Tag: Lesley Birch

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 49, from Gazette & Herald

Adrian Lillie and Charlotte Lloyd Webber, of CWL Design, standing by the 28ftChristmas tree in the Great Hall at Castle Howard, where their Wonderful Wizard Of Oz immersive experience enchants until January 4. Picture: Tom Arber

SNOW storms with clowns, Castle Howard’s immersive Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and Count Arthur Strong and Adam Z Robinson’s solo takes on A Christmas Carol put the ‘yes’ into November for Charles Hutchinson.

Christmas transformation of the week: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Castle Howard, near York, until January 4

CASTLE Howard becomes an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and sound for The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, set to delight as many as 100,000 visitors over a seven-week period.

Created by CLW Event Design, headed up by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, the show-stopping Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery is a highlight of this winter’s transformation, with life-size fabricated shop fronts inspired by York’s Shambles, while the 28ft Christmas tree sparkles in the Great Hall. Leeds theatre company Imitating The Dog has provided the projections and soundscapes. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.  

Slava’s SnowShow: Arrival in York coincides with forecasts of snow across the North

Weather forecast of the week: Slava’s SnowShow, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm, today to Saturday; 2.30pm, tomorrow and Saturday; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm

ENTER an absurd and surrealistic world of “fools on the loose” in Slava Polunin’s  work of clown art, wherein each scene paints a picture: an unlikely shark swimming in a misty sea; clowns and the audience tangled up in a gigantic spider’s web; heart-breaking goodbyes with a coat rack on a railway platform, and audience members being hypnotised by giant balloons. The finale is an “out-of-this-world snowstorm”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Kerry Godliman: Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who has outsourced her memory to her phone in Bandwidth. Picture: Aemen Sukka, of Jiksaw

Straight-talker of the week: Kerry Godliman: Bandwidth, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

WHILE parenting teenagers, bogged down with knicker admin and considering dealing HRT on the black market, Kerry Godliman can’t remember what was in her lost mum bag after outsourcing her memory to her phone. Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who lacks the bandwidth ​for any of this.

Godliman, comedian, actor, writer, podcaster and broadcaster, from Afterlife, Taskmaster and Trigger Point, builds her new stand-up show on straight-talking charm and quick wit. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York artist Lesley Birch at work in her studio for her Flower Power exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York. Picture: Esme Mai Photography

Blooms of the week: Lesley Birch: Flower Power and Jacqui Atkin: Ceramics, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until mid-January 2026, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm  

LESLEY Birch is showing 22 paintings from her Flower Power series in an exhibition that coincides with the publication of her small artbook of the same title by independent York publisher Overt Books, also featuring Esme Mai’s photographs of Lesley’s home studio and the York artist’s free-verse musings. On show too are Pottery Showdown potter Jacqui Atkin’s ceramics.

Dickens of a good show: Count Arthur Strong Is Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, York Barbican, tomorrow, 8pm; Whitby Pavilion Theatre, November 23, 7.30pm; Scarborough Spa Theatre, November 27, 8pm  

IN response to public pressure, doyen of light entertainment and raconteur Count Arthur Strong is extending his fond farewell with new dates aplenty for his one-man interpretation of A Christmas Carol, performing his own festive adaptation in the guise of literary great and travelling showman performer Charles Dickens. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Whitby, whitbypavilion.co.uk; Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk.

Gerard Hobson: Cut out for three days of Christmas art

Christmas exhibition of the week: Gerard Hobson, 51, Water Lane, Clifton, York, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm; Sunday, 12 noon to 4pm

YORK printmaker Geard Hobson’s artwork comprises hand-coloured, limited-edition linocut prints and cut-outs focused on nature and wildlife, inspired by the countryside around where he lives in York.

As well as prints and bird, animal, tree and mushroom cut-outs, he creates anything from cards, mugs, cushions and coasters to chopping boards, lampshades, tea towels, notepads and wrapping paper. This week’s festive exhibition focuses on Christmas gifts, cards, prints and cut-outs.

Mexborough poet Ian Parks holding a copy of his new book The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light. The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse awaits on Friday

Word-and-song gathering of the week: Navigators Art presents An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Friday, 7.30pm

YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, where Parks reads from his new collection, The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light, and will be in conversation with Crooked Spire Press publisher Tim Fellows.

Joining Parks will be award-winning York novelist and poet Janet Dean, poet and critic Matthew Paul and singer-songwriter Jane Stockdale, from York alt-folk trio White Sail. Tickets: £5 in advance at bit.ly/nav-events or £8 on the door from 7pm.

Rant: Scottish quartet of fiddle players heads for Helmsley Arts Centre

Fiddlers of the week: Rant, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

SCOTTISH chamber-folk fiddlers Rant return to the road after releasing third album Spin last year, featuring their ambitious, bold and reflective reinterpretation of influential tracks by bands and players from across the globe from their formative years.

