Who are the NEW artists in 2021’s York Open Studios? The final fab four to find

Here Be Monsteras potter Kayti Peschke working in her Fangfoss garage studio

YORK Open Studios’ 20th anniversary celebration of the city’s creative talent begins this evening with a 6pm to 9pm preview. Head to yorkopenstudios.co.uk to find out which artists and makers will be “warming up” for the two weekends ahead.

After the Covid-enforced fallow year of 2020, York Open Studios returns with 145 artists and makers opening 95 studios, homes and workplaces tomorrow and Sunday, then July 17, from 10am to 5pm each day.

Among them will be 40 debutants, prompting CharlesHutchPress to highlight newcomers in a week-long preview, in map guide order, that concludes today with the final four as York prepares for this month’s showcase of ceramic, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, furniture, sculpture and textiles skills.

An abstract sculpture by Reg Walker

Reg Walker, sculpture, Kiln Studio, Arnup Studios, Panman Lane, Holtby, York 

REG crafts abstract sculptures, sometimes contemplative, sometimes playful, mostly in Corten steel, together with small pieces for the hand in bamboo and distinctive collages in natural materials.

He took up sculpture when inspired by volunteering at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, where he then took part in hot and cold metal courses.

Reg Walker: Moved into Arnup Studios two years ago

Originally from Ireland, Reg settled in Yorkshire in 1988, working in social research and organisation development. He had a studio at Kildale on the North York Moors before moving to Arnup Studios in Holtby in 2019.

He will open his studio for this evening’s preview.

Michelle Galloway: Loves experimenting with different techniques

Michelle Galloway, painting, The Pottery Studio, Arnup Studios, Panman Lane, Holtby, York

MICHELLE moved to York to study art, developing a lasting interest in art history, archaeology and architecture.

Her artwork took a backseat when she retrained as a teacher, but she continued to pass on her passion for art through children’s workshops.

When the opportunity for a temporary studio arose, Michelle rekindled her own creativity and love of experimentation with different techniques. She now has a permanent studio at Arnup Studios.

“My latest work is oils on large canvases,” she says. “Using small brushstrokes to build up layers of colour, the variation of colour and tone achieved creates an abstract and ethereal quality.”

Michelle Galloway in her studio

Michelle describes her oil paintings as having an intensity to them, whereas her watercolours are “mostly calm, harmonious, quiet and contemplative, atmospheric, yet gentle and light”.

“I work from my own sketches and photographs of the location, meaning that all my senses are engaged with the subject,” she says. “I sketch and make notes to myself, decide what to include or subtract, and use a camera to record both the larger scene and tiny details, an instant where the light changes or a fleeting glimpse of something of intrigue.  
 
“Back in the studio, I can take my time and work at my own pace. I can combine all the information with my personal and emotional response to create a visual interpretation.”  

Michelle will be welcoming visitors to this evening’s preview.

A brace of ceramic trios by Judith Glover

Judith Glover, ceramics, Brambles, Warthill, York 

JUDITH specialises in sculptural ceramics, using the technique of coiling.

“My work is often presented as trios, thus emphasising the relationship between the pieces,” she says.

“Inspired by Italian still-life artist Giorgio Morandi and British painter, designer and illustrator Rex Whistler, I often incorporate different strata of clays in the same piece to give a painterly quality.

“Ceramic artists Jennifer Lee and Ashraf Hanna influence my unglazed hand-built work with clean lines that enhance the interior design of homes.”

Judith Glover with one of her sculptural ceramics

Judith learned the basics of pottery through studying with Su Rogers in Guildford. “Re-locating to North Yorkshire in 2010, I continued to develop my practice, specialising in sculptural hand-building,” she says. “My base clay is generally a Potterycrafts recipe, which contains a red clay from Derbyshire and buff fireclays from Shropshire.”

Her latest pieces, developed in the 2020-2021 lockdowns, are of imaginary landscapes and seascapes. “They use flattened coils and inserts of different clays to create painterly pieces,” says Judith, who is a member of the Northern Potters Association and an associate member of the Craft Potters Association.

All proceeds from sales of her work go to IDAS, the North Yorkshire charity that supports those affected by domestic violence.

A couple of cups, made by Here Be Monsteras ceramicist Kayti Peschke

Here Be Monsteras (Kayti Peschke), ceramics, Ashtree Lodge, Gowthorpe Lane, Fangfoss, York

KAYTI creates ceramics under the name of Here Be Monsteras from her garage studio in her garden in the Wolds, east of York.

Her background is in photography and magazine design, but two years ago she started making pottery and now she has converted full time. “It has become an obsession,” she says.

Kayti makes wheel-thrown ceramics with stoneware clays, “all with a lovely speckle and texture that are wonderful tactile”, to create functional objects for the home.

“Brushstrokes form the decorative styles using a mix of glazes, hand-coloured clay and wax-resist techniques,” says Kayti. “I also screen print pots, using my own hand-cut designs and I love working on colour palettes, with limited runs for each season.”

She has worked on screen-printing ceramics with artist Jade Blood, creating travel cups and a full dinnerware set, as well as collaborating with restaurants and cafés that serve their menus on her tableware.

“A cup of tea in a handmade cup really does taste better, maybe because the process feels more special or you take more time over it? I’m not sure why, but it’s true,” says Kayti.

Taking shape: Kayti Peschke in hands-on mode in her studio

In her home studio, the cups of tea flow and her dogs hang out in the sunshine as she listens to BBC 6Music or podcasts. “I absolutely love being out there, creating, and hopefully this shows in the things I make.

“All the pieces I create are made to be practical and often multi-functional. It’s so important to me that they’re used and enjoyed and bring a little bit of extra joy to the day!”

As testament to that, her ceramics can be found in York at Kiosk, Fossgate; Sketch By Origin, York Art Gallery; Jolly Allotment, Walmgate; Flori, Walmgate; Melk, SparkYork and Clifford Street, and Botanic York, Walmgate.

Beyond York, Yorkshire stockists include The Hispanist and Two Gingers, both in Paragon Street, Hull; Plant & Paint, Humber Street, Hull; The Gallery, Malton; The Art House, Wakefield; Flavour Like Fancy, Meanwood, Leeds; Mr Cooper’s, Whitby, and Mlkwood Studio, Bridlington.

Kayti will be giving throwing demonstrations at 1pm and 3pm each day during York Open Studios.

A painting by Ian Cameron, one of 145 York Open Studios artists in 2021. Find him – but maybe not this bird – in his back garden at 65, Green Lane, Acomb, York

TO find full details of all the York Open Studios artists and makers, their studios, opening hours and examples of their work, go to: yorkopenstudios.co.uk.

The 95 locations will be highlighted on a map of York to help visitors navigate their way to as many studios, workshops and homes as they wish. 

Visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk to look at the York Open Studios map.  Alternatively, free printed brochures with the map can be picked up from Visit York, on Lendal, or in shops, restaurants and visitor attractions around the city. 

2021’s York Open Studios will be Covid-compliant, with artists adhering to Government guidelines on social distancing, ventilation and sanitisers, keeping themselves and visitors safe throughout. 

Who are the NEW artists in 2021’s York Open Studios? Six in the city to seek out

Serious advice from Joanna Lisowiec in her lettering series

AFTER the Covid-enforced fallow year of 2020, York Open Studios returns this weekend for its 20th parade of the city’s creative talent.

Preceded by tomorrow’s preview evening, from 6pm to 9pm, the event will see 145 artists and makers open 95 studios, homes and workplaces on July 10 and 11 and July 17 and 18, from 10am to 5pm.

Among them will be 43 debutants, prompting CharlesHutchPress to highlight six newcomers a day over the week ahead, in map guide order, as York prepares for a showcase of ceramic, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, furniture, sculpture and textiles skills this month.

