More Things To Do in and around York as pioneering dating show is game for laughs and love. List No. 57, courtesy of The Press

Seasick Steve: Just him, his home-made guitar and you at York Barbican tonight

CHARLES Hutchinson recommends veteran blues at the double, quilts, a dating show, chaotic Hitchcockian comedy capers, a Brahms Requiem and a Geordie comic out to dazzle.

Solo show of the week: Seasick Steve, Just Steve, A Guitar And Your Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 8pm

LAST year, American DIY blues veteran Seasick Steve released two albums, July’s Love & Peace and November’s Blues In Mono, his tribute to trad acoustic country blues recorded with a microphone from the 1940s as Steve performed the songs direct to an old tape machine. 

Now, York-bound Steve says: “I‘m lookin’ forward to coming and playing for y’all. Just gonna be me, you and my guitar. A few songs and a few stories, kinda like we just hangin’ out together! Gonna be fun. See ya there.” Tickets update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Sanna Buck, Stephen Wright and Aran MacRae look on as a prone Daniel Boyle takes centre stage in rehearsal for York Settlement Community Players’ The 39 Steps. Picture: John Saunders

Play of the week: York Settlement Community Players in The 39 Steps, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight until Sunday

PATRICK Barlow’s riotous West End comedy hit marks the Settlement Players’ return to live performance for the first time since March 2020.

Harri Marshall’s cast of eight takes on the challenge of combining John Buchan’s 1915 novel with Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film scenes in a blend of virtuoso performance and wildly inventive stagecraft, playing 150 characters between them as the mysterious 39 Steps chase Aran MacRae’s Richard Hannay’s on a nationwide manhunt. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Hey, it’s The Manfreds: Playing the Grand Opera House, York, tonight

Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be? It’s even better at Maximum Rhythm N’ Blues with The Manfreds and Georgie Fame, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm

THE Manfreds and Georgie Fame team up for a celebration of Sixties rhythm & blues in an all-star line-up with hits galore to match.

Original Manfred Mann members Paul Jones, Mike Hugg and Tom McGuinness are joined by Family’s Rob Townsend on drums, Marcus Cliffe on bass and Simon Currie on saxophone and flute, plus former member Mike D’Abo to share lead vocals, and Blue Flames leader Fame on keyboards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Ready to dazzle: Sarah Millican kicks off a three-night run at York Barbican tomorrow

Three-night run of the week: Sarah Millican: Bobby Dazzler Tour, York Barbican, tomorrow to Sunday, 8pm

SOUTH Shields humorist Sarah Millican’s new show, Bobby Dazzler, is doing the rounds on her sixth international tour.

“You’ll learn about what happens when your mouth seals shut, trying to lose weight but only losing the tip of your finger, a surprisingly funny smear test, and how truly awful a floatation tank can actually be,” says Millican, who has “spent the last year writing jokes and growing her backside”. Tickets update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Masks, of the non-Covid protection variety, will be worn by participants in ventriloquist Nina Conti’s dating show. Picture: Matt Crockett

Game show of the week: Nina Conti: The Dating Show, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

FAST-TALKING, faster-thinking ventriloquist Nina Conti and her cheeky Monkey host a pioneering new dating show for participants picked from the York audience.

What’s in store for the chosen ones? Apparently “she’ll be like Cilla Black with masks. Derailed. Not so much a Blind Date as a re-voiced one.” In a nutshell, they wear masks, she/Monkey talks, with no promise that true love will be found. Box office: atgtickets.com/york. 

Matthew Miller’s Golden Bird quilt from his Cloth & Colour installation at York Theatre Royal from Saturday

Exhibition launch of the week: Matthew Miller’s Cloth & Colour quilts, York Theatre Royal foyer, from Saturday to November 30

BASED in London, but from York, multi-media artist Matthew Miller launches his debut quilt installation in the first Beyond The Gallery Walls pop-up project to be mounted by Lotte Inch Gallery.