In the line-up are Bethany Reid, from Shetland, Anna Massie and Lauren MacColl from the Highland peninsula of the Black Isle, and Gillian Frame, from Arran, whose live set reflects years of honing their sound together and their love for the music of each home region through their writing, repertoire and stories. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Adam Z Robinson: Playing Scrooge and 27 more characters in A Christmas Carol at Helmsley Arts Centre

Ryedale solo show of the week: The Book of Darkness & Light Theatre Company in A Christmas Carol, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

MARLEY was dead.. to begin with. So starts The Book of Darkness & Light Theatre Company’s ghostly staging of Charles Dickens’s festive tale, performed by Adam Z Robinson, whose solo adaptation “teases out the gothic aspects” and requires him to play 28 characters.

Join miserly misery Ebenezer Scrooge on a supernatural journey into the past, present and yet-to-come. The chilly atmosphere of Victorian London is brought to life and the spirits of Christmas return from the dead, all through the spellbinding art of storytelling that combines gripping narration with eerie recorded voices and an immersive soundscape. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The show poster for The Sounds Of Simon at the Kirk Theatre, Pickering

Tribute show of the week: The Sounds Of Simon, The Music of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Old Friends, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

THE Sounds Of Simon, the UK’s longest-running tribute to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, takes a musical journey from their years as Simon and Garfunkel to the successes of their solo careers, as they explore the friendship that led to songs such as Mrs Robinson, The Sound Of Silence and Bridge Over Troubled Water,   onwards to You Can Call Me Al, Graceland and Garfunkel’s Bright Eyes.

The show incorporates elements of the duo’s famously fractious relationship, as well as replicating their beautiful harmonies, complemented by video clips, stories and memories from more than 50 years. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when a snowstorm spells theatrical joy. Hutch’s List No. 49, from The York Press

Slava’s SnowShow: Bringing joy to children and drawing out the inner child in adults at Grand Opera House, York

SNOW storms and Count Arthur Strong’s Scrooge; dancing full of Momentum and Jon Ronson’s latest psychopath tests put the ‘yes’ into November for Charles Hutchinson.

Weather forecast of the week: Slava’s SnowShow, Grand Opera House, York, November 19 to 23, 7.30pm, Wednesday to Saturday; 2.30pm, Thursday and Saturday; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm

ENTER an absurd and surrealistic world of “fools on the loose” in Slava Polunin’s  work of clown art, wherein each scene paints a picture: an unlikely shark swimming in a misty sea; clowns and the audience tangled up in a gigantic spider’s web; heart-breaking goodbyes with a coat rack on a railway platform, and audience members being hypnotised by giant balloons. The finale is an “out-of-this-world snowstorm”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

London City Ballet in Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures At An Exhibition at York Theatre Royal

Dance show of the week: London City Ballet: Momentum, York Theatre Royal, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

LONDON City Ballet, former resident company of Sadler’s Wells, returns to York Theatre Royal with Momentum, a new repertoire that showcases artists and works rarely seen in the UK.

Here come George Balanchine’s Haieff Divertimento; New York City Ballets artist-in-residence Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures At An Exhibition; Liam Scarlett’s Consolations & Liebestraum and Paris Opera Ballet premier danseur and emerging choreographer Florent Melac’s new work. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jason Manford’s show poster for A Manford All Seasons, returning to York Theatre Royal this weekend

Comedy gig of the week: Jason Manford in A Manford All Seasons, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

SALFORD comedian, writer, actor, singer and radio and television presenter Jason Manford makes his second York in his 2025 stand-up show. He cites Billy Connolly as his first inspiration and he cherishes such family-friendly entertainers as Eric Morecambe, Tommy Cooper and Les Dawson. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Pictish Trail: Expect psychedelic goo at Rise@Bluebird Bakery on Monday

Rising to the occasion: Blair Dunlop, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tonight, 7.30pm; Pictish Trail, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, November 17, 7pm

CHESTERFIELD folk musician, singer, songwriter, storyteller and actor Blair Dunlop performs traditional and contemporary songs from his five albums, released between 2012 and 2024, this weekend.

Known for his wildly inventive electro-acoustic pysch-pop, crafted on the Isle of Eigg in the Scottish Hebrides, Pictish Trail, alias Johnny Lynch, has completed work on his new album, a sticky, shimmering swirl of sound and slime. To celebrate, he previews songs at Monday’s intimate show, performing in raw, exploratory mode, armed with acoustic guitar, sampler and his warped imagination. Expect tenderness, weirdness and generous dollops of goo. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise. 

Chris Wood: Seeking the truth in song at the NCEM

Folk gig of the week: Chris Wood, National Centre for Early Music, York, Sunday, 6.30pm 

REFLECTIONS on minor league football, empty nest syndrome, learning to swim and the Gecko as a metaphor for contemporary society add up to a typically wise and soulful Chris Wood set. Tom Robinson and Squeeze’s Chris Difford are fans, while The Unthanks look to him as an influence, and he has played with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in The Imagined Village project with Billy Bragg and Eliza Carthy.

In a world of soundbites and distractions, six-time BBC Folk Awards winner Wood is a truth seeker, whose uplifting and challenging writing is permeated with love and wry intelligence as he celebrates “the sheer one-thing-after-anotherness of life”. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

King For A Day: Paying tribute to Nat King Cole at York Theatre Royal

Nostalgia of  the week: King For A Day: The Nat King Cole Story, York Theatre Royal, November 17, 7.30pm

VOCALIST Atila and world-class musicians take a fresh, thoughtful and entertaining look at the life and work of Alabama pianist, singer and actor Nat King Cole, whose jazz and pop vocal styling in songs such as Nature Boy, Unforgettable and When I Fall In Love define a golden era of 20th century American music.