“Soothingly immersive”: Fiona Love’s art in her own words

Fiona Lane, painting, 8 Claremont Terrace, Gillygate, York

SELF-TAUGHT artist Fiona paints seascapes and landscapes, mostly on canvas.

“Most of my work is seas and trees,” she says. “I’m inspired by the beautiful and diverse Yorkshire countryside, which is so accessible to me.”

Favouring mixed media, she loves working with colour and light, creating pictures that she describes as “almost 3D” and “soothingly immersive”. 

“I prefer to paint outside,” says Fiona Lane, not least in her flower-filled courtyard

“I’m always developing my style,” she says. “I stretch and smooth paint which I apply with palette knives and brushes, adding details with other media. I prefer to paint outside, whether in the woods, by the sea or in my flower-filled York courtyard.”

Fiona will be taking part in tomorrow’s preview evening.

Creating textile designs is a form of meditation for Ealish Wilson

Ealish Wilson, textiles, PICA Studios, Grape Lane, York, second weekend only

TEXTILE designer Ealish has lived and worked in many places around the world, spending 15 years in the USA before making her way to York and joining the PICA Studios arts hub.

However, Japan was where her work was transformed. “Japan taught me that art exploration and practice is a lifelong journey from which we constantly learn,” she says.

“Experience informs the creative process over time, enhancing and developing an artist’s expression. It’s about seeing creativity in the everyday.”

She brings this philosophy to making her sculptural textiles, using a variety of substrates and techniques, including print, drawing, photography and stitching.

Ealish Wilson’s artistic philosophy: “Seeing creativity in the everyday”

“I repeat this process to create multiple iterations and layers to my designs,” she says. “Much of my process investigates pattern and its transformation through surface manipulation. I use many traditional hand methods of stitching, such as pleating and smocking, to physically alter my original designs.

“Frequently my work starts in the digital realm: whether photographing an object or one of my own paintings, it serves as inspiration for new work. Many of my images are everyday scenes or objects of purpose that appear mundane but feature a beautiful shape or colour that’s a perfect jumping-off point to create a textile.”

Ealish, who sees the craft of making as “my form or meditation”, is also exhibiting in the Westside Artists’ Momentum Summer Show at Blossom Street Gallery, York, until September 26.

Embroidery by Amy Butcher

Amy Butcher, textiles, 1 Carlton Cottages, Wigginton, York

FOR Amy’s applique-based hand embroidery, a collage of intricately cut fabric shapes creates a foundation. This is then stitched and embellished to make 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.

Amy Butcher: A passion for textiles

“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.”

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.

Tomorrow’s preview evening will be the first chance to catch her York Open Studios debut.

Golden Orioles, an illustration, by Joanna Lisowiec

Joanna Lisowiec, illustration, 40 Hempland Drive, York

JOANNA’S prints and illustrations look to nature, classical art and mythology for inspiration, as she focuses on birds and animals in her bold, clean and distinctive linocuts, drawings and paintings.

“My aspiration is to capture truths that make one ponder the beauty of life,” she says.

Originally from Poland and brought up in Colorado, USA, and Switzerland, she first came to Britain to study illustration at Edinburgh College of Art, falling in love with the wild Highlands and later with the “quaint English countryside” when she moved to Yorkshire for her MA in advertising and design from the University of Leeds.

“As an illustrator and printmaker, I’m known for a bold style of illustration with lots of texture, usually focused on the beauty of nature and narratives inspired by folklore. I love reading books and would love to illustrate a classic novel one day,” says Joanna, whose surname is pronounced “Lease-oviets”.

“When I’m not working, I can be found with my nose in a book, taking long walks in the countryside, drinking tea and listening to the rain.”

She will be opening her studio for tomorrow’s preview.

Black Mist, by Dee Thwaite

Dee Thwaite, painting, 10 Bedale Avenue, York, second weekend only

DEE uses acrylic paint, inks, graphite, oil pastels and charcoal in her sea and landscape paintings and drawings, marked by stormy skies, movement in the clouds, shifting light and the changing seasons.

Dee Thwaite at work in her studio

Mainly self-taught, this contemporary abstract artist expresses her love of the North Yorkshire coastline on canvas, board and paper in works that combine both a physical and emotional response when she paints, predominantly with her hands, as opposed to brushes.

“Painting has become such a healing and therapeutic part of my life and one of my greatest passions,” says Dee.

A Tabitha Grove painting on handmade paper

Tabitha Grove, painting, Arnup Studios, Panman Lane, Holtby, York

TABITHA uses bold colour, contrast, ink, watercolour, gold leaf and collage on handmade paper, fabric and even garments to explore perceptions of the body and how they can be challenged and celebrated. 

Her career as an actor and costume designer for film and theatre has informed Tabitha’s passion for storytelling and her fascination with the way our bodies interact with our environments.

Tabitha Grove: Actor, costume designer, art therapist, piano restorer….and artist

Tabitha’s career portfolio career extends to co-managing Look Gallery, in Helmsley, being an art therapist in hospitals and now working in piano restoration, where she learns rare skills that influence her art.

Each experience has informed Tabitha’s style, she says, leading to her “bringing diverse technique to a new perspective”.

TOMORROW: Reg Walker, Michelle Galloway, Judith Glover and Here Be Monsteras Ceramics (Kayti Peschke).

More Things To Do in and around York as 145 artists and makers open studio doors. List No. 40, courtesy Of The Press, York

Minster, by textile artist Carol Coleman, who is taking part in York Open Studios at 1 Carlton Cottages, Wigginton

AHEAD of Monday’s already trailered Step 4 pronouncement, Charles Hutchinson unmasks events aplenty, from Open Studios to heavy metal heaven, theatre comedy to theatre tragi-comedy, musical celebrations to  a triple exhibition.

Big art event of the next two weekends: York Open Studios 2021, preview night tomorrow, 6pm to 9pm; July 10/11 and 17/18, 10am to 5pm

AFTER the Covid-enforced fallow year of 2020, York Open Studios returns this weekend for its 20th parade of the city’s creative talent.

The event sees 145 artists and makers open 95 studios, homes and workplaces, and among them will be 43 debutants, with full details at yorkopenstudios.co.uk.

York’s biggest annual art showcase spans ceramics, collages, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, printmaking, photography, furniture, sculpture and textiles.

Still feeling their Old Selves after lockdown easement: Yorkshire four-piece look overjoyed at the prospect of headlining tomorrow’s very heavy metal bill at The Fulford Arms

Hardcore gig of the week: Old Selves, Blight Town, Cast Out and Realms at The Fulford Arms, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm.

“WHAT at an absolute heavy metal treat,” enthuses Fulford Arms supremo Chris Sherrington, ahead of tomorrow’s headbanger fiesta, headlined by fiery Yorkshire four-piece Old Selves.

Playing loud too will be Nottingham progressive post-hardcore/math rock quintet Blight Town, York punk’n’roll/metalcore crossover band Cast Out and Yorkshire post-hardcore act Realms, who “make music for people who never grew out of their emo phase”. Tickets: thefulfordarms.bigcartel.com/ or on the door.

Lead actors Sandy Foster and Tom Kanji in rehearsal for Laura Wade’s comedy of domestic bliss turned to blister, Home, I’m Darling. Picture: Ellie Kurttz

Make a trip to Scarborough for: Home, I’m Darling, Stephen Joseph Theatre, July 9 to August 14

SWEET peas in the garden; homemade lemon curd in the kitchen; marital bliss in the bedroom, Judy and Johnny seem to be the perfect couple. Sickeningly happy, in fact, in Laura Wade’s domestic comedy-drama. 

Is their marriage everything it seems, however? Are there cracks in their happiness? What happens when the 1950s’ family values they love so much stop working in the 21st century as the couple discovers that nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. 