Artist Matthew and curator Lotte will be hosting the launch from 11.30am to 1.30pm on Saturday, happy to discuss his Cloth & Colour quilt designs. Interested in the ecological use of fabric in quilting, Matthew has used end-of-roll and pre-worn fabrics throughout his series of vibrant collages in cloth.

Alex Ashworth: Baritone soloist for Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem at Saturday’s concert by the Chapter House Choir. Picture: Debbie Scanlan

Classical choral concert of the week: Chapter House Choir, York Minster, Saturday, 7.30pm

THE Chapter House Choir performs Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem at York Minster in a rare opportunity to hear Brahms’s own arrangement written for piano – more intimate and transparent – with baritone Alex Ashworth, soprano Susan Young and pianists Eleanor Kornas and Polly Sharpe as the soloists.

This will be complemented by the world premiere of Lillie Harris’s Comfort, specially commissioned for Saturday’s concert. Box office: 01904 557200 or at yorkminster.org.

Open on Saturday: Carolyn Coles’s studio at South Bank Studios

Christmas shopping? Present opportunity at South Bank Studios’ Art & Craft Winter Fair, Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, York, Saturday, 10am to 5pm

THE South Bank Studios artists’ group open their doors and studios to the public this weekend, when 28 artists will be exhibiting jewellery, ceramics, lino prints, textile art and fine art paintings and prints, all available to buy, just in time for Christmas. Entry is free.

Among those taking part are Carolyn Coles, Caroline Utterson, Jane Dignum, Lincoln Lightfoot, Richard Whitelegg, Mandi Grant and Fiona Lane. York Music Centre’s Senior Concert Band, Guitar Ensemble, Senior Folkestra and Big Band will be playing, and the icing on the cake will be the church team’s homemade refreshments.

Voila! C’est La Voix

Most glamorous show of the weekend: La Voix, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 7.30pm

FEISTY, flame-haired Royal Family favourite La Voix – the drag artiste creation of Chris Dennis – takes on the big divas and makes them her own in her Grand Opera House debut in The UK’s Funniest Redhead.

Billed as her “most glamorous show yet”, the 2014 Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist will be combining stellar songs and saucy gags, high energy and diva impersonations, glamour and gowns – eight of them – as she switches between the vocal tropes of Tina Turner, Shirley Bassey, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland and Cher at the click of a finger. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Millie Manders and The Shutup: Definitely not shutting up at the Fulford Arms on Sunday night

Gig with attitude of the week: Millie Manders & The Shutup, Fulford Arms, York, Sunday, 8pm

MILLIE Manders & The Shutup spark up cross-genre punk with a lyricism that pokes fun, draws you in or leaves you questioning social norms, teamed to vocal dexterity, grinding guitars, irresistible horn hooks and a pumping rhythm section.

The Londoners will be airing songs from October 2020’s debut album, Telling Truths, Breaking Ties. Box office: seetickets.com/event/millie-manders.

Willy Mason: Nine-year gap after he made a record called Carry On, but carry on he does at last with Already Dead album and tour date in York. Picture: Ebru Wildiz

Overdue return of the week: Willy Mason, supported by Voka Gentle, The Crescent, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm; standing show

NEW York singer-songwriter and lovely chap Willy Mason returns with Already Dead, his fourth album of characterful, sharp left-field pop, folk and Americana but his first since 2012’s Carry On.

“Magic, miracles, ghosts, world leaders; these days it seems there’s little left to believe in,” says Mason. “Lies outweigh truth and even truth can be dangerous. 

“Already Dead explores honesty and deception, anonymity in the digital age, good intentions with unexpected consequences, freedom, colonialism, love, God and purpose, because now is the time to restore some much-needed faith.” Box office: thecrescentyork.seetickets.com/event/willy-mason.

Soft Cell: 40th anniversary home-coming concert in Leeds. Picture: Andrew Whitton

Oh, and amid all these York events, here is the gig of the week outside the city walls: Soft Cell, Leeds 02 Academy, Saturday, doors, 6pm

IN 1981, Leeds synth-pop pioneers Soft Cell topped the charts with their Northern Soul cover, Tainted Love. This weekend, they play a 40th anniversary home-coming gig with an early start, kicking off with a DJ from 6pm.