Cole’s most celebrated songs and stylish re-workings of his lesser-known gems are complemented by projections of rare archive images and footage, weaved together by narration. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Kerry Godliman: Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who has outsourced her memory to her phone in Bandwidth. Picture: Aemen Sukka, of Jiksaw

Straight talker of the week: Kerry Godliman: Bandwidth, York Theatre Royal, November 19, 7.30pm

WHILE parenting teenagers, bogged down with knicker admin and considering dealing HRT on the black market, Kerry Godliman can’t remember what was in her lost mum bag after outsourcing her memory to her phone. Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who lacks the bandwidth ​for any of this.

Godliman, comedian, actor, writer, podcaster and broadcaster, from Afterlife, Taskmaster and Trigger Point, builds her new stand-up show on straight-talking charm and quick wit. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jon Ronson: Hosting Psychopath Night at York Barbican, where he will welcome questions from the audience

Mind-bending insights of the week: Jon Ronson: Psychopath Night, York Barbican, November 18, 7.30pm

WHAT happens when a psychopath is in power? Could you learn to spot a psychopath? Are you working for a psychopath? Is there a little bit of psychopath in all of us? Sixteen years since journalist, filmmaker and author Jon Ronson embarked on The Psychopath Test, he reopens the case.

Expect exclusive anecdotes and fresh reflections in Ronson’s exploration of madness and the elusive psychopathic mind, re-booted with mystery special guests whose tales were not in the original book. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Recommended but sold out already at York Barbican: Adam Ant  in Ant Music, November 19, doors 7pm.

Count Arthur Strong: Telling Ebenezer Scrooge’s tale in Charles Dickens guise at York Barbican

Dickens of a good show: Count Arthur Strong Is Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, York Barbican, November 20, 8pm; Whitby Pavilion Theatre, November 23, 7.30pm; Scarborough Spa Theatre, November 27, 8pm  

IN response to public pressure, doyen of light entertainment and raconteur Count Arthur Strong is extending his fond farewell with new dates aplenty for his one-man interpretation of A Christmas Carol, performing his own festive adaptation in the guise of literary great and travelling showman performer Charles Dickens. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Whitby, whitbypavilion.co.uk; Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk.

Mexborough poet Ian Parks holding a copy of his new book The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light

Word-and-song gathering of the week: Navigators Art presents An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, November 21, 7.30pm

YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, where Parks reads from his new collection, The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light, and will be in conversation with Crooked Spire Press publisher Tim Fellows.

Joining Parks will be award-winning York novelist and poet Janet Dean, poet and critic Matthew Paul and singer-songwriter Jane Stockdale, from York alt-folk trio White Sail. Tickets: £5 in advance at bit.ly/nav-events or £8 on the door from 7pm.

In Focus: Lesley Birch: Flower Power and Jacqui Atkin: Ceramics, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until mid-January 2026, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm  

Lesley Birch at her Flower Power exhibition opening with Pyramid Gallery owner and curator Terry Brett

YORK artist Lesley Birch is showing 22 paintings from her Flower Power series in an exhibition at Pyramid Gallery that coincides with the blooming of her small art book of the same title.

The book is published by Overt Books, the independent York publisher set up by York Creatives creator Ben Porter.

“I’ve always meant to publish an art book and never quite got around to it, but with Ben’s help, I was able to pull together this small volume,” says Lesley. “There are beautiful photographs of my home studio from Esme Mai Photography, more photos by Eloise Ross, and some of my free verse musings to accompany photographs of the paintings.

Lesley Birch in her studio. Picture: Esme Mai Photography

“There are only 50 copies available at this time. I’m thrilled to say that there is a foreword from my generous PICA Studios studio mate Mark Hearld

Lesley is sharing space at Pyramid Gallery with ceramicist Jacqui Atkin, who works with The Pottery Showdown programme. “I love the combination of my flower paintings with Jacqui’s ceramics,” she says.  “They sit beautifully together and it was lovely to hear her details about making these exquisite pieces.”

Lesley’s Flower Power paintings were painted in response to abundant summer blooms in her garden and from Shambles Market in York.

Lesley Birch’s book cover for Flower Power

Sunflowers, from Lesley Birch’s Sunflower series

“I’m often keen on certain pots and vases too and I like to set up lots of bouquets here and there, playing with colour, texture and shape,” she says.

“I find myself immersed in a world of pure discovery and concentration.  These works I’ve been developing for the past ten months and they’re now finally ready to go out on show.”

The Flower Power book is priced at £12 plus £3 postage and packaging. Contact Lesley via lesleybirch@icloud.com for a copy.

Lesley Birch with summer blooms in her garden

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PICA artists launch £25-a-pop postcards to raise funds for York studio improvements

A sneak preview of artists’ postcards for sale at PICA Studios on Saturday and Sunday

AFTER ceramics, jewellery, paintings, collage, films and textiles, now the artists at PICA Studios are branching out into one-off postcards for one weekend only.

