York Printmakers to mount sixth autumn print fair at York Cemetery on Sept 23 & 24

Rowntree Park, lino print, by Jo Rodwell

YORK Printmakers will hold their sixth Autumn Print Fair at York Cemetery Chapel and Harriet Room on September 23 and 24 from 10am to 5pm.

Set up in 2015 by a dozen printmakers from the York area, this thriving, diverse group now numbers around 40 enthusiastic artists, drawn from a wide range of printmaking backgrounds, from art students to professional artists.

Working independently, they come together to support and challenge each other by sharing opportunities, ideas and processes. 

“Our annual print fair is a well-established event in the city’s creative calendar, attracting people from across the country,” says printmaker, illustrator and graphic designer Jo Ruth.

Kilburn White Horse, lino print, by Michelle Hughes

“It’s our opportunity to exhibit current work and to share our ideas and processes with an interested audience.”

Artists often take inspiration from their surroundings, in this case York and beyond. “Some evoke memories through their prints, others celebrate historic views,” says Jo. “There will be plenty to explore as you see how some of our members have interpreted familiar views through their own eyes.  

“Our printmakers are no strangers to finding wonderful opportunities for creative ideas in and around York, both in the city and in the surrounding dramatic countryside. Some take inspiration from well-known landmarks; others look for beauty in less obvious places.”

For next month’s fair, Russell Hughes has produced a series of collagraph prints and collages inspired by walks around Richmond, North Yorkshire. “I interpret the variations encountered in our daily lives, recording experience in data, observing patterns in nature and in the built environment,” says this explorer of colour and pattern in handmade printmaking.

Trespassing, lino print, by Rachel Holborrow

Rachel Holborow’s lino print Trespassing explores the way the natural world rubs up against a more urban environment in its depiction of often-overlooked wild plants and flowers, such as poppies and chamomile, that populate the field margins along the A64.

Michelle Hughes creates linocut prints of iconic views of the Yorkshire countryside. “Walking and cycling in the area helps me to capture a sense of place,” she says. “I see so many different views of the Kilburn White Horse, even from Holgate Windmill in the street next to my studio.”

Other York Printmakers aim to evoke memories of a place or celebrate a well-known vista. Harriette Rymer, for example, produces delicate lino prints of flowers and has been inspired by the daffodils’ herald of springtime around the city walls.

Lino printer Jo Rodwell grew up in York. “There are so many sites and places that are familiar to me,” she says. “I try to capture the essence of a place and incorporate relatable local scenes that can trigger memories and make people talk about what it means to them. People can have their own relationship with my work and can place themselves in it, whatever their age.”

Minster In Bloom,  lino print, by Harriette Rymer

Etching, linocut, collagraph, monotype, screen print, solar plate, Japanese woodblock, lithography, stencilling and gel plate printing all will feature in the print fair.

“Our members have a wide range of printmaking backgrounds and experience, but we all share a passion for print,” says Jo Ruth. “We’re happy to chat about our ideas, processes and techniques.

“Some members also run printmaking courses, so this is also a great opportunity to find out more and chat to the artists behind the prints.”

Hundreds of original prints will be on show and for sale. Entry is free.

York Printmakers’ Autumn Print Fair, York Cemetery, Cemetery Road, York, September 23 and 24, 10am to 5pm. Fair visitors can walk around the tranquil cemetery grounds, rich with wildlife. For more details, go to: yorkprintmakers.org.uk

York Printmakers’ Autumn Print Fair 2023 poster, showing a detail of Russell Hughes’s collagraph print Variations VII (Forms)

York Printmakers display skills old and modern in summer showcase at Blossom Street Gallery. Who’s taking part?

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.

More works from the York Printmakers showcase

Who are the 30 new artists and makers in York Open Studios? Meet six more here

York Minster, by Duncan Lomax,, at Holgate Gallery

YORK Open Studios returns to its traditional spring slot for the next two weekends after last year’s temporary Covid-enforced detour to July.

More than 150 artists and makers will be showing and selling their work within their homes and workspaces, giving visitors an opportunity to view and buy “bespoke pieces to suit every budget”, from 10am to 5pm on April 2,3, 9 and 10, preceded by a 6pm to 9pm preview on April 1. 

As ever, the range of artists’ work encompasses painting and print, illustration, drawing and mixed media, ceramics, glass and sculpture, jewellery, textiles, photography and installation art. Check out the artists’ directory listings at yorkopenstudios.co.uk to find out who is participating and who will be opening up early for the preview.

CharlesHutchPress will highlight the 30 newcomers in a week-long preview, in map order, that continues today with Toni Mayner; Kimbal Bumstead; Duncan Lomax; Moira Craig; Jo Rodwell and John Hollington.