LGBTQ icon Marc Almond and producer/instrumentalist Dave Ball will play two sets: the first from 7pm embracing songs from their back catalogue and previewing their first album in 20 years, Happiness Not Included, out on BMG on February 25 2022.

In the second, from 8.20pm, they will perform 1981 debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret in full for the first time. Cue Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, Bedsitter, Memorabilia et al. Box office: myticket.co.uk/artists/soft-cell

Lotte Inch Gallery launches pop-up projects with Matthew Miller’s Cloth & Colour quilt installation in York Theatre Royal foyer

Still Life, quilt, by Matthew Miller

YORK artist Matthew Miller will launch his quilt exhibition, Cloth & Colour, at an 11.30am to 1.30pm preview on Saturday at York Theatre Royal.

This inaugural Pop-Up Project mounted by Lotte Inch Gallery will run at the St Leonard’s Place theatre until Tuesday, November 30.

“In the first of our ‘Beyond The Gallery Walls’projects, Lotte Inch Gallery is delighted to be working with the extremely talented, multi-media artist Matthew Miller to bring an impressive and colourful installation to the Theatre Royal foyer this November,” says Lotte.

Multi-media artist Matthew Miller

“Matthew is based in London but hails from York and I’m thrilled that he’s returning to his roots for  this milestone gallery project.” 

After an uncertain and stop-start 2020 under the Covid cloud, gallery owner Lotte took the difficult decision to close her Bootham premises in June this summer. “However, in my commitment to the city’s art scene, I always intended to keep working on creative projects and I’m excited to be curating this pop-up exhibition at the Theatre Royal.” 

Matthew Miller’s new installation is a series of textile pieces inspired by the work of the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. “Using only waste material from their worn-out garments and sheets, the women of Gee’s Bend made vibrant and raw quilts that rival any Colourists of the 20th century,” says Lotte.

Golden Bird, quilt, by Matthew Miller

“Matthew’s interest in these beautifully crafted textiles drew him to collaborate with his mother, Liza, on his first quilt in 2016 before developing his own process to produce the pieces exhibited in this show.”

Interested in the ecological use of fabric in quilting, Matthew has used end-of-roll and pre-worn fabrics in all of his quilts. “Leaning into the aesthetic of his paintings, he extends his exploration of bright, bold colours and clear form to create a series of vibrant collages in cloth,” says Lotte.

“He has found in quilts a tactile medium that can work just as easily on a table or bed as on a wall. This practical use gives the works an emotional element, allowing people to feel them and touch them as well as just admire them.” 

Leaves Runner and Moon Runner, quilts, by Matthew Miller

Matthew’s background in book arts and design, as a graduate from London College of Communication, has seen him host shows in varying media, both in London and his home city of York.

Previously, his medium of choice has been painting. Cloth & Colour will be his first exhibition of quilts, coinciding happily but by chance – in a like father, like son story – with pater Peter Miller’s exhibition of North Yorkshire oil paintings at the Partisan café/restaurant on Micklegate. Miller senior’s From Kilburn To Hawnby landscapes oil paintings share the same closing date, November 30; like father, like son, again.

Matthew Miller’s Cloth & Colour, York Theatre Royal foyer, November 13 to 30, during theatre opening hours; Monday, 1pm to 5pm; Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 10pm; Sunday, closed. 

Lotte Inch Gallery goes online for Mick Leach and Tom Wood exhibitions

York abstract painter Mick Leach at work

LOTTE Inch Gallery, in Bootham, York, is going online only “for the time being”.

“While the Covid-19 situation poses a threat to us all, we want to ensure that everyone stays well and healthy and, as such, have closed the doors at Fourteen Bootham until we are advised by the Government that we can re-open,” says Lotte.

