Tim Pearce’s poster artwork for Life Forms In Motion at Blossom Street Gallery, York
SIX Yorkshire artists are giving six individual responses to the challenge of interpreting the motion of life forms in a range of static media at Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York. In a nutshell, time and space condensed into single, dynamic images.
Taking part in Life Forms In Motion are Tim Pearce, painting and sculpture; Cathy Denford, painting; Jo Ruth, printmaking; Adrienne French, painting; Mandy Long, ceramic sculpture, and Lesley Peatfield, photography.
“Fascinatingly, it is the relative scarcity of practitioners working in contemporary fine art who specialise in subject matter that springs from the realms of sport, dance, music and wildlife that makes this exhibition so fresh and original,” says Tim.
Opening hours: Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm; Sundays, 10am to 3pm.
Ceramic sculptures by Mandy Long at Blossom Street Gallery
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)
LAST
weekend should have been spent visiting other people’s homes, not staying home.
Next weekend too.
This is not
a cabin-fevered call for a foolhardy Trumpian dropping of the guard on
Covid-19, but a forlorn wish that York Open Studios 2020 could have been just
that: York Open Studios. Instead, they will be York Shut Studios.
Nevertheless,
in the absence of the opportunity to meet 144 artists at 100 locations,
banished by the Coronavirus lockdown,
CharlesHutchPress is determinedly championing 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, a handful of artists who now miss out on the exposure of
Open Studios are being 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. Home
and studio addresses will not be included at this lockdown 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.
Furthermore,
look out for plenty of the 144 artists still showcasing their work over the
York Open Studios period online. Visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk to take
your own virtual tour.
The website says: “We’re
doing a Virtual Open Studio, with artists posting based on a daily theme for
the ten days spanning our two weekends. They’ll be showing you their studios
and workshops, favourite processes, answering your questions, and of course
lots of pictures of their new work!
“Search for
#YorkOpenStudios anywhere on social media or follow your favourite artists to
see more.”
First, however, here are six more artists and makers for you to discover…
” I hope always to never take myself too seriously,” says ceramicist Chiu-i Wu
Chiu-i Wu, ceramics
CHIU-I’S functional and sculptural gas-fired
stoneware pieces are all individual and hand-built, with no moulds being used.
“I hope always to never take myself too
seriously, but to just have a simple honesty with my ceramics,” she says.
“When I was little, it was with
pen and paper that I felt expressive: drawing and drawing without thought. The
feeling never left me, and I graduated to paint, then finally to ceramics.”
Chiu-i developed her art and ceramics in her home country of Taiwan, exhibiting her first work in Taipei. “I loved it, but always had a hard time when asked about my work,” she says. “I have no deep meanings. Not ones that I recognise anyway. I just produce from my heart, sensing when what I’m creating begins to feel right.”
She studied hard to be able to create the feeling she wanted in clay and glaze. “When I moved to England in 2003, I brought many glaze recipes, but soon discovered a new range of English clays to explore. I can feel my love of English summers, blackbirds and sheep touching my heart and influencing my work,” says Chiu-i, who now exhibits in both Britain and Taiwan.
As well as York Open Studios, Chiu-I’s 2020 diary includes Potfest at Scone Palace, Perth, and Earth And Fire, at Welbeck, Nottinghamshire, both In June; Potfest In The Park, Penrith, in July, and Art In Clay, Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, in August. Find out more at chiuiwu.co.uk.
Amy Butcher: Applique-based hand embroidery
Amy Butcher, textiles
FOR Amy’s applique-based hand embroidery, a
collage of intricately cut fabric shapes create a foundation. This is then stitched
and embellished to create illustrative pieces rooted in nature and animals.
“My love of art and textiles started at school and
has been a passion ever since,” says the largely self-taught Amy, from Stillington.
“The support and inspiration from an embroidery class enabled me to continue to
develop my work and confidence, and in 2014 I was fortunate to get the
opportunity to work with the greetings card company Bug Art.”
Clover Meadow, by Amy Butcher
She now works on developing her own range of greetings cards, prints, cushion panels, coasters and embroidery stitch kits, printed from her original textile art for Beaks & Bobbins.
This would have been her debut year of exhibiting at York Open Studios. More info at beaksandbobbies.com.
Carol Coleman: A lifetime of creativity
Carol Coleman, textiles
CAROL uses dissolving fabric and a wide range
of found, manipulated, painted or dyed ingredients with any creative technique
she can master to produce wall-hung, 3D and wearable art.
Frequently she uses digital photography with
image manipulation to create working designs.
A lifetime of creativity, followed by specialising
in free-machine embroidery, led to Carol being invited to teach and talk about
her work to organised groups.