More than 20 creatives share the workshop space, in Grape Lane, York, that is rarely open to the public, except for the annual York Open Studios.

However, on Saturday and Sunday, from 10am to 4pm, PICA Studios will play host to a special Postcard Show and Sale of original artworks made by studio members.

Jewellery designer Evie Leach experimenting and exploring her practice with a print/collage postcard series created for this weekend’s show and sale

PICA artist Lesley Birch says: “I successfully launched a postcard project during lockdown and so we’ve decided to follow that format this weekend. A postcard is small, affordable and original, and as we only have a small space to display them, we felt this would work well for our first collaborative show in the foyer outside of York Open Studios.”

Each postcard will sell for £25 to raise funds towards improving the studio space and to create a gallery in the foyer at PICA, where the studios opened in February 2017. 

For jewellery designer Evie Leach, the postcard project has helped push her creative practice.  “It’s taken me in other directions to make a series of artworks on paper inspired by my jewellery designs. This is what a studio is all about: inspiring and innovating members to go beyond their comfort zone.”

Emily Stubbs curating the Postcard Show at PICA with hammer, drill and hands

Fellow founding member Emily Stubbs says: “This is the first time we have collaborated with so many of us producing work just for the studio. It’s a bonding experience and we’re looking forward to it very much.” 

Joining Lesley, Evie and Emily in the postcard show will be Katrina Mansfield, Ealish Wilson, Sarah Jackson, Ric Liptrot, Jo Edmonds, Lisa Power, Amy Stubbs, Mick Leach, Rae George, Lesley Shaw Lu Mason and Kitty Pennybacker, with more still to come.

Spring Garden, by Lesley Birch, one of the postcards for sale for £25 at PICA Studios

The £25 postcards can bought in person at PICA or online through Instagram, where “you can spot the one you want” at instagram@picastudios.

One final thought: in an age when a postcard dropping through the door is increasingly rare, how does such an occurrence make Lesley Birch feel? “Receiving a postcard is absolutely lovely,” she says. “All the smudges from the postmark, the date and the handwriting make it a piece of history. It’s the good old days of snail mail.”

Now comes a repurposing of a postcard with the stamp of art to each one.

Textile postcards by PICA Studios artist Ealish Wilson
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More Things To Do in and around York and while stuck with “staying home”. Lockdown List No. 25, courtesy of The Press, York

Flood, mixed-media monotype, by Lesley Birch, from Muted Worlds, her joint exhibition with ceramicist Emily Stubbs, running initially online and then at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York

LOCKDOWN 3 plods on with no end in sight deep amid the winter chill, drawing Charles Hutchinson’s gaze to online events, a writing opportunity and the promise of live entertainment somewhere down the line.

Online lockdown exhibition at the double: Emily Stubbs and Lesley Birch, Muted Worlds, for Pyramid Gallery, York

CERAMICIST Emily Stubbs and artist Lesley Birch have teamed up for Muted Worlds, a lockdown exhibition of pots and paintings that has begun as a digital show from their studios before moving to Terry Bretts’s gallery in Stonegate, once Lockdown 3 strictures are eased. 

Ceramicist Emily Stubbs: Muted Worlds exhibitor and York Open Studios participant

“This is a show with a more muted edge,” say Emily and Lesley. “Winter is here and with it, Covid, and another lockdown, so we feel the need for simplicity. We have collaborated to produce monochrome pieces inspired by the winter season.”

Looking ahead, Emily will be taking part in  York Open Studios this summer, showing her ceramics at 51 Balmoral Terrace.

Rowntree Park: Hosting the Friends of Rowntree Park’s Words From A Bench project

Creative project of the winter season: Friends of Rowntree Park’s Words From A Bench project

THE Friends of Rowntree Park invite you to join the Words From A Bench project by submitting a short story or poem based around themes of the York park, the outdoors, nature and escape.

No more than 1,000 words in length, the works will be displayed in the park. Adults and children alike should send entries by February 15 to hello@rowntreepark.org.uk.

Mary Coughlan: Irish singer has had to rearrange her Pocklington Arts Centre concert for a second time

Gigs on the move: Pocklington Arts Centre re-writing 2021 diary

POCKLINGTON Arts Centre is re-scheduling concerts aplenty in response to the relentless grip of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Irish chanteuse Mary Coughlan’s April 23 show is being moved to October 19; the Women In Rock tribute show, from May 21 to October 29; New York singer-songwriter Jesse Malin, from February 2 to December 7, and Welsh singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph, from February 12 to December 2. Tickets remain valid for the rearranged dates.

A new date is yet to be arranged for the postponed February 23 gig by The Delines, Willy Vlautin’s country soul band from Portland, Oregon. Watch this space.

At sixes and sevens: The Gesualdo Six with director Owain Park (third from left, back row)

Early notice of online Early Music Day at National Centre for Early Music, York, March 21

THE Gesualdo Six will lead the NCEM’s celebrations for Early Music Day 2021 on March 21 by embarking on an online whistle-stop musical tour of York.

The Cambridge vocal consort’s concert will be a streamed at 3pm as part of a day when musical organisations throughout Europe will come together for a joyful programme of events to mark JS Bach’s birthday. 