“However, just because the doors are closed, it doesn’t mean that you can’t still look at some of the beautiful work that features in our current exhibition, York artist Mick Leach’s Urban Abstraction. All Mick’s paintings are now on our online shop at lotteinch.co.uk, along with Katie Timson’s beautifully delicate ceramics and Evie Leach’s refined silver and semi-precious stone jewellery.”

Running until April 11, Leach’s debut solo show of sophisticated abstract work endeavours to recreate the textures, colours, layers and shapes of York’s decaying urban landscape.

One of Mick Leach’s Urban Abstraction paintings

Working mainly with acrylics mixed with French chalk powder, Leach applies paint with palette knives to gain his textured, layered effect. Various colours and media are then added to enhance the layers and textures to evoke the memory and feeling of the places that most inspire him.

“As a self-taught artist and full-time worker, Mick’s ‘side-career’ (sic) in painting has been steadily and successfully taking shape since early 2016,” says Lotte. “This new exhibition highlights his striking talent and his sympathetic and considered manipulation of materials.

“His work is never subjective, but produced instead from memory, in an attempt to recreate the feel of a location while simultaneously allowing his work to find its own course.” 

Inspiration behind this series, being shown in York for the first time, is drawn from the many large cities that Leach has visited or lived in, in particular from the city of York; the place he calls home.

“We look forward to re-opening soon, but in the meantime, we encourage you to browse online,” says Lotte Inch Gallery curator Lotte Inch

“In this new body of paintings, Mick attempts to recreate the colours and feel of the ancient stonework, the dark alleyways, sunken windows, and the contrast of the modern world against this ancient city, a place rich with contradictions,” says Lotte.

Coming next will be Lotte Inch Gallery’s first online-only exhibition, Tom Wood’s The Abstract Crow, running from 10am on April 17 to May 16.

“Keep an eye out for more details coming soon and follow Lotte Inch Gallery on Instagram for sneak previews of the new works that Tom will be including in his show,” says Lotte.

“This will be a solo show of new paintings by this internationally recognised and technically brilliant Yorkshire artist. Known for his imaginative and allusive abstract approach to painting, Tom will pay homage to his love for the natural world in The Abstract Crow.” 

One of Tom Wood’s paintings for The Abstract Crow, his upcoming online-only exhibition at Lotte Inch Gallery, Bootham, York

Since graduating from Sheffield School of Art in 1978, Wood has exhibited his work worldwide. For example, his celebrated portraits of Professor Lord Robert Winston and Leeds playwright Alan Bennett, both commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, London, have been on display at the Australian National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.

Wood has held solo shows at the Yale Center for British Art, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, and Schloss Cappenberg, Kreiss Unna, Germany. Among his commissions are portraits for the National Trust, Warwick University and the Harewood Trust, for whom his large double portrait of the late 7th Earl and Countess of Harewood is on permanent display at Harewood House, near Leeds.

“We look forward to re-opening soon, but in the meantime, we encourage you to browse online,” says Lotte. “Do note that if you live in the York area, we are pleased to be able to offer a free and safe delivery service. Just select ‘Collect In Store’ and we’ll be in touch to arrange delivery of your items.

“Take care of yourselves and your loved ones,” she signs off.

Jonny Hannah’s Songs For Darktown Lovers have their Valentine swansong at Lotte Inch Gallery and FortyFive Vinyl Cafe this week

Dead Men’s Suits, 2019, by Jonny Hannah

JONNY Hannah’s Songs For Darktown Lovers is the Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever of exhibitions.

His music-inspired Double A-sides show is split between two independent York businesses: Lotte Inch Gallery, at 14 Bootham, and gallery curator Lotte’s friends Dan Kentley and Dom White’s FortyFive Vinyl Café in Micklegate.

“Songs For Darktown Lovers roots itself in all things music, and of course, love,” says Lotte. “With Sinatra’s Songs For Swinging Lovers playing in the background, this exhibition is an alternative Valentine for the creatively minded.

