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Lockton Artists to hold first group show at Inspired By…Gallery from September 17

The Lockton Artists group members who will be exhibiting at Inspired By…Gallery from next month

ARTISTS from the North York Moors National Park village of Lockton will unite for the first time for an exhibition at the Inspired By… gallery in Danby next month.

Under the theme of Threads and Pathways, the Lockton Artists will be exploring how their individual work shares a common thread of demonstrating the power a special place wields over their inspiration.

As part of the National Park’s 70th anniversary celebrations, the exhibition will run alongside displays of work by Gail Hurst, from Port Mulgrave, and Pauline Brown, from Farndale.

Ceramicist Hester Salt in her studio

The Lockton Artists’ exhibition will underline the wealth of talent that lies within a village of fewer than 300 permanent residents.

Nine artists from the group will be taking part, among them Hester Salt, whose ceramic forms take inspiration from fungi on trees in the woods near Lockton; metalsmith Marcus Steel, who creates patinated and gilded treasure houses, and photographer Mike Nowill, with his intentional camera movement images of Dalby Forest.

Marcus Steel at his work bench

The Threads and Pathways theme has prompted some group members to try new techniques and take their work in a new direction. For instance, textile designer Sarah Peart has extended her embroidery techniques, introducing a new colour palette inspired by the surrounding forests and woodland.

Participating too will be: blacksmith David Stephenson, metal sculptures; Joan Broadbent, watercolours; Stephen Broadbent, watercolours; Sue Slack, acrylic and mixed-media paintings, and Michael Hester, Jesmonite pottery.

Meanwhile, as summer makes way for autumn, Connections To Landscape will showcase Pauline Brown’s drawings and paintings, influenced by the different seasons, colours and moods in and around Farndale.

Michael Hester’s Jesmonite pottery

In Gail Hurst’s Our Land, Our Sea exhibition, she reflects on the natural world and having a sense of place, drawing inspiration from her coastal surroundings and her own bee-and-butterfly garden at home.

All three exhibitions will open on September 17 at the Inspired By… gallery, Danby Lodge National Park Centre, Lodge Lane, Danby, Whitby, and will run until November 7.

The Threads and Pathways exhibition will have Meet The Artists sessions every Friday at 11am and 1.30pm until November 4.

Textile designer Sarah Peart
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Gillies Jones mark 25 years of glassmaking on the North York Moors with Danby show

Kate Jones sketching on the North York Moors. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

ROSEDALE Abbey glassmakers Gillies Jones are to mark 25 years of living and working in the North York Moors National Park by exhibiting at Danby’s Inspired By… Gallery this autumn.

Stephen Gillies and Katie Jones will present A Portrait Of Place from October 10 to November 9 in an exploration of the place they call home.

Gillies Jones have created glass from Rosedale Abbey since 1995, continuing a glassmaking tradition that started in the tiny village in the 16th century. On show from Saturday will be mostly new work that reflects the marks left on the landscape over time by geology, water, nature and human behaviour.

Stephen Gillies at work in the Gillies Jones studio at Rosedale Abbey. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

The couple work in harmony, glassblower Stephen creating the original forms that are then decorated by artist Kate, who uses a combination of sandblasting, wheel engraving and other techniques.

Some of Kate’s preliminary photos and drawings made on walks around the area will be on display too.

“The landscape of the North York Moors has long been an inspiration to artists,” she says. “Our exploration and ‘portrait’ of this landscape observes the geology, river systems and current land-management practices that leave specific marks. We map and observe the layers of human endeavour, both pre- and post-industrial, the marks etched into the land, overlaid and now being reclaimed by nature.

Stephen Jones and Kate Gillies outside their studio. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

“Just as changing light illuminates the landscape, light is integral to our work, animating our glass, revealing layers of colours and engraving. This landscape has evolved, has been sculpted and pressed into service and this is our snapshot in time, a celebration of the now.

“One certainty is that this landscape will change again as custodians of the land change, along with the ideas that inform the management of the world we all share.”

Partners in life and art, Stephen and Kate make their pieces just as glass was made before the industrial revolution: labour intensive and reliant on skills acquired over a long, international apprenticeship.

One of the Gillies Jones works on show from Saturday at Danby’s Inspired By…Gallery. Picture: Gillies Jones

Their design aesthetic draws inspiration from the elemental beauty of their rural surroundings and their traditional are practised by only a few glassmakers across the world.

This process involves the folding of different coloured glass bubbles over each other to produce complex multi-layered and coloured pieces.

Gillies Jones’s defiantly decorative work can be found in public and private collections nationally and internationally, and they also undertake commissions and lecture regularly, both in the UK and overseas.

A Gillies Jones bowl from this autumn’s exhibition. Picture: Gillies Jones

A Portrait Of Place forms the culmination of what should have been a full year of celebrations to mark the silver anniversary of Stephen and Kate’s glass-making partnership, but most had to be Covid-cancelled.

Full details are yet to be confirmed for a series of events associated with the Danby exhibition, but definitely Kate will lead gallery tours – each limited to ten visitors – on October 24 at 11am, 11.45am, 1.30pm and 2.15pm. Tickets cost £5 at:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exhibition-tour-with-kate-jones-tickets-118514856125

The Inspired By…Gallery, at the Moors National Park Centre, Danby, is open from 10am to 5pm daily in October and from 10.30am to 4pm daily in November. The National Park Centre has received VisitEngland’s We’re Good To Go kitemark, an accreditation that affirms all facilities are adhering to the latest Government and industry Covid-19 safety guidelines.

Masks must be worn throughout the National Park Centre in line with those Government guidelines.

Arms and the man: A close-up of Stephen Gillies making glass. Picture: Tony Bartholomew