Liz Stevenson directs this co-production between Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, Bolton’s Octagon Theatre and the SJT. Box office: thesjt.uk.com.

Back together in Beulah: Actor-musicians Jim Harbourne and Ed Wren reunite next week, having first performed the show for The Flanagan Collective in 2012

Theatre resurrection of the week ahead: The Flanagan Collective in Beulah, Summer At The Mill, Stillington, near York, July 14 to 16, 8pm to 10pm

AN island sets sail into the sunset; a boy watches a lion running out of the sky, and an old man is sleeping as Alexander Wright’s Beulah reawakens in Stillington.

Inspired by William Blake’s world of a “mild and pleasant rest”, Wright plays with  notions of reality, of the permeable times of day and liminal states of being, in a show woven with storytelling, puppetry and soaring live music, first staged at York Theatre Royal in the bygone summer of 2012.

Directed by Tom Bellerby, Beulah is performed by actor-musicians and composers Jim Harbourne and Ed Wren. Box office: atthemill.org.

Father Of The Flowers, by York artist Linda Combi, from her exhibition The Last Gardener Of Aleppo at Pyramid Gallery, York

Exhibition launch of the week times three: Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, Friday to September 5

ERUM Aamir, Debbie Loane and Linda Combi form the suitably triangular structure of Pyramid Gallery’s summer show. Not one, but three exhibitions will run in two upstairs rooms.

For Celestial Garden, Manchester ceramic artist Erum Aamir has made intricate porcelain sculptures that fuse her scientific research and artistic imaginations, complemented in the front room by seascape and landscape paintings by Easingwold artist Debbie Loane under the title of The Peace Of Wild Places.

York artist Linda Combi presents The Last Gardener Of Aleppo, a series of original collages and mixed-media artworks and giclee prints that form a moving tribute to Abu Waad in aid of The Lemon Tree Trust and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees agency.

Not having a ball: Luke Dickson as doomed Leeds United manager Brian Clough in The Damned United at York Theatre Royal

Second time lucky: The Damned United, Red Ladder Theatre Company, York Theatre Royal, July 15, kick-off 7.30pm

THE Damned Pandemic curse struck again when June 16’s performance of The Damned United was postponed after one of the actors had an inconclusive lateral flow test. Tickets remain valid for the post-Euro 2020 new date.

Anders Lustgarten’s darkly humorous adaptation of David Peace’s book about Brian Clough’s 44 days in purgatory as Leeds United’s manager is built around the double act of tortured genius Clough (Luke Dickson) and father figure/assistant Peter Taylor (David Chafer).

The beauty and brutality of football, the working man’s ballet, bursts out of a story of sweat and booze, fury and power battles. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

No, that’s not England manager Gareth Southgate, second from left, front row, in Black Sheep Theatre’s line-up

Raise the roof booster:  Black Sheep Theatre, For The Love Of Musicals, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 24, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

MUSICAL director Matthew Clare and his merry band, plus a heap of York singers, present a concert programme packed with musical delights as they seek to prove that “There’s No Business Like Show Business”.

The song list for this Black Sheep Theatre fundraiser for the Joseph Rowntree York, spans Annie Get Your Gun, the classics and more recent shows, such as Dear Evan Hansen. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Joshua Burnell: Live At Forty Five gig in August. Picture: Stewart Baxter

Intimate gig announcement of the week: Joshua Burnell, Live At Forty Five, Forty Five Vinyl Café, Micklegate, York, August 14, 7.30pm

JOSHUA Burnell, progressive York purveyor of folk-fused baroque’n’roll for the modern world, performs in a three-piece line-up, including Frances Sladen, at Forty Five Vinyl Café next month.

Expect a showcase for latest album Flowers Where The Horses Sleep and his new EP, Storm Cogs, featuring songs about a folk singer who went missing for 30 years (Shelagh McDonald), a storm-chasing flying machine and a childhood memory, “written and recorded in lockdown and released as the world recovers”.

Elsie Franklin supports. Tickets are on sale at fortyfiveuk.com/events/joshua-burnell-live-at-fortyfive.

Who are the NEW artists in 2021’s York Open Studios? The joy of six more to find

An exploration of line and colour by Nick Kobyluch

AFTER the Covid-enforced fallow year of 2020, York Open Studios returns this weekend for its 20th parade of the city’s creative talent.

Preceded by Friday’s 6pm to 9pm preview evening, the event will see 145 artists and makers open 95 studios, homes and workplaces on July 10 and 11 and July 17 and 18, from 10am to 5pm.

Among them will be 43 debutants, prompting CharlesHutchPress to highlight six newcomers a day over this week, in map guide order, as York prepares for a showcase of ceramic, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, furniture, sculpture and textiles skills this month.

“I love the decisiveness of the pen when committing pen to paper,” says Mark Druery

Mark Druery, drawing, 63 St Paul’s Terrace, Holgate, York

YORKSHIREMAN Mark is inseparably both an architect and an artist.

Trained at Canterbury School of Art and Design, where he developed his love for art, architecture and Italy, he works mainly with technical pens directly onto watercolour paper, to which he applies watercolour wash and accents “if I have the time”.

“I love the immediacy of mark-making and the decisiveness of the pen when committing pen to paper,” he says, ahead of showing sketches and drawings of such favourite places along his travels as York, Yorkshire and Venice in his York Open Studios debut.

“There is always a risk factor when using pen directly and you must constantly adapt when drawing and evolve and change with the process, just like being an architect; I cannot take my building down and start again!”

Mark Druery: Artist and architect

More of Mark’s pen and watercolour sketches are on display in the Momentum Summer Show, the Westside Artists’ exhibition at Blossom Street, York, until September 26.

“I never forget the place where I sat and passed the time and sketched and painted,” he says. “The concentration required in this process to capture a place on paper commits the details to memory far better than any photograph and remains with you forever.”

He will be among the YOS artists welcoming visitors at Friday’s 6pm to 9pm preview.

Kate Akrill’s ceramics, made for “those who love the spookier side of life”

Kate Akrill, ceramics, 14 Caroline Close, Holgate, York

BY day a librarian, by night Kate is a self-taught potter, burning the midnight oil to make skulls, cauldrons and shadow-box altars.

Under the guise of Skullduggery Ceramics, she creates “lovely and unusual, handmade, ceramic homeware and jewellery for those who love the spookier side of life”. 

Drawing on strange and peculiar themes from gothic literature, witchcraft, superstition and Victorian mourning, she makes subtly unusual jewellery, combining traditional motifs with unexpected imagery and textures.

Kate Akrill: Diurnal librarian, nocturnal potter

Kate uses hand-building techniques and distorts the original purpose of found objects and moulds to turn clay into striking – and sometimes unsettling – designs.

Like Mark Druery, she is taking part in the Momentum Summer Show, mounted by Westside Artists at Blossom Street Gallery, and will be opening her home studio for the YOS preview evening.

Mixed-media work by Lisa Lundqvist

Lisa Lundqvist, mixed media, garden studio behind 55 Green Lane, York

LISA uses foraged and found objects in nature to create art that reflects her love and respect for the natural environment around her, whether expressed through mixed-media assemblage, installations, eco-printed textiles or paintings in oil and cold wax.

After pursuing an international career in portrait and wedding photography, Lisa expanded her creative skills by completing an Access Art & Design diploma last year, attaining a distinction.

Lisa Lundqvist: Developing work in both fine art and textiles

An emerging body of art in mixed media led to her acceptance onto an MA course in Creative Practice, where she is now developing work in textiles and fine art.

“My main focus of research is in discovering environmentally conscious techniques for eco-dyeing and printing textiles using local plants,” she says.

The first chance to visit her garden studio will be at Friday evening’s preview.