During their residency, The Gesualdo Six will spend almost a week in York performing in a variety of locations on a musical tour of the city that will be filmed and shared in March.

Monster and Minster beyond: A B-movie bridge drama on the Ouse by the alliteratively named Lincoln Lightfoot, one of the debutants in York Open Studios 2021, now moved to July

Better late than never: York Open Studios, switching from spring to summer

CELEBRATING the 20th anniversary of Britain’s longest-running open studios, York’s artists are determined to go ahead with York Open Studios 2021, especially after a barren year in 2020, when doors had to stay shut in Lockdown 1.

Consequently, the organisers are switching the two weekends from April 17/18 and 24/25 to July 10/11 and July 17/18, when more than 140 artists and makers will show and sell their work within their homes and workspaces in an opportunity for art lovers and the curious to “enjoy fresh air, meet artists and view and buy unique arts and crafts from York’s very best artisans”.

Midge Ure: Opening his Voice & Visions Tour at the Grand Opera House, York

Planning ahead for next year, part one: Midge Ure & Band Electronica, Grand Opera House, York

MIDGE Ure & Band Electronica will open next year’s Voice & Visions Tour at the Grand Opera House, York, on February 22, when the 67-year-old Scotsman will be marking 40 years since the release of Ultravox’s Rage In Eden and Quartet albums in September 1981 and October 1982 respectively.

Ure & Band Electronica last played the Opera House in October 2019 on The 1980 Tour, when Ultravox’s 1980 album, Vienna, was performed in its entirety for the first time in four decades, complemented by highlights from Visage’s debut album, as Ure recalled the year when he co-wrote, recorded and produced the two future-sounding records.

Tommy Emmanuel: York gig awaits for fingerstyle Australian guitarist

Planning ahead for next year, part two: Tommy Emmanuel at Grand Opera House, York

AUSTRALIAN guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, 65, will play the Grand Opera House, York, on March 6 2022 in the only Yorkshire show of next year’s12-date tour with special guest Jerry Douglas, the Ohio dobro master.

At 44, Emmanuel became one of only five musicians to be named a Certified Guitar Player by his idol, Chet Atkins. Playing fingerstyle, he frequently threads three different guitar parts simultaneously into his material, handling melody, supporting chords and bass all at once.

Steven Devine: Harpsichordist pictured when recording at the NCEM, York

Online concert series of the season: Steven Devine, Bach Bites, National Centre for Early Music, York, Fridays

EVERY Friday at 1pm, until March 19, harpsichordist Steven Devine is working his way through J S Bach’s Fugues and Preludes in his online concert series. Find it on the NCEM’s Facebook stream.

And what about?

STAYING in, staying home, means TV viewing aplenty. Tuck into the French film talent agency frolics and frictions of Call My Agent! on Netflix and Scottish procedural drama Traces on the Beeb; be disappointed by Finding Alice on ITV.

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Emily Stubbs and Lesley Birch to exhibit Muted Worlds pots and paintings in online Pyramid Gallery show from tomorrow

Between Rock And A Hard Place, mixed media, by Lesley Birch

EMILY Stubbs and Lesley Birch are teaming up for Muted Worlds, a lockdown exhibition launched tomorrow by Pyramid Gallery, York.

Pots & Paintings will begin as a digital show from the York artists’ studios before moving to the Stonegate gallery once Lockdown 3 strictures are eased.

“We’re delighted to have been invited by Pyramid Gallery owner Terry Brett once again to create another Pots & Paintings show for 2021,” say exhibition curators Emily and Lesley.

A pot by Emily Stubbs for Muted Worlds, her joint exhibition with Lesley Birch

“This time we shall be online and it’s a more muted edge – winter is here and with it, Covid, and another lockdown – so we feel the need for simplicity. We have collaborated to produce monochrome pieces inspired by the winter season.”

Terry says: “Expect exciting expressive mark-making, beautiful soft greys, earths, charcoals and sage greens with occasional pops of colour in winter landscape and abstract pieces with the forms and lines of the natural world.” 

Emily works from Pica Studios, in Grape Lane, where she creates contemporary ceramic vessels that explore the relationship between colour, form and texture.

Lesley Birch at work in her York studio

Fascinated by the juxtaposition of contrasting elements in her work, Emily makes conversations between vessels by placing them together or in groups.

Constantly sketching, drawing and collaging to experiment with line, colour, texture and mark making, Emily translates this process into clay, building up layers of ceramic slips, glazes and stains.

“Stepping away from my usual brightly coloured glazes, Muted Worlds has allowed me to really focus and concentrate on creating rich layers of mark making,” she says.

Flood, mixed media monotype, by Lesley Birch

“Bold brush strokes, blocks of monochrome and areas of scraffito, inspired by the wintery walks around York through lockdown, feature in a new collection of vessels created alongside and inspired by Lesley’s paintings.”

Scottish-born painter and printmaker Lesley interprets feelings and emotions connected to time and place in her works. Calligraphic scribbles and expressive, sweeping brush marks flow on paper and canvas, straddling the boundary between abstraction and figuration.