Toni Mayner: Jewellery inspired by histories, love and loss

Toni Mayner, jewellery, The Cottage, 2 Love Lane, The Mount, York

USING traditional goldsmithing skills and precious stones and materials, Toni makes thematically based one-off narrative pieces and small collections of jewellery inspired by histories, love and loss.

After achieving her Masters in jewellery and silversmithing in 2007, from 2010 to 2020 she lectured at the Institute of Jewellery, Fashion and Textiles, Birmingham City University.

Her work has been exhibited in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Poland and China, including performance, installation and narrative jewellery practice. Returning to her roots as a maker, Toni relocated to York in 2021 to establish a business making wearable collections and commissioned pieces in her garden studio.

Kimbal Bumstead: “My paintings aren’t just experiments in colour”

Kimbal Bumstead, painting, The Mount School, Dalton Terrace, York

KIMBAL specialises in vibrant abstract paintings that capture traces of journeys into imaginary worlds. His distinctive style uses translucent layers of oil paint and varnish to create sensory-rich and absorbing compositions.

Kimbal’s painting practice stems from his background in participatory performance art and his fascination with maps. “It’s really thrilling to be an artist,” he says. “My job is to bring things into existence that weren’t there before, and I use colour and mark-making to get there. But there are other aspects too. My paintings aren’t just experiments in colour, nor are they just expressions of feelings, they are also explorations of journeys into other worlds.”

Originally from London, Kimbal studied Fine Art at the University of Leeds and has held solo exhibitions at Aeon Gallery in London, de Stoker in Amsterdam and BasementArtsProject in Leeds.

New to York, where he teaches abstract art classes with York Learning, he is also exhibiting with Simon Crawford in According To McGee’s first Return Of The Painter 2022 show in Tower Street until April 4.

Duncan Lomax: “Much more than photography”

Duncan Lomax, photography, Holgate Gallery, 53 Holgate Road, York

DUNCAN is an experienced commercial photographer, running Ravage Productions to serve a wide range of businesses, as well as being the official photographer for York Minster.

Alongside this, he produces creative work to his own brief, work that is  often “much more than just photography”

“As well as ‘traditional’ photography, I utilise in-camera multiple exposures, long exposures and other creative techniques to push the perception of what a photograph can be,” he says. “I also use multi-media techniques to create unique prints with individually applied embellishments.”

Duncan has been conducting a spring clean at Holgate Gallery before reopening for tomorrow evening’s preview from 6pm to 9pm. For the duration of the Open Studios event, the gallery will be showing work solely by owner Duncan, who opened the premises in September 2020.

Moira Craig: “Vibrant memories of summer”

Moira Craig, printmaking, 51 Otterwood Lane, York

PRINTMAKER Moira has come to her creative practice after a career in a range of care settings. “My passion for creativity really took flight on the day after my retirement when I visited York Open Studios,” she says.

Drawing on her long experience of working in textile techniques, she experimented in her garden during lockdown, resulting in her alchemy of flowers, leaves and dyeing techniques in contemporary botanical pieces that blend traditional flowers into impressionistic compositions to create vibrant memories of summer.

Jo Rodwell: “Loves the bright, bold colours of nature”

Jo Rodwell, mixed media, 42 Dikelands Lane, Upper Poppleton, York

JO applies a variety of materials and media to explore how colours and layers interact with each other, depicting light and shadow, and how translucency and opacity affect this. 

“Focusing on creating figurative art inspired by people, places and experiences, I uses painting and printing trying to capture the essence of a moment,” she says.

“I love the bright, bold colours of nature and incorporate these in my art to create vibrant and exciting images, in the hope it triggers a moment of reflection for the viewer, evoking an emotion and enabling a connection with the subject.”

Jo Rodwell: “Exploring how colours and layers interact with each other”

John Hollington, wood, 68 Ouse Lea, Shipton Road, Clifton, York

JOHN changed career from draughtsman to York St John product design student…and then designer-maker in 2015.

Inspired by a lifelong love of 20th century art and architecture, he creates beautiful pieces with a modernist, geometric aesthetic for home, garden, birds and bees.

John Hollington: “Modernist, geometric aesthetic for home, garden, birds and bees”

Crafted from oak or cedar – oiled and left natural or blackened to highlight the grain – they sell in gallery shops at The Hepworth, Wakefield, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park and elsewhere.

John has received awards from Northern Design Festival, been longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize in York and was selected by TOAST for their New Makers 2020 programme.

John runs the award-winning John Hollington Studio, designing lighting as well as garden objects.

In focus tomorrow: Andrew Wrigley, painting; Helen Wrigley, painting; Ni Studios, mixed media; Laetitia Newcombe, sculptural ceramics; John Cutting, sculpture; Matilde Tomat, mixed media; Shannon Vertigan, mixed media.