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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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.”
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.
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.