“It’s also a love letter to ‘Darktown’, a fictional place that Jonny refers to when modern life becomes too much, a place with countless retreats, all revealed in his book Greetings From Darktown, published by Merrell Publishers in 2014.”

One-of-a-kind Scottish artist, designer, illustrator, lecturer and all-round creative spark Hannah has exhibited previously at Lotte’s gallery, and she contacted him last spring with a view to him doing a show for FortyFive.

“She told me about this vinyl café because I like to go to charity shops and buy old vinyl albums that I know will be awful but have striking covers, and then I create my own newly reinterpreted vinyl sleeves from that,” says culture-vulture Jonny, who attended the exhibition openings at FortyFive, where he span vintage discs and played an acoustic guitar set with fellow artist Jonathan Gibbs, and at Lotte’s gallery amid the aroma of morning-after coffee the next day.

Dance Stance Shoe, by Jonny Hannah

“What’s been nice with this show is having the chance to do the more informal works for the café and the formal pieces, such as hand-painted wooden cut-outs, for the gallery.”

Happenstance led to the Darktown Lovers theme. “Originally, I was going to do the show before Christmas but time ran out, and then I thought Valentine’s Day would be a good setting,” says Jonny.

“So, the work is inspired by love songs and songs I love – as they’re not all love songs. Country rock; a bit of classical; some French chanson; rockabilly. The café exhibition has become this imagined playlist of vinyl that never will be, but I’ve made it as the perfect playlist in my head.”

Growing up in Dunfermline, before studying at Cowdenbeath College of Knowledge, Liverpool School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, Jonny recalls how he would pick out album covers such as Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell.

“Everyone had that album in Dunfermline! Then, as I became older, and I like to think more sophisticated, I was drawn to those wonderful Blue Note jazz covers. I loved the 12-inch format; going to the record shop on Saturdays with your pocket money was so exciting,” he says.

“Then it became CDs, and now downloads, but it’s great that vinyl has made a comeback. My sons play music, but I’ve no idea what, because it’s all on headphones. In fact, they complain I play my music too loud, which is surely the wrong way round! But music should be a social thing, bringing you together to see a band or enjoy a DJ set.

“Music that matters to you is as important as buying clothes or a pair of shoes or the first time you saw a film like Kes. You remember the mood you were in when you first heard it.”

Harmonium, by Jonny Hannah

Since graduating in 1998, Jonny has worked both as a commercial designer and an illustrator and printmaker. He lives by the sea in Southampton, where he lectures in illustration at Southampton Solent University.

He boasts an impressive list of exhibitions, advertising projects and clients, such as Royal Mail, the New York Times, the Guardian and Conde Nast, and he has published a series of “undeniably Hannah-esque” books with Merrell Publishers, Mainstone Press and Design For Today.

You may recall his Darktown Turbo Taxi solo exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, in 2018, and Darktown lies at the heart of his latest works too, but what is Darktown, Jonny?

“It started off as my idea that it was on the edge of any city that had a collection of odd characters, that had places they frequented, maybe shops too,” he says.

“The inspiration came from Fats Waller, the jazz singer, singing Darktown Strutter’s Ball, and C W Stoneking replying Don’t Go Dancin’ Down The Darktown Strutter’s Ball. So, Fats is saying ‘go’; Stoneking is saying ‘don’t go’, and you think, ‘oh god, what should I do?’!

“I decided I should go down there and it’s become my alternative reality to my reality, as opposed to one of my great hates: Star Wars fantasy.”

Defining that alternative reality, Jonny says: “It has to be urban, ever since I left home in Dunfermline; it has to have a lot of concrete, like there is in Southampton, my home now.

Pepe Le Moko by Jonny Hannah

“You’re cherry picking from what you do and don’t want to experience, including shops, characters, streets.”

One street, in particular: Shirley High Street, where Jonny lives in Southampton. “I take some of the characters from there and mix them in my head with historical characters,” he says. “But it all has to have that dollop of reality; if you go too far off on fantastical bent, it isn’t Darktown.”