Nick Kobyluch: Saw the light; left London for York

Nick Kobyluch, drawing and painting, 73 Acomb Road, York

NICK moved to York in 2018 from London, where he had been part of Skylark Galleries.

His drawings and paintings range from landscapes and portraits to both representational and abstract, experimental mark-making in an exploration of line and colour.

“There will be a range of framed and unframed pieces, as well as sketchbooks, on show to view,” says Nick, who has taken part in many shows and art fairs over the past few years and has his work in many private collections.

“My work preserves precious, fleeting moments,” says portrait artist Lucy McElroy

Lucy McElroy, portraiture, 24 Manor Drive South, York

PORTRAIT artist Lucy combines traditional techniques of drawing and painting with expressive mark-making to create beautiful, emotive images with a realistic likeness to her subjects. 

She takes commissions as well as dedicating time to developing her own creative practice in her home studio. “Deeply aware of the transient nature of life, my work preserves precious, fleeting moments,” says Lucy, who works in oils, charcoal and soft pastels.

“My present practice looks at family relationships and explores how our family histories shape who we are today.”

Lucy McElroy: Exploring how our family histories shape who we are today

Lucy, who studied Fine Art at Leeds University, has enjoyed 16 years of teaching art and now balances her time between the joys and challenges of being a mother to a young family, teaching at All Saints RC School, in York, and her artistic creativity.

You can see more of Lucy’s portraits at the Westside Artists show at Blossom Street Gallery, York, through the summer.

Glass bobbin, “invisible” work, by Liz O’Connell

Liz O’Connell, glass, 53 Plantation Drive, York

LIZ is an emerging artist of Irish and Yorkshire heritage, who uses many techniques and processes in glass, making objects in her York studio.

Fascinated by textiles and issues of “invisibility” and “skill value”, she completed a degree in Contemporary Craft at York College and then studied for a Masters at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, where she expanded her practice to incorporate film and performance.

“I explore domestic narratives by making glass textiles and using them performatively, exploring complex ideas about gender and ‘invisible’ work,” says Liz. “I re-appropriate domestic detergents and materials; subverting domestic chores by filming the process and by creating film stills and canvases.

“I explore domestic narratives by making glass textiles and using them performatively,” says Liz O’Connell

“I want us to consider the psychological impact of constant caring, giving and invisible labour. The films and stills capture the process and the domestic sphere in which I work. The failure to measure or acknowledge unpaid labour is the biggest data gap in collecting economic statistics.”

Liz will give demonstrations of her working practice each day, preceded by opening her studio for Friday’s preview evening.

TOMORROW: Fiona Lane, Ealish Wilson, Amy Butcher, Joanna Lisowiec, Dee Thwaite and Tabitha Grove.

Who are the NEW artists in 2021’s York Open Studios? Meet another six-pack…

Pamela Thorby: Recorder virtuoso turned ceramicist

AFTER the Covid-enforced fallow year of 2020, York Open Studios returns this weekend for its 20th parade of the city’s creative talent.

Preceded by Friday’s preview evening, the event will see 145 artists and makers open 95 studios, homes and workplaces on July 10 and 11 and July 17 and 18, from 10am to 5pm.

Among them will be 43 debutants, prompting CharlesHutchPress to highlight six newcomers a day over the week ahead, in map guide order, as York prepares for a showcase of ceramic, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, furniture, sculpture and textiles skills this month.

“My work aims to abstract the modern, decaying landscape with textures and geometric composition,” says Mick Leach

Mick Leach, painting, 3 Thorpe Street, Scarcroft Road, York

AS a self-taught artist and full-time worker, Mick’s side-career in painting has been taking shape steadily since early 2016. “I’m still learning,” he says.

He works mainly with acrylic paint and chalk powder, along with other media, that he applies to MDF board to achieve a layered, industrial aesthetic in his abstract paintings.

Mick Leach: Self-taught abstract artist

He draws inspiration from El Lissitzky, the Russian artist, designer, photographer, typographer, polemicist and architect, and Kazemir Malevich, the pioneering fellow Russian avant-garde artist and art theorist.  

“Pursuing my urge to create, my work aims to abstract the modern, decaying landscape with textures and geometric composition,” says Mick, who won the 2019 Art& York Best Raw Talent award.

Look out too for Evie Leach’s jewellery designs in the same house. Both Mick and Evie will take part in the preview evening from 6pm to 9pm.

Ceramicist Pietro Sanna in his studio

Pietro Sanna, ceramics, 44 Dale Street, York

BORN in Sardinia and now working and living in York, Pietro has always been interested in art. During his degree studies in Contemporary 3D Craft at York College, he started to focus on the use of the ceramic medium.

Since graduating, he has taken part in The Kunsthuis Annual Ceramics Show, at the Dutch House, Mill Green Farm, Crayke, and in exhibitions at the Silson Contemporary Gallery, in Harrogate, where he is a gallery artist.

Pietro creates hand-built vessels as carriers for broad types of narratives; his practice taking inspiration from experimentation with clay and the possibilities it offers during the act of making.

Charlotte Dawson: Artist and facilitator

Charlotte Dawson, painting, 44 Dale Street, York

PIETRO’S partner, Charlotte is a vital player in York’s art scene, organising the York River Art Market, by Lendal Bridge, where artists and craftspeople set up stalls on Dame Judi Dench Walk at weekends in the summer months.

In her own work, facilitator Charlotte is a multi-disciplined artist, focusing on abstract painting and jewellery. She began her formal arts education in 1996 at Westwood Art College, Scarborough, later taking a short course at York School of Jewellery in 2010.

“My painting seeks to create a visual language, working intuitively to discover interesting compositions and colours through energetic mark making,” says Charlotte Dawson

After completing an Access course in Art & Design at York College in 2012,  she gained a BA Hons in Art & Design Interdisciplinary at Leeds University of Art in 2015.

“My painting seeks to create a visual language, working intuitively to discover interesting compositions and colours through energetic mark making, while my jewellery designs are led by technique and colour to create contemporary and everyday pieces,” says Charlotte.

A ghostly artwork by Caroline Lewis

Caroline Lewis, collage, 24 Hob Moor Terrace, York

LANDSCAPES and ghosts vie for centre stage in Caroline’s artwork.

Scenes of (mainly) Yorkshire inspire the landscapes, depicted in collage, lino print and paint. As for the ghosts, images sparked by Covid-19 and abandoned places are captured in collage, transfer printing and paint.

Caroline Lewis: Ceramicist, jewellery designer, delicatessen owner, gardener, pianist and collage artist

Caroline has a BA Hons in ceramics from West Surrey College of Art and studied on a one-year jewellery course full time at Maidenhead College of Art.

She owned a delicatessen for 30 years until taking early retirement in 2017 to give her more time to take up art again, along with gardening, re-learning the piano, walking and just enjoying life full stop.

David Bowie, portrait, by Lucie Wake. “It’s all about the eyes,” she says, and indeed the eyes have it

Lucie Wake, painting, 15 Slingsby Grove, York

ART runs like a seam through the life of Lucie, who has a BA Hons in Ceramics.

She built up a successful licensing company, Hocus Pocus, her designs adorning many products across most of the high-street stores. In 2005, she ventured into painting, concentrating on portraits, both of people and animals.

Lucie captures the soul of her portrait subjects through her expressive use of delicious slabs of oil paint on canvas. “It’s all about the eyes, they capture your attention,” she says.

Lucie Wake: Portrait artist for people and canines alike

Lucie, who promotes her art via Facet Painting, will be participating in Friday’s preview night from 6pm to 9pm and will be giving demonstrations over the two weekends.

Her work also can be found in the Momentum Summer Show, presented by the York art group Westside Artists at Blossom Street Gallery, by Micklegate Bar, York, until September 26. Gallery opening hours are: Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 10am to 4pm; Covid safety measures are in place.

