpe School, Nunthorpe Avenue, York
SARAH makes hand-built and wheel thrown ceramics in the form of chunky pots and tableware.
At present studying in the final year of a Contemporary Craft degree, she focuses on experimenting with form and colour. By compressing and manipulating the clay, her work takes on an identity of its own, producing a contrast of swirling bright colour against the depth of clay.
A piece of silver jewellery by Laura Masheder
Laura Masheder, silver jewellery, Millthorpe School, Nunthorpe Avenue, York
LAURA trained originally as a classical singer, attending Leeds College of Music, and then left to raise a family and work in catering management for a decade.
On rekindling her creative ambitions, she studied for an Access to Higher Education course in art and design, leading to her degree studies in Contemporary Craft at York College, from where she graduated with first class honours in 2020.
Laura Masheder in her studio
In her hand-crafted hallmarked silver jewellery, she specialises in chasing and repoussé techniques, while also experimenting with wax casting and silver clay.
Her jewellery is a mix of figurative nature studies and abstract geometric pieces, as can be seen at boochica.com.
Silva Rerum jewellery by Fiona Hirst
Silva Rerum (Fiona Hirst), jewellery, Millthorpe School, Nunthorpe Avenue, York
INFLUENCED by travel, anthropology and history, Fiona uses traditional silver and goldsmithing techniques, combined with digital technology.
As with many contemporary jewellers, she has a background in fine art and textiles. Several years ago, she decided to complete a second degree, specialising on mixed media and jewellery techniques. At the same time, she completed a P.G.C.E. and now teaches art, design and media.
Fiona’s designs are strong and modern, sometimes with a narrative element, and at present she is developing a collection based on inspirational women throughout history.
Fiona Hirst: Influenced by travel, anthropology and history
TOMORROW: Mick Leach, Pietro Sanna, Charlotte Dawson, Caroline Lewis, Lucie Wake and Pamela Thorby.
YORK Open
Studios 2020, the chance to meet 144 artists at 100 locations over two April
weekends, has been cancelled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However,
with doors sadly shut for the April 17 to 19 and April 25 to 26 event,
CharlesHutchPress wants to champion the creativity of York’s artists and
makers, who would have been showcasing their ceramics, collage, digital,
illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, sculpture
and textiles skills.
Each day,
in brochure order, five artists who now miss out on the exposure of Open
Studios will be given a pen portrait on these pages, because so much art and
craft will have been created for the event and still needs a new home.
Addresses will not be included at this time.
Meanwhile,
York Open Studios artists are finding their own way to respond to the shutdown
by filling their windows with their work instead. Look for #openwindowsyork2020 to locate them.
“If you see one in your area while taking your daily exercise, take a picture
and let us know,” they say.
A textile work by Caroline Utterson
Caroline Utterson, textiles
CAROLINE combines her two great loves, photography and fabric, in creating one-off embroidered, appliquéd and felted artworks influenced as much by her imagination as by the landscape around her.
After graduating from university with a degree in textiles, she
worked for North Yorkshire Police for eight years before travelling to Thailand
to teach English.
On her return, using the tools she had to hand, Caroline taught
herself freehand machine embroidery, a craft she likens to drawing with a
sewing machine.
“The environment is important to me, so I use many recycled fabrics in my work,” says Caroline Utterson
“I’m greatly inspired by animals, nature, my northern roots and my love of travel and photography,” she says. “Forever taking photos of anything that catches my eye, I then convert my pictures into textile artworks, using fabrics, buttons, beads and bits that I have collected over the years. The environment is important to me, so I use many recycled fabrics in my work.”
Caroline launched her It’s Cute textile shop in September 2013. “The name was coined as a result of a happy acronym of my name and what I do: Caroline Utterson Textiles and Embroidery,” she says.
She would have been participating
in York Open Studios for the first time this month. Contact her via itscuteshop@yahoo.com.
Furniture maker Marcus Jacka
Marcus Jacka, wood
MARCUS specialises in
furniture and objects in wood, usually practical, sometimes only for
contemplation.
After many years
studying, teaching and researching in Physics, he has, for the past decade,
been a full-time woodworker.
The common thread is
design and experimentation, in thought, process and materials, as Marcus tries
to achieve a spare lightness in what he creates. For more info, go to
marcusjacka.com.
RUTH’S slab-built pots
explore structure, containment and balance, articulated and enhanced by the
passage of vapours in the final salt-glaze firing.
Trained at Camberwell School of Arts and Craft, she moved to York after four years living and working in London. A leading figure in York’s art world, with books to her name too, she is a member of the York Art Workers Association and a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association.
Ruth KIng in her studio
Unexpected yet hauntingly familiar, Ruth’s distinctive ceramic vessels have been exhibited widely and are represented in the collections of York Art Gallery; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; Royal Ulster Museum, Belfast; Nottingham Castle Museum and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.
Her work is available by commission, through exhibitions, at onlineceramics.com and the Contemporary Ceramics Centre, London. More details can be found at ruthkingceramics.com.
Elaine Hughes: Collages occupying the imaginary, whimsical world of Oh Golly Gosh
Elaine Hughes, collage
ELAINE creates stitched collages using vintage papers and ephemera to depict scenes from an imaginary, whimsical world she calls “Oh Golly Gosh”.
The paper is first coloured and manipulated with a variety of techniques to then illustrate an imaginary patchwork scene.
The text and graphics of old printed papers, along with a love of the character of old buildings and boats, provide inspiration.
“I have a love of the quirky vernacular buildings found in market and seaside towns, as well as ancient cities such as York,” Elaine says. “The charms of bygone eras of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s also play an important part in the aesthetic language of the work.
“Creating patina and pattern”: Elaine Hughes’s collage work
“I use text, fonts and graphics from vintage ephemera, such as old tram tickets, maps and dress-making patterns, to create patina and patterns.”
Elaine, a graduate in embroidery from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2001, has exhibited in galleries across Britain and since launching her Oh Golly Gosh label in 2009, her work has made its way to homes around the world, as well as finding a permanent home in The Written Gallery in York. Take a look at ohgollygosh.co.uk.
Mick Leach’s paintings take inspiration from Russian artists El Lissitzky and Maleyich
Mick Leach, painting
AS a self-taught artist and full-time worker, Mick’s side-career in painting has been taking shape steadily since early 2016.
He works mainly with acrylic paint and chalk powder, along with other media, that he applies to MDF board to achieve a layered, industrial aesthetic in his abstract paintings.
He draws inspiration from El Lissitzky, the Russian artist, designer, photographer, typographer, polemicist and architect, and Kazemir Malevich, the pioneering fellow Russian avant-garde artist and art theorist.
MIck Leach: geometric composition
“My work aims to abstract the modern, decaying landscape with textures and geometric composition,” says Mick, who won the 2019 Art& York Best Raw Talent award.
Last May to July, he took part in Pyramid Gallery’s Abstract Paintings exhibition; this month would have seen his York Open Studios debut. Check out mickleach.art.
TOMORROW: Fiona Kemp; Chris Whittaker; Laura Masheder, Sarah Papps and Henry Steele.
