Navigators Art & Performance’s poster for Co-Audenation. W H Auden picture: George Cserna, 1956
YORK collective Navigators Art & Performance presents Co-Audenation: A Creative Exploration of W. H. Auden, a night of spoken word, live music and performance art, at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, on October 19.
“This is a revised and expanded version of our sold-out summer show for the York Festival of Ideas and York Civic Trust’s York Trailblazers sculpture trail project, for whom we researched and constructed one of the sculptures commemorating York’s unsung heroes,” says Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen. “Our W. H. Auden tansy beetle sculpture can be seen outside City of York Council’s West Offices in Station Rise.”
All works in October 19’s 7pm to 10pm show are written or inspired and influenced by W. H. Auden, the “Picasso of modern poetry” born in Bootham, York, on February 21 1907.
Navigators Art & Performance’s tansy beetle sculpture of W. H. Auden for York Trailblazers at West Offices, Station Rise, York
“A leader of the British avant-garde at a time of cultural upheaval in Europe, Auden experimented ceaselessly with poetic form and subject matter,” says Richard. “Openly gay and defiantly anti-establishment, he was controversial and influential in his views on politics, morals, love, and religion. His poem Funeral Blues was popularly featured in the film Four Weddings And A Funeral