How did Jonny develop his distinctive style? “You have to be patient, to make things work, for your style to appear. I’d start from other artists and do my own versions, and after a decade, maybe a couple of decades, I’ve found my own style with life’s experience feeding into it: who you are, where you live. Whereas if you force it, that’s when it becomes disingenuous.

“The more you do it, the more those things inside you, what’s internal, becomes external and is expressed in your art. That’s when you overtake your influences and your voice becomes the significant voice, not the ones that inspired you.”

Jonny Hannah’s pricing policy is admirable. “The idea of my work being available potentially to almost anyone is exciting, so I’ve sold it for as little as £5. I price it for what I think it’s worth; even if people say I undervalue it, I don’t think I do,” he says.

“I love the idea that my art is distributed rather than being stuck in my lock-up, so the possibility of it being someone’s home, office, or place of work, is important to me.

“I also like to think of myself as being like a medium holding a séance, where my art is telling you about Fats Waller and Jacques Brel, if you don’t know who Jacques Brel is; I’m contacting their spirit, so I’m doing my job as a conveyor of popular culture that you can connect with.”

Cakes & Ale Shoe, by Jonny Hannah

Jonny acknowledges the significance of art that provokes and can change opinions in the world, “but I don’t need to be one of those people”, he says. “I like the idea that art is entertaining. I’ve always opted for entertainment, for enjoyment, for making people happy with what I create. I have fun making them, and that notion of enjoyment is so important to me.”

Jonny’s palette of colours exudes that element of enjoyment and fun too. “I don’t say that it’s specifically down to my colour blindness – I’m colour blind for green and blue – but I did start by using primary colours, then varying their brightness,” he says.

“You can try out endless variations and for me now it’s always blue, red, yellow, black and white and variations on that,” he says. “I’ve tried to be subtle with colour but it just doesn’t work for me!”

His Darktown Turbo Taxi, first exhibited in his Yorkshire Sculpture Park show, and now acquired by Southampton Solent University for permanent display there, is a case in point. “It was my agent’s idea that I should buy this Saab 9-3 Turbo off Gumtree and paint it. Afterwards, someone said ‘you can’t miss it in a car park’, and he was right! That notion of not being able to miss it is part of my painting philosophy.”

That said, Jonny reveals: “I don’t think too much. I say to my students thinking can be a bad thing. If you face a blank canvas, then start creating, you come up with something better. Drawing is a form of thinking in itself; you start drawing, you are thinking.

A Confederacy Of Dunces, by Jonny Hannah

“You find that certain things keep coming back in your work, and what I know I can be guilty of is laziness, when I need to find new inspiration or find new ways of expressing things. It’s always that thing of challenging yourself creatively. There’s nothing worse than repetition.”

After releasing his latest book, A Confederacy Of Dunces, for The Folio Society, Jonny is now working on a commission for Museums Northumberland on Northumberland folklore that will run from May to September at Woodhorn Museum, Ashington, Hexham Old Gaol, Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum and Berwick Museum and Art Gallery.

He is also creating a set of woodcuts for The Skids’ frontman Richard Jobson’s book of short stories set in an imaginary bar in Berlin called The Alabama Song. “Richard lives in Berlin for half the year now, and the woodcuts will go on show in an exhibition at events where he’ll sing and I’ll play guitar,” says Jonny.

Also bubbling up is a book on the history of pop culture, as his prodigious productivity continues unabated, with a mischievous spirit at play. “When you’re young, you get told to tidy up, but as you get older, mess is a creative thing,” reckons Jonny.

“If you’re creative, there’s an immaturity to you that never goes away. You don’t have to tidy up until it really does become too much!”