Stoneware-fired porcelain sculptural vessels by Pamela Thorby

Pamela Thorby, ceramics, 11 Middlethorpe Grove, York 

PAMELA left behind a distinguished career in music as a recorder virtuoso and academic to pursue a new path in fine art.

Her stoneware-fired porcelain sculptural vessels are “imagined but reminiscent of a multiplicity of organic forms”: whether interstellar, fossil, micro-organism or coral.

“I aspire to make work light enough to be hung in the air; strong enough to be placed piece inside piece, creating new possibilities of form and meaning,” says Pamela. “My aim is to translate the dynamism and sensitivity of my former career as a musician into a ‘visual music’ in clay.”

She is “so excited” to have been selected for her first participation in York Open Studios. “This was another one of the goals that I set myself and here we are, in my third year as a ceramicist, and I’m working towards a major body of work for this month’s fantastic event,” she says.

“I aspire to make work light enough to be hung in the air,” says Pamela Thorby

During lockdown, Pamela worked intensively towards a collection of thrown functional stoneware to partner with her sculptural hand-built porcelain forms. “The concentrated discipline of daily wheel practice has provided meditative solace and structure in extraordinary times,” she says.

In her esteemed career in music, Pamela was professor of recorder at the Royal Academy of Music in London until 2019; the regular recorder player for Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins’s projects and a member of such groups as La Serenissima, New London Consort and Palladian Ensemble with Baroque violinist Rachel Podger.

In May 2007, she performed a radical fusion of jazz and folk music with Perfect Houseplants at the National Centre for Early Music in York, an innovative experience she described memorably as: “I’m a bit like a gherkin on a salad plate: I’m adding piquancy to the mix.”

She will give demonstrations during the two YOS weekends and will be opening up her home studio for the Friday preview too.

TOMORROW: Mark Druery, Kate Akrill, Lisa Lundqvist, Nick Kobyluch, Lucy McElroy and Liz O’Connell.

Who are the NEW artists in 2021’s York Open Studios? Meet another six of the best

One of Sarah Cornwall’s “chunky” ceramics

AFTER the Covid-enforced fallow year of 2020, York Open Studios returns this weekend for its 20th parade of the city’s creative talent.

Preceded by Friday’s preview evening, the event will see 145 artists and makers open 95 studios, homes and workplaces on July 10 and 11 and July 17 and 18, from 10am to 5pm.

Among them will be 43 debutants, prompting CharlesHutchPress to highlight six newcomers a day over the week ahead, in map guide order, as York prepares for a showcase of ceramic, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, furniture, sculpture and textiles skills this month.

From a chrysalis to a butterfly: Caroline Utterson’s textile work in progress

Caroline Utterson, textiles, Southbank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, 97 Bishopthorpe Road, York

CAROLINE combines her two great loves, photography and fabric, in creating one-off embroidered, appliquéd and felted artworks influenced as much by her imagination as by the landscape around her.

After graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University with a degree in textiles, she worked for North Yorkshire Police for eight years before travelling to Thailand to teach English.

On her return, using the tools she had to hand, Caroline taught herself freehand machine embroidery, a craft she likens to drawing with a sewing machine.

Caroline Utterson: Inspired by animals, nature, her northern roots and love of travel and photography

“I’m greatly inspired by animals, nature, my northern roots and my love of travel and photography,” she says. “Forever taking photos of anything that catches my eye, I then convert my pictures into textile artworks, using fabrics, buttons, beads and bits that I have collected over the years. The environment is important to me, so I use many recycled and vintage fabrics in my work.

“Having worked as a seamstress for four years, I collected and saved hoards of fabric from going into landfill and I love nothing more than breathing new life into these discarded ‘scraps’.”

Caroline launched her It’s Cute textile shop in September 2013. “The name was coined as a result of a happy acronym of my name and what I do: Caroline Utterson Textiles and Embroidery,” she says.

A Batik piece by Rebecca Mason

Rebecca Mason, textiles, Southbank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, 97 Bishopthorpe Road, York

REBECCA specialises in batik, a dye-resist technique using wax that she utilises to make silk scarves, ties, brooches, framed pictures, cards and wall hangings, applying both traditional Indonesian and modern methods.

She first became inspired by batik more than 30 years ago in Malaysia. Subsequently she attended batik workshops and evening classes to learn the techniques.

“I love to be creative with colour and the freedom of abstract designs, and I particularly enjoy the fluidity, flexibility, unpredictability and crackle effect of the wax,” says Rebecca, who is influenced and inspired by the shapes and hues of the Yorkshire countryside and the changing seasons.

“I love to be creative with colour and the freedom of abstract designs,” says Rebecca Mason

She specialises in doing batik on cotton and silk, including velour. “My ties and scarves are each uniquely designed, and my cotton pictures are varied in theme and use a range of batik techniques.”

Rebecca will be one of seven artists taking part in York Open Studios at Southbank Methodist Church, along with Nicola Lee, Caroline Utterson, Colin Black, Donna Maria Taylor, Carolyn Coles and Karen Winship. Between them, they specialise in batik, seascapes, landscapes, paintings, textiles, mixed media, collage, work on paper, acrylics and embroidery.

Should you be wondering, the word ‘batik’ originates from the Javanese ‘tik’ and means ‘to dot’. To make a batik, selected areas of the cloth are blocked out by brushing or drawing hot wax over them, and the cloth is then dyed. The parts covered in wax resist the dye and remain the original colour.

Henry Steele: “Relies on his eye to give a sense of aesthetic”

Henry Steele, ceramics, Millthorpe School, Nunthorpe Avenue, York

A DIAGNOSIS of autism gives Henry an unusual vision of the world around him. From an early age, he refused to conform to numerical concepts. Instead, he relies on his eye to give a sense of aesthetic.

In his art, he uses mixed media, focusing primarily on ceramics. “I’m particularly interested in ancient manufacturing techniques that favour sustainable methods and I often employ discarded items as tools for decoration,” he says.

Sarah Cornwall at the wheel

Sarah Cornwall, ceramics, Millthorpe School, Nunthorpe Avenue, York 

SARAH makes hand-built and wheel thrown ceramics in the form of chunky pots and tableware.

At present studying in the final year of a Contemporary Craft degree, she focuses on experimenting with form and colour. By compressing and manipulating the clay, her work takes on an identity of its own, producing a contrast of swirling bright colour against the depth of clay.

A piece of silver jewellery by Laura Masheder

Laura Masheder, silver jewellery, Millthorpe School, Nunthorpe Avenue, York

LAURA trained originally as a classical singer, attending Leeds College of Music, and then left to raise a family and work in catering management for a decade.

On rekindling her creative ambitions, she studied for an Access to Higher Education course in art and design, leading to her degree studies in Contemporary Craft at York College, from where she graduated with first class honours in 2020.

Laura Masheder in her studio

In her hand-crafted hallmarked silver jewellery, she specialises in chasing and repoussé techniques, while also experimenting with wax casting and silver clay.

Her jewellery is a mix of figurative nature studies and abstract geometric pieces, as can be seen at boochica.com.

Silva Rerum jewellery by Fiona Hirst

Silva Rerum (Fiona Hirst), jewellery, Millthorpe School, Nunthorpe Avenue, York

INFLUENCED by travel, anthropology and history, Fiona uses traditional silver and goldsmithing techniques, combined with digital technology.

As with many contemporary jewellers, she has a background in fine art and textiles. Several years ago, she decided to complete a second degree, specialising on mixed media and jewellery techniques. At the same time, she completed a P.G.C.E. and now teaches art, design and media.

Fiona’s designs are strong and modern, sometimes with a narrative element, and at present she is developing a collection based on inspirational women throughout history.