Phoenix, by Carol Coleman
She became a professional textile artist in 2003 and in 2015 was presented with the gold award for textiles by Craft & Design magazine. As well as exhibiting locally, nationally and internationally, she writes. Oh, and she designed the Dire Wolf Crest for the Hardhome Embroidery for HBO’s Game Of Thrones.
Next up in her diary is Art In The Pen, in Thirsk, on July 18 and 19, “currently still going ahead”. Check carol@fibredance.co.uk for an update.
Jo Ruth at work in her studio
Jo Ruth, painting
JO specialises in intricate stencils cut from
original drawings layered with painted surfaces. She sprays and sponges
her imagery, reinterpreting the relationship between the natural and the urban
world.
Jo trained in fine art at the University of
Reading, followed by post-graduate studies at Birmingham City University, and
then developed her creative, illustration and design practices alongside her
extensive lecturing and teaching career in London and the Midlands.
“Fascinated by wildlife but a lifelong city
dweller, I’m inspired by elements of both worlds: chance encounters with the
birds we see sharing our urban lives and those in more rural settings,” she
says.
Turtle Dove, by Jo Ruth
“The majority of my imagery is based on our
native and visiting birds, those we see in and around our homes and gardens,
but I use techniques such as stencilling and digital technologies more
associated with urban life.”
As a painter-printmaker, Jo’s work is
experimental in its creative process, employing a variety of media to explore
qualities of mark-making, texture and colour. “I draw inspiration from the
linear qualities of Chinese brush painting, calligraphy and the colours and
patterns of my local environment,” she says.
Her website, joruth.com, divides her
work into Urban, park and garden; Hedgerows and woods; Wetland, lake and sea
and Works on brown paper. Her first major solo show was at the Scottish
Ornithologists Club in Aberlady, Scotland, and she exhibits regularly at the International
Bird Fair in Rutland.
LUISA favours expressive and atmospheric landscapes
and seascapes, woodland and contemporary still life in her artwork, painting in
mixed media and acrylics in a painterly yet sensitive semi-abstract style.
“I enjoy capturing light and atmosphere, simplifying forms and reducing areas of a picture to blocks of light,” she says. The North York Moors, the Dales and the Yorkshire coastline are prominent in her paintings, “but I also enjoy abstracted, edgy still lifes, often incorporating a window backdrop and geometric forms,” she adds.
Luisa, who is of British-Italian roots, grew up
in North Wales and studied fine art at the North Wales Institute of Fine Art
but she has since spent most of her adult life in Yorkshire.
“I enjoy capturing light and atmosphere, simplifying forms and reducing areas of a picture to blocks of light,” says Luisa Holden
She has exhibited throughout Yorkshire, such as the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull; the Great North Art Show at Ripon Cathedral and a solo show at the Helmsley Arts Centre, as well as at the Mall Galleries in London with the Society of Women Artists.
Luisa is a member of Leeds Fine Artists and her
work can be found at the Blossom Street Gallery, York; The Blake Gallery, Haxby;
The Leaping Hare Art Gallery, Easingwold, and the Look Gallery, Helmsley.
“I like the challenge of intuitive creativity: taking risks, de-constructing and re-constructing to simply allow a painting to evolve,” she says. “I consider the creative process to be a journey of self-discovery, learning to be spontaneous, free and not fearing ‘messing up’.” Discover the results at luisaholdenart.co.uk.
“I find both the process of creating an object and applying my designs most satisfying,” says ceramicist Anna-Marie Magson
Anna-Marie Magson, ceramics
ANNA-MARIE’S simple, contemporary ceramic
vessels are hand built using stoneware slabs and decorated with layers of coloured
slips.
“The flattened
surfaces of the vessels provide a canvas on which to work,” she says, “I create
fine detail by revealing shapes, lines and marks through wax resist and
sgraffito. I use a muted palette of soft-hued colours to
evoke a sun-bleached effect and a satin glaze to give a tactile, silky finish.”
Originally, Anna-Marie studied fine art painting
at Liverpool College of Art, but when the opportunity to work in a pottery
studio arose, she began to explore her love of surface decoration and textured
pattern on clay tiles. Ultimately, this led to adapting her ideas to hand-built
ceramic vessels.
Inspired by ancient structures: Anna-Marie Magson’s ceramics
“I find both the process of creating an object
and applying my designs most satisfying,” she says. “I find inspiration in the
world around me, such as ancient structures, their weathered surface and the
evidence of human mark-making.”
Anna-Marie’s stoneware ceramics can be found at The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle, Number Four Gallery, St Abbs, Scotland, and Leeds Craft Centre and Design Gallery. More immediately, cast an eye over annamariemagson.co.uk.
TOMORROW: Philip Magson; Becki Harper; Sophie Keen; Charmian Ottaway; Lesley Williams and K. Eliza.