Jonny Hannah’s Songs For Darktown Lovers runs until March 7. Lotte Inch Gallery is open Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, or by appointment on 01904 848660. FortyFive Vinyl Café’s opening hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm; Saturday, 10am to 6pm; Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

Be good to see Jonny Hannah’s Valentine artwork in York, wouldn’t it? Now you can in his Songs For Darktown Lovers shows at FortyFive Vinyl Cafe and Lotte Inch Gallery. UPDATED

Dead Men’s Suits, 2019, by Jonny Hannah

CULTURE vulture artist Jonny Hannah is teaming up with Lotte Inch Gallery and FortyFive Vinyl Café to bring “a unique Valentine” bond of music and love to York.

Songs For Darktown Lovers, his exhibition of Double A-sides, will be split between the two independent York businesses, on show from February 8 to March 7.

Having exhibited with Lotte Inch Gallery, in Bootham, over the years, one-of-a-kind Scottish artist, designer, illustrator and all-round creative spark Hannah is returning to York for his music-inspired collaboration with gallery curator Lotte Inch and her friends Dan Kentley and Dom White at FortyFive Vinyl Café in Micklegate.

Shoe by Jonny Hannah

“Songs For Darktown Lovers roots itself in all things music, and of course, love,” says Lotte. “With Sinatra’s Songs For Swinging Lovers playing in the background, this exhibition is an alternative Valentine for the creatively minded.

“It’s also a love letter to ‘Darktown’, a fictional place that Jonny refers to when modern life becomes too much, a place with countless retreats, all revealed in his book Greetings From Darktown, published by Merrell Publishers in 2014.”

The exhibition in two places will combine newly reinterpreted vinyl sleeves on display at FortyFive Vinyl Café with prints and hand-painted wooden cut-outs at both venues.

Harmonium by Jonny Hannah

“This will be a rich double-exhibition of work by a highly respected and totally unique artist,” says Lotte, curator of both displays. “It will definitely not be your usual Valentine’s cliché,” she promises.

BAFTA award-winning Jonny Hannah was born and raised in Dunfermline, Scotland, and studied at the Cowdenbeath College of Knowledge, Liverpool Art School and then the Royal College of Art in London. 

Pepe Le Moko by Jonny Hannah

Since graduation in 1998, he has worked both as a commercial designer and an illustrator and printmaker. He lives by the sea in Southampton, where he is a senior lecturer in illustration at Southampton Solent University.

Hannah boasts an impressive list of exhibitions, advertising projects and clients, such as Royal Mail, the New York Times, the Guardian and Conde Nast, and he has published a series of “undeniably Hannah-esque” books with Merrell Publishers, Mainstone Press and Design For Today.

“Many local visitors to next month’s York shows will recall Jonny’s Darktown Turbo Taxi solo exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, in 2018,” says Lotte.

Shoe by Jonny Hannah

“For those curious to find out more, we recommend looking out for the Darktown Turbo Taxi  – a must see, even if only in retrospect, through the website for his London and New York illustration agency, Heart Agency.”

A preview evening to launch Songs For Darktown Lovers will be held from 6pm to 9pm on February 7 at FortyFive Vinyl Café. “You can join Jonny, who will perform an acoustic set with friend, artist and illustrator Jonathan Gibbs before taking to the decks to celebrate our exciting collaboration,” says Lotte.

“It’s a chance to get lost in a world filled with art, music and just plain lovely people, with tickets available at jonnyhannahpreview.eventbrite.com.”

Confederacy Of Dunces by Jonny Hannah

The exhibition’s Double A-side opens on February 8 at Lotte Inch Gallery, now moved to the first floor at 14 Bootham. “With coffee for those with sore heads, and art to further soothe the soul, the gallery will be offering up a selection of new and recently produced work from Jonny’s abounding studio in Southampton,” says Lotte.

“Coffee by FortyFive will be available that morning from 10am at the gallery for those needing some solace from the previous night’s escapades! Jonny Hannah will be in residence for the morning too, so be sure to drop by.”

Lotte Inch Gallery is open Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, or by appointment on 01904 848660. FortyFive Vinyl Café’s opening hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm; Saturday, 10am to 6pm; Sunday, 10am to 5pm.