“The fact that certain combinations of colours, certain marks and movements can convey an atmosphere, that is the joy of painting for me: that exciting moment when materiality and emotion meet,” she says.

“Muted Worlds has allowed me to really focus and concentrate on creating rich layers of mark making,” says Emily Stubbs

The Pots & Paintings go on sale from tomorrow and purchases will be delivered by courier or by the artist if the buyer is in York. Anyone needing further information can contact Terry on 07805 029254.

Looking ahead, Emily will be taking part in the 2021 York Open Studios, showing her ceramics at 51 Balmoral Terrace, York, on April 17, 18, 24 and 25, from 10am to 5pm.

Exhibiting there too will be textiles artist Amy Stubbs, making her Open Studios debut after relocating to York.

A ceramic for Muted Worlds by Emily Stubbs
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How artist Lesley Birch spent 21 days in isolation after York Open Studios shutdown

Perfect Day Crocs: One of Lesley Birch’s 21 Days In Isolation artworks in oil, inspired by Cornwall, in harmony with her paint-spattered choice of footwear and garden pebbles

YORK Open Studios 2020 must be York Shut Studios 2020 instead, after the Government’s orders to stay home put paid to visiting other people’s homes.

In the face of the Coronavirus pandemic, however, York’s resourceful artists and craft makers are still finding ways to share their wares, whether online in the Virtual Open Studios showcase at yorkopenstudios.co.uk, on their own websites or by filling their windows with artworks.

This weekend, as with last weekend, 144 artists would have been exhibiting and working at 100 locations, among them landscape painter Lesley Birch at her home studio in Clifton Place, York.

Far from downing brushes, she decided to undertake the one-off 21 Days In Isolation Project, her progress documented on Instagram, #lesleybirch21days.

Lesley’s latest paintings for her Romantic Landscapes series hanging up to dry in her home studio

“I set about the project almost immediately at lockdown,” says Scottish-born Lesley. “I’d always thought about filming my painting in a time-lapse and had never got around to it.

“So, I set up the clamp and my camera on my easel and away I went. The first few time-lapses worked out well. Then I thought, ‘why not do this for 21 days? – a time-lapse a day and a painting a day – and see what happens’.  

“Why 21 days? Well, that just came into my head, but I realise that was actually the initial lockdown time [set by the Government], so it must have gone in subconsciously.”  

Setting her artistic boundaries for the project, Lesley decided to work in oils. “I’ve been trying to develop my skills in this medium, and I decided to base the paintings on my trips to Scotland and Cornwall, working from my sketchbooks,” she says. 

Artist Lesley Birch, pictured in the studio in earlier times before 21 Days In Isolation

“I filmed a painting every morning, because the light was good, and painted into the afternoons. Every day I had a fantastic routine: breakfast; set up the oil palette and paper. Ensure camera OK. Then away!

“Morning break coffee and assessment of the painting. Another painting maybe. Lunch. Then photographing the paintings and uploading them to my Instagram feed.”

Under the #artistsupportpledge initiative set up by artist Matthew Burrows, Lesley could sell her 21 Days works as part of the pledge. “The deal was if I reached £1,000 worth of sales, I’d buy another artist’s work. So really, it was artist supporting artists – worldwide.”

Lesley worked from her studio in her garden. “Usually it’s for printmaking and large acrylic paintings, so it was a change to restrict myself to oils. I had to gather my materials from PICA studios in town [in Grape Lane], bring them home and order paper and new oils online”.

Lesley assessing the first few days’ work on the studio floor

How did the working experience contrast with Lesley’s painting trips to Italy, Spain, Cornwall and Scotland? “I wasn’t feeling the wild wind or soft sun on my skin and I wasn’t by the sea, so I used my sketchbooks as inspiration. And my head. I revisited these beautiful places in my head. It was great!” she says.

Painting at home contrasted too with the busy environment at PICA, a shared space where others work around her. “I was alone…with my IPod music – I’m not I’m not sure my music is to their taste!” says Lesley, a former musician with Hue & Cry in the 1980s.

“My PICA friends commented on Instagram on what I was doing, so there was still that support. And I chatted to my studio mate Mark [fellow artist Mark Hearld] most days on the phone.”

What did Lesley learn about herself as an artist working in isolation? “I think many artists already work in isolation – and indeed, this is the way I worked before I got together with the PICA crowd,” she says.

Such A Rugged Day, memories of Scotland, by Lesley Birch, from the 21 Days In Isolation Project

“So, I just reverted back to that way of working: alone, with my music. I challenged myself with the focus; I never thought I’d be able to create so many pieces.”

Comparing how she felt on Day 1 and Day 21 of her “mammoth task”, Lesley says: “Well, Day 1 was a bit of an exploration. I had no idea that I was planning going on for 21 days until the end of Day I, where I felt exhilarated and in no doubt that I could produce one or more paintings each day.

“By Day 21, I was utterly exhausted. The creative energy to ensure I was happy with each piece was a challenge. The Instagram messaging system went mental with paintings selling in seconds by the last few days! I even had to send one to New Zealand.

“I was collecting addresses, bank transfers, and then I had to go online and order a whole lot of packaging for sending out the paintings, which still had to dry. I was overwhelmed.”