Fiona Hirst: Influenced by travel, anthropology and history

TOMORROW: Mick Leach, Pietro Sanna, Charlotte Dawson, Caroline Lewis, Lucie Wake and Pamela Thorby.

Who are the NEW artists in the 2021 York Open Studios? Meet the second sextet…

Minster Flypast, retro digital print, by York Open Studios 2021 artist Lincoln Lightfoot

AFTER the Covid-enforced fallow year of 2020, York Open Studios returns at the weekend for its 20th festival celebration of the city’s creative talent

Preceded by Friday’s preview evening, the event will see 145 artists and makers open 95 studios, homes and workplaces on July 10 and 11 and July 17 and 18, from 10am to 5pm.

Among them will be 43 debutants, prompting CharlesHutchPress to highlight six newcomers a day over the week ahead, in map guide order, as York prepares for a showcase of ceramic, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, furniture, sculpture and textiles skills this month.

Pennie Lordan: Exploring the theme of Edgelands

Pennie Lordan, painting, Greenwood Barn Studio, Moor Lane, Copmanthorpe, York

PENNIE’S oil paintings explore the stark contrast and parallels that exist between loss and hope, sensitivity and brutality, isolation and connectedness through the theme of Edgelands.

“My paintings are developed from studies that come directly from location sketches, often on pre-prepared grounds that reference a sense of composition and atmosphere,” she says.

“These studies then develop into oil paintings, built on varied prepared grounds and developed through the process of multiple thin layers of oil paint and cold wax, often applied, wiped back and re-applied.”

Pennie Lordan

Her work is painted on linen, incorporating subtle stitching, or canvas or disregarded found materials, such as pitched pine, board or aluminium.

Londoner Pennie runs two creative businesses in York with her husband, having arrived here with a background in animation, art and education. She has completed three years of studying landscape painting at Leith School of Art in Edinburgh.

Day Of The Dinosaurs, oil painting, by Lincoln Lightfoot

Lincoln Lightfoot, digital prints and oil paintings, 118 Brunswick Street, South Bank, York. First weekend only

LINCOLN’S surreal images draw on the B-movie imagery of the 1950s and ‘60s, his broad theme being ridiculous and surreal encounters with beasts that appear to us in recognisable locations.

Not so much King Kong climbing the Empire State Building in New York as a tentacled dayglo Creature From The Bottom Of The Ouse attacking a bridge in York, as the ancient city’s heritage resonates in the present day.

“Walking through York’s streets, your creative mind can just let loose and go to work,” says Lincoln Lightfoot

What does the city of York conjure in Lincoln’s mind? “It’s a story-book city, conjuring up tales of the past. Walking through its streets, your creative mind can just let loose and go to work. It’s not hard to imagine incredible things happening there because they already have.”

In his artistic response to walking those city streets, the Fine Art graduate from York St John University questions what might be in store for 2021.

So, Lincoln, what exactly is in store this year for you and the rest of us? “Aliens, man, definitely aliens,” he warns. “There are more influential individuals making statements and releasing information by the day.” 

A textile design by Amy Stubbs

Amy Stubbs,textiles,51 Balmoral Terrace, York

RELOCATED to York in a return to her northern roots, pattern print designer Amy now works from the PICA Studios artist hub in Grape Lane.

This textile design graduate from Falmouth University draws inspiration “from a wealth of experience brought to her by her strong Yorkshire family heritage and the opportunity to experience varying cultures”.

Amy Stubbs: Strong mark-making, motifs and collaging

Consequently, Amy’s textile work combines manually drawn abstract elements with the aid of digital technology to create her surface pattern prints that feature strong mark-making motifs and collaging.

She will be sharing her York Open Studios space with Emily Stubbs, who creates hand-built sculptural ceramic vessels – cheeky, bright and full of life in character – that explore the relationship between colour, form and texture.

Two of Jilly Lovett’s one-of-a-kind dolls

Jilly Lovett, textiles, 212 Bishopthorpe Road, York

JILLY designs and sews one-of-a-kind dolls in a folk art style, using recycled felt, incorporating embroidery, applique and other vintage finds to create original works for display.

Since studying Fine Art at Edinburgh University, she has worked in creative industries variously as a botanical illustrator, editor, art director and now a textile artist.

Jilly Lovett: Creator of quirky, characterful dolls

Her main focus is on creating quirky, characterful art dolls with unique details, such as pearly kings with button-embellished coats and fearsome pirates armed with silver fish knives.

Private commissions give Jilly the chance to research new subjects and to experiment with different materials and patterns.

Joseph Rowntree Theatre, by Elliot Harrison

Elliot Harrison, illustration, 21 Finsbury Street, York 

ELLIOT creates architectural illustrations, prints and posters showcasing iconic York buildings and views, favouring a vibrant colour palette inspired by Art Deco design and vintage 20th century travel posters.

His distinctive retro York portfolio has been catching the eye for the past five years, whether at Frankie & Johnny’s Cookshop, Blossom Street Gallery or O & M at Snowhome or in exhibitions at York Hospital and the Rowntree Park Reading Café.

Among his most popular illustrations are Rowntree Park, Bishopthorpe Road, the Blossom Street Odeon cinema, the former Clifton Cinema, the former Terry’s factory, the Joseph Rowntree Theatre and York Minster.

Elliot Harrison: York’s future of retro art

His commissions include illustrations for York Theatre Royal, The Piece Hall, in Halifax, York Bunny Trail and home and shop-front portraits.

Elliot, who gained a degree in art and design from York St John University, has expanded his repertoire to take in running medals, mugs, coasters, cards, Christmas cards, York calendars and hand-pressed lino prints of York architecture.

Demonstrations will be available over the two weekends. In the meantime, check out his work via elliot@york360.co.uk.

Nicola Lee’s work combines drawing, photography and folding

Nicola Lee, drawing, Southbank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, 97 Bishopthorpe Road, York

NICOLA has a quiet practice, wherein observation and encounter are fundamental aspects.
She uses drawing, folding and photography, exploring through process and the inherent voice of materials to record, respond and evoke her experience of looking.

Her practice has drawn from notions of traditional Japanese aesthetics found in Tanka poetry. Under the shadow of these influences, she uses a digital camera, plays with camera-less photographic methods and creates series of drawings and artist books.

Nicola Lee: Drawn to line, pattern and shape occurring in peripheral space

“My visual interest lies beyond the object,” Nicola says. “I’m drawn to line, pattern and shape occurring in peripheral space.  A space which is fluid, ambiguous and lacking in definition.  A space in which the peripheral becomes the object.

” I use process and material to play with ideas of repetition, reduction and abstraction in order to explore my encounter with the space between.”

NEXT UP: Caroline Utterson, Rebecca Mason, Henry Steele, Sarah Cornwall, Laura Masheder and Silva Rerum.

Who are the NEW artists in the 2021 York Open Studios? Meet the first six…

Kitty Greenbrown: Spoken-word poet making her York Open Studios debut on the second weekend with Rust, her collaboration with artist Peter Roman

AFTER the Covid-enforced fallow year of 2020, York Open Studios returns next weekend for its 20th showcase of the city’s creative talent

Preceded by next Friday’s preview evening, the event will see 145 artists and makers open 95 studios, homes and workplaces on July 10 and 11 and July 17 and 18, from 10am to 5pm.

Among them will be 43 debutants, prompting CharlesHutchPress to highlight six newcomers a day over the week ahead, in map guide order, as York prepares for a showcase of ceramic, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print, photography, furniture, sculpture and textiles skills this month.

A vibrant micro-landscape by Rosebay

Rosebay, vibrant micro-landscapes in acrylic, 25, Turners Croft, Heslington

ROSEBAY uses the quick, direct method of marker pens filled with acrylic to produce big, bold canvases, drawing on elements of pop art, graffiti art and cartography to celebrate the hidden, unsung corners of the natural world. 