Pale Green Sea on the easel  as Lesley painted in isolation

Lesley had decided to sell her uplifting landscape paintings at only £120 a pop, including shipping, “because we are in difficult times at the moment and everyone should have a chance to buy original art”.

“I’ve really enjoyed painting in the alla prima style [a direct painting approach where paint is applied wet on wet without letting earlier layers dry] and plan to create a new collection,” she says.

“Will there be more paintings from 21 Days In Isolation? Yes, though not on a daily basis. My 21 days are over. I feel on a bit of a roll at the moment, but I don’t want to put myself under the pressure of daily filming, so I’m just gonna take my time. These paintings will be more of the same as I have lots more sketchbooks for inspiration.”

More of Lesley’s new Romantic Landscapes paintings pegged out to dry on her studio washing line

She is calling the series her Romantic Landscapes. “That’s how this series seems to have developed in the time of Covid-19. I want an idealised view of reality,” Lesley reasons. “I think at the moment people want to escape into nice things: beautiful colours, soft skies and even a storm or two in a painting isn’t too bad.

“I know I want to escape, so I’m just following my intuition.  These paintings will probably go to my galleries, but a small collection will go online for sale.”

As for how Lesley will spend this weekend, she concludes: “York Open Studios has been in my head this past week and I shall continue to be creative.” 

Did you know?

After the cancellation of York Open Studios 2020, Lesley Birch is putting a selection of her YOS pieces online at lesleybirchart.com at £200 each, framed and ready to hang.

Copyright of The Press, York

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No York Open Studios next weekend, but all that art still needs a new home, so look here…DAY 22

Maria Keki: Applying veils of colour in her paintings

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, five 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 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 five more artists and makers for you to discover…

Lesley Birch at work on one of her paintings

Lesley Birch, mixed media

BORN in Glasgow, former Hue & Cry musician Lesley’s Scottish roots feed into her love of wild and remote places and in turn into heartfelt paintings notable for their sense of colour and composition.

“I’m interested in expressing my personal response to time and place,” says Lesley, whose work ranges from large, atmospheric landscapes to small/medium works on paper and boards in oils, pigments and acrylics from her travels to Italy, Spain and Scotland.

Earlier this year, Lesley launched her Marks & Moments show at Partisan, the boho restaurant, café and arts space in Micklegate, York, where she filled two floors with more than 50 paintings from her Musical Abstract Collection.

Little Pink Shore, by Lesley Birch

Lesley has just completed 21 Days In Isolation, a one-off project in Covid-19 lockdown offering paintings at exceptionally low prices. “Will there be more paintings? Yes. Though not on a daily basis. My 21 days are over,” she says.

Why did she undertake such a “mammoth task”? “Because we are in difficult times at the moment and everyone should have a chance to buy original art,” she says. “I’ve really enjoyed painting in the alla prima style and plan to create a new collection.”    

Coming next will be her Romantic Landscapes series. Meanwhile, after the cancellation of York Open Studios 2020, Lesley is putting a selection of her YOS pieces online at lesleybirchart.com at £200 each, framed and ready to hang.

Frances Brock: Expressive portraits and landscape paintings

Frances Brock, painting

FRANCES paints both expressive portraits in mixed water-media and landscape paintings in water-media and oils.

By training and profession a music teacher, Frances has a second string to her bow as an artist, and this month she would have been taking part in her fifth successive York Open Studios.

A portrait by Frances Brock

Her work shows a broad artistic vocabulary and can be seen at the Dee Alexander Gallery in Epping and Silo Art Gallery in Cawood. In particular, she receives many commissions for her domestic animal paintings.

She has tutored courses at Old Sleningford Hall, North Stainley, near Ripon, for the past two years and leads workshops by request. Learn more at jacksonartsites.com/francesart.

Maria Keki with two of her artworks

Maria Keki, painting

AFTER fine art studies in Manchester and post-graduate study at the University of Leeds, Maria enjoyed a fulfilling career as a teacher of art, craft, and design, alongside creating her own work.

She continues to be passionate about working with young people through the arts. 

In her paintings, remembered and imagined places are evoked through veils of colour. Such works have been exhibited at York Open Studios in previous years and in other local shows too, as well being sold privately. More info at maria_keki@yahoo.co.uk.

Ceramicist Beccy Ridsdel

Beccy Ridsdel, ceramics

BECCY completed her BA in contemporary 3D crafts at the University of York in 2008, achieving first class honours.

Since then, she has taught ceramics and kiln-formed glass at York College, as well as making sculptural, hand-built, stoneware ceramics from her workshop in York.

A stoneware ceramic by Beccy Ridsdel

In addition to exhibiting in York, Hull, Thirsk, Sheffield and Sleaford, Beccy has shown work at the Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York and the Houston Centre for Contemporary Crafts in Texas. Her ceramics have featured in magazines and art journals too.

She took part in York Open Studios from 2013 to 2018 and would have resumed her involvement in 2020. More details at beccyridsdel.co.uk.

Dawn Ridsdel: Maker of cheerful, colourful ceramics

Dawn Ridsdel, ceramics

DAWN creates colourful and cheerful ceramics to enhance and brighten the home, applying a sculptural aesthetic while exploring surface and form in her use of layers of slips, underglazes, lustres and glaze.