Rosebay started painting in 2009, inspired by the Sydney coastline in Australia. Informed by her background in biology, her work incorporated abstracted natural forms, from forest canopies to tiny sea creatures.

After an exhibition in Sydney, her return to the UK brought a fresh palette of increasingly vibrant colours and a move to tightly focused micro-landscapes.
The shoreline remains a huge inspiration and, appropriately, she has  exhibited in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, and Saltburn-by-the-Sea.

“I like to exaggerate and intensify colours,” says Rosebay

“Working from a mixture of memory and photographs, I focus on one small area – a limpet-covered rock, the trunk of a tree – and this becomes my micro-landscape with its own topography,” says Rosebay.

“Features within it are stylised to varying degrees, sometimes to the point where they appear completely abstract. Simple forms, such as the white circles representing barnacles, are often repeated many times.”

Her paintings sometimes resemble maps.Those water channels or rock striations can look like roads, patches of seaweed like green parks in a city. It adds to the feeling of a landscape where observers can lose themselves,” she reasons.

“I like to exaggerate and intensify colours: as well as making everything more vivid, it takes my work a further step away from ‘reality’, which I like. Each block of colour is delineated by a border of dark violet, which is the shade I associate with deepest shadow.”

A bright, intricate hand-cut paper collage by Elena Skoreyko Wagner

Elena Skoreyko Wagner, collage illustration, The Drey Studio, 16a Heslington Road, York

CANADIAN illustrator Elena creates bright, intricate hand-cut paper collages, re-using paper snippets imbued with their own histories to assemble poetic images that illustrate intimate narratives and emotional experiences.

Elena completed a degree in studio art at York University, Toronto, in 2006, and then spent a decade winding her way through odd jobs, a Masters in occupational therapy, interrupted briefly by a surprise baby, followed immediately by a hop across the Atlantic to Bonn, Germany, then York, en route to illustration.

“Some former professors asked me to illustrate a paediatric assessment and suddenly, everything made sense,” she says. “I now work as a freelance illustrator and maker of zines and collages.  My work is often autobiographical, depicting women and children to explore personal and social issues and uncover wonder and magic in the ordinary.”

“My work is often autobiographical, depicting women and children to explore personal and social issues,” says Elena

​Elena, settled into York with her German economist husband, Achim, and their two children, sells original artworks, prints and zines through Elena’s Treehouse. “I can be found most days nestled in a nook, manifesting a rainbow tornado of paper snippets, or making equally impressive messes with my small protégés,” she says.

On May 17 and 18, she took part in York Theatre Royal’s reopening brace of Love Bites performances, collaborating with composer and singer James Cave and writer Bethan Ellis on the five-minute musical theatre piece Magic, inspired by a lockdown poem by Elena, who made a miniature paper theatre that re-created her allotment and was operated by her on stage.

Elena “seeks to find magic and uncover meaning in the mundane”. “York is a beautiful city, which in many ways makes it easier to find magic,” she says. “There are snickelways that look straight out of Tolkien, and crumbling walls, climbing with vines, straight from The Secret Garden!”

Emma Crockatt’s works are works full of brightly coloured animals, flowers and seasons

Emma Crockatt, painting, The Drey Studio, 16a Heslington Road, York

INSPIRED by nature, patterns and objects, Emma moves between painting, collage and drawing and now she is exploring textiles and print too. 

Emma moved to London in 2006 to study History of Art at Goldsmiths, progressing to an MA in Illustration at Camberwell College of Art.

Emma Crockatt at work

In 2017, she returned to York, where she makes works full of brightly coloured animals, flowers and seasons, taking pleasure in her everyday surroundings.

Kitty Greenbrown and Peter Roman, multi-media, Arts Barge, Foss Basin, York. July 17 and 18 only

SPOKEN-WORD poet Kitty (or Katie) Greenbrown and artist Peter Roman collaborate to deliver multi-media storytelling pieces, such as Magpie Bridge for Stockton Arc, marking the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings, and Green In Our Memory for City of York Council’s First World War commemorations.

Rust was premiered on the River Ouse at the 2019 Great Yorkshire Fringe, when presented  in collaboration with York Theatre Royal and Arts Barge. Proving Rust never sleeps, it returns on the second weekend of York Open Studios for screenings 10.30am, 1pm and 3pm.

Artwork for Kitty Greenbrown and Peter Roman’s Rust

“Rust takes us back to when the Ouse teemed with working barges, you knew your place or else and jazz was the devil itself,” says Kitty, who introduces herself as a “performance poet with an incurable appetite for playing with language”.

“I have a huge interest in creating multi-media, immersive storytelling experiences that stretch the bounds of what poetry can be. I’ve been performing live and making film-poems with musicians, artists and filmmakers since 2016. Collaboration is big part of what interests me.”

Kitty adds: “For me, it’s always been about telling stories. I went on a camping holiday to Brittany when I was about eight and it tipped it down with rain. Every day.

Peter Roman and Kitty Greenbrown

“There were loads of bitey insects and the toothpaste tasted weird. My mum burnt a hole in the roof of the tent too, with the camping stove. On the first night.

​“I lay on a camp bed, which was standing in a couple of inches of water, and copied out every word of a Famous Five book into a jotter with squared paper. You’ll find the jotters always have squared paper in France. Then I got bored and started writing my own stuff. I’ve never really stopped.”

​For Love Bites at York Theatre Royal in May, Kitty combined with ​fellow artist-producers Robert Powell and Ben Pugh to present The Angels Of Lendal Bridge.

Gypsy Moth, print, by Carrie Lyall

Carrie Lyall, printmaking, 2a, Riccall Grange, King Rudding Lane, Riccall

SELF-TAUGHT printmaker Carrie runs the Rose & Hen business, selling her linocut prints, illustrations and handmade books inspired by nature. Using botanical themes, she creates delicate silhouettes and patterns in contrasting colours, employing pigment-rich, oil-based inks. 

“I connect with nature while out walking, taking photographs or collecting subject matter, to be sketched and transformed into design ideas at home,” she says.

Carrie Lyall: Creates delicate silhouettes and patterns in contrasting colours

“My favourite part of the process is cutting the designs, and I often get completely immersed in creating marks and lines.”

Carrie is a member of York Printmakers and a volunteer team leader for Etsy Team York (roseandhen.etsy.com). She will be demonstrating her printmaking skills at 11am and 3pm each day over the two weekends.

“I speak through robotic figures and grotesque forms to communicate provocative messages,” says Kevin McNulty

Kevin McNulty, neo-expressive mono prints smeared with social commentary, spray paint and oil stick, 39 Maple Avenue, Bishopthorpe, York

KEVIN describes himself as a compulsive printmaker, who explores themes such as identity and the human condition in his bold limited-edition prints.

“Experimenting with process and technique, I interweave modernity with the absurd to build complex and captivating designs,” he says. “I find inspiration in the everyday. I build layers for my prints using anything I can lay my hands on, including found items.” Even mobile phone parts and discarded teabags.

Influenced by Neo-Expressionism, Surrealism, Einstein and his grandad’s Bedford Rascal van, he mixes stencilled layers, automatic mark making and spontaneous hand-drawn images in his creativity.

“Compulsive” printmaker Kevin McNulty

Kevin’s working practice is underpinned by a desire to make “pure prints by pulling each image by hand and embracing the fortuitous accidents that evolve each design as it transitions from laptop to ink and paper”.

“Using both images and words, I speak through robotic figures and grotesque forms to communicate provocative messages,” he says of his explorations of social and political issues through the eyes of a six-year-old boy.