She went back to college in her thirties to study craft and has been working in arts education as a technician ever since, 23 years now, at York College, where she also teaches ceramics.

“I was very happy helping others, but I decided I needed to take a different direction and took a further course of study, which has given me new confidence,” says Dawn. “After a lot of hard work, I was awarded a first class honours degree in contemporary craft from York St John University in July 2017.”

“I’m fascinated by colour and the way it can affect us and how we perceive it, ” says Dawn Ridsdel of her ceramics

Based in a garden studio on the outskirts of York, Dawn specialises in hand-building techniques to make vessel and cloud forms and develop the clay surface to hint at open spaces, skies, seas, stars and planets. “I’m very moved by the decline in natural habitats and species and believe that we must do more to celebrate and protect our wildlife,” she says.

“I’m also fascinated by colour and the way it can affect us and how we perceive it, so my work also uses contrasting colours which, when brought together, can enhance each other and cause them to vibrate. In this way I hope to bring life and vitality to my work.”

Dawn has exhibited at Art& York at York Racecourse, Sunny Bank Mills Gallery, Farsley, and various galleries in Yorkshire. Seek out her work at dawnridsdel.co.uk.

TOMORROW: Chiu-i Wu; Amy Butcher; Carol Coleman; Jo Ruth, Luisa Holden and Anna-Marie Magson.

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York artist Lesley Birch responds to the Forces Of Nature in Glyndebourne show

York artist Lesley Birch at work in her studio

YORK artist Lesley Birch will exhibit at Glyndebourne, the Sussex opera house home to the Glyndebourne Festival, from May to December.

“I’m very proud to have been invited,” she says. “It’s a huge privilege and rather daunting too. I’m working on pieces now.”

Lesley has been chosen for the Forces Of Nature exhibition of paintings, prints and ceramics in Gallery 94, located by the stalls entrance to the auditorium at the country house in Lewes, East Sussex.

Curated by Nerissa Taysom, the exhibition was inspired by the strong women on stage in this year’s upcoming six festival operas, so all ten artists will be women. 

Exhibiting alongside Lesley will be Michele Fletcher, Tanya Gomez, Rachel Gracey, Kathryn Johnson, Rosie Lascelles, Kathryn Maple, Tania Rutland, Katie Sollohub and Hannah Tounsend.

The Old Town, by Lesley Birch, part of her Marks & Moments exhibition at Partisan, York

Forces Of Nature will explore how artists represent their feelings or memories of natural phenomena, its forms and sounds, while questioning how we confront nature in an age of climate change.

Lesley works out of PICA Studios, the artist collective in Grape Lane, York, and in this typically busy year, her new Marks & Moments paintings can be savoured at Partisan, the boho restaurant, café and arts space in Micklegate, York, in a feast of colour and imagination until March 31.

Filling two floors, more than 50 paintings are on view, ranging from Lesley’s Musical Abstract Collection – large canvases expressing music and movement in nature – to little gouache gems created en plein air in the remote village of Farindola in Abruzzo, Italy.

“Partisan is a sort of emporium full of collectable stuff, such as vintage lamps and the like, and it’s so exciting to see my paintings in this bohemian setting, reflected off the old French mirrors and hung high and low,” says Lesley, whose works are divided into colour and spring moods upstairs and dramatic landscapes downstairs. All paintings are for sale.

Forces Of Nature at Glyndebourne: Artist open houses, Sunday, May 17, 10am to 1pm, open to the public; May 21 to December 13, festival and tour ticket holders only.

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Lesley Birch marks the moment with Musical Abstract show at Partisan

Flurry, mixed media on canvas, one of the pieces from Lesley Birch’s new Musical Abstract Collection at Partisan, York

LESLEY Birch’s exhibition Marks & Moments at Partisan, the boho restaurant, café and arts space in Micklegate, York, is a feast of colour and imagination. 

Filling two floors, more than 50 paintings are on view, from Lesley’s  Musical Abstract Collection – large canvases expressing music and movement in nature – to little gouache gems created en plein air in the remote village of Farindola in Abruzzo, Italy.

Reverie, mixed media, by Lesley Birch, who says: “Ethereal energy in expressive brush marks – another from the Musical Abstract Collection”

Lesley’s paintings capture an atmosphere of place and moment with her own personal language of mark-making, whether on paper or on canvas, and this newly opened display showcases it all.

“When Florencia Clifford at Partisan invited me to have a show, I thought it was a grand opportunity to bring a lot of paintings into a buzzy space, where food and art are key,” says Lesley, who works out of PICA Studios, an artist collective space in Grape Lane, York.

The Old Town, oil on canvas, by Lesley Birch: scratches and atmosphere from Lesley’s Italian Collection

“Partisan is a sort of emporium full of collectable stuff, such as vintage lamps and the like, and it’s so exciting to see my paintings in this bohemian setting, reflected off the old French mirrors and hung high and low.”

Divided into colour and spring moods upstairs and dramatic landscapes downstairs, the marks and moments of Lesley’s artistic journey can be seen at Partisan until March 31. All paintings are for sale.

For more details, go to lesleybirchart.com.