“Supported by a graphic primitivism, I present unfiltered ideas and emotion by blending naïve child-like expression with a mature consciousness to tackle contemporary issues and to gain a better understanding of the world.” Find his work at kevinmcnultyprints.com.

Tomorrow: Pennie Lordan; Lincoln Lighfoot; Amy Stubbs; Jilly Lovett; Elliot Harrison and Nicola Lee.

York Open Studios ready to return next weekend for 20th festival celebrations

One of Ian Cameron’s paintings, on show in his back garden in Green Lane, Acomb

ARTISTS are entering the last week of preparations for the 20th edition of York Open Studios.

After the Covid-enforced fallow year in 2020, the event will return for two weekends of welcoming visitors to 95 studios, workspaces and homes on July 10, 11, 17 and 18, preceded by a preview evening on July 9.

As many as 146 artists and makers will be showing and selling their work in this high-summer opportunity for art lovers and the curious to enjoy the fresh air, meet the artists and view and buy unique arts and crafts from York’s artisans.

Ceramicist Pietro Sanna, making his York Open Studios debut in Dale Street, York

2021’s York Open Studios will celebrate originality and diversity and will be Covid-compliant, with artists adhering to Government guidelines on social distancing, ventilation and sanitisers, keeping themselves and visitors safe throughout. 

The York Open Studios organisers are thrilled with the selection of artists and makers spanning ceramics, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, print-making , photography, sculpture, textiles and wood. Among them will be 43 new participants.

Committee member and featured ceramicist Beccy Ridsdel says: “After last year’s postponement, we think this year’s 20th show is one of the best.  Our decision to move from April to July this year has given us the opportunity for the stricter Covid guidelines [before Step 3] to be relaxed and give the public more confidence when visiting artists’ studios. 

“We think this year’s 20th show is one of the best,” says ceramicist and committee member Becky Ridsdel, who will welcome visitors to her South Cottages studio in Shipton Road, York

“Artists and makers bring a diverse range of skills to the weekends, producing bespoke ceramics, furniture, glass, jewellery, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, wood carving and multi-media. 

“There’s something for everyone and every pocket.  The artists also love to showcase their work within their surroundings and really value the interaction, whether you’re a buyer or a burgeoning artist.  It’s a fabulous way too to enjoy York and view extraordinary work.”

Geometric pattern block lino-print postcards, by mixed-media artist Harriette Rymer, on show at 94, The Village, Haxby

The 95 locations will be highlighted on a map of York to help visitors navigate their way to as many studios, workshops and homes as they wish. 

Visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk for more information and for a free York Open Studios map.  Alternatively, the map can be picked up from Visit York, on Lendal, or in shops, restaurants and visitor attractions around the city. 

For full information on the artists and their studios, examples of their work and opening hours, visit: yorkopenstudios.co.uk.

Rug weaver Jacqueline James with her loom at home in Rosslyn Street, Clifton

Bite-sized Q & A with…Elena Skoreyko Wagner on Magic, her Love Bites collaboration at York Theatre Royal

Magic trio Elena Skoreyko Wagner, Bethan Ellis and James Cave

THE Love Season will set hearts pulsing at York Theatre Royal, where the Step 3 reopening from tomorrow will make its mark with Love Bites: a love letter to live performance and a toast to the city’s creative talent.

More than 200 artists from a variety of art forms applied for £1,000 love-letter commissions to be staged tomorrow (17/5/2021) – the first day that theatres can reopen after restrictions are lifted – and on Tuesday.

The 22 short pieces selected will be performed each night at 8pm under the overall direction of Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster. Each “bite” will take hold for five minutes.

In the sixth in a series of CharlesHutchPress Q&As, papercut artist and illustrator Elena Skoreyko Wagner has five minutes to discuss Magic, her Love Bite collaboration with composer and singer James Cave and writer Bethan Ellis.

How did you hear about Love Bites, Elena?

“My collaborator, James Cave, caught wind of the project and got in touch.  We had discussed collaborating before, during one of the intense, hour-long “work” conversations we would have while our daughters took gymnastics together, but I think it was Bethan’s idea to adapt one of my poems.” 

What is your connection with York?

“York is our home! I honestly didn’t know if I would ever have a place that felt as much like home as York does. I am Canadian, and my husband, Achim, is German, and our first child was born in Canada; our second in Germany.

“We spent the first few years of our relationship in Toronto and the next five in Bonn, Germany, but really had no idea where we would settle. Achim ended up getting a job here in York, and we moved here knowing nearly nothing of the place. I had only ever been to the UK once, when I visited London for a weekend!

“But we encountered so much warmth and kindness, we feel like we got very lucky to randomly end up here! We intend to stay for a good while.” 

“These little things. Thank goodness for these things,” says Elena, as she seeks out magic and meaning in the mundane

What will feature in your Love Bite, Magic, and why?

“Our Love Bite is a miniature musical theatre piece, adapted from a poem I wrote during the first lockdown. The poem starts, ‘If ever you worry that magic is not real, remember how music can make you feel’, and continues with a list of little moments, small experiences of wonder and magic. If you are able to see them, recognise them in that way.

“James has composed a piece of music that he’ll be performing live, while I operate a miniature paper theatre I’ve constructed. The theatre is actually a re-creation of our allotment! 

“I think I largely coped with this past year by mining for these small sparkling bits, just catching hold of moments of beauty and connection during a very anxious time. It carried me through in a lot of ways.

“So, this piece is a sort of love letter to that, I suppose. To my allotment, in one sense, but only as a stand-in for that experience anywhere…For the house plant that I was able to propagate after months of trying! For watching my kids develop an entire fantasy world while lying on a hammock together in our tiny backyard for hours upon end…These little things. Thank goodness for these things!”

Your work “seeks to find magic and uncover meaning in the mundane”. What makes York a good place to do that?

“York is a beautiful city, which in many ways makes it easier to find magic. There are snickelways that look straight out of Tolkien, and crumbling walls, climbing with vines, straight from The Secret Garden! But really, York is just as good a place as any.

“I think that’s the discipline of it… It’s an approach to moving through the world. One of the lines in the poem is, ‘how we can have conversations with nothing but glances’. That is magical too, in my mind.

“Just these slow observations; noticing these truly amazing things, allowing ourselves to get caught in them, for just a second even, to help carry us through the rest of life, which can be on the heavier side.”

Elena Skoreyko Wagner will be making her York Open Studios debut at The Drey Studio in July

In lockdown, what have you missed most about theatre?

“I’ve missed that sense of occasion, of all of these people coming together in this perfect storm of creative energy to create something to move and touch others.

“When I go and see a performance, I feel that, and that proximity to people creating, putting this thing out into the world together, it’s inspiring in the most literal sense. I walk away feeling energised to make more, to kind of continue that current of electricity! I have missed that.” 

What’s coming next for you?

“After this, I will be illustrating a book about mums’ having feelings! I’m really excited about that. I also have some animated projects and I’m working up to taking part in York Open Studios in July.

“I opened a small studio on Heslington Road, The Drey Studio, in September and we haven’t really been able to properly get it running yet, given the restrictions, so I’m also looking forward to breathing some life into that space as well!” 

What would be the best way to spend five minutes if you had a choice?

“It’s possible that, over the past year, my vision for an ideal five minutes has gotten smaller, but maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world. The happiest five minutes I’ve had in recent months was digging in my allotment, sun on my face, to the sound of bird song and my kids laughing their way through some make-believe game about a dragon named Tiny, while they shared the swing we hung up in the apple tree. 

“I would like to note, I’m not a good or experienced gardener, but it does not matter. Just being able to find peace and beauty in this small way…I could not have felt happier in that moment.”

Tomorrow’s show has sold out. Tickets for Tuesday cost Pay What You Feel at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or on 01904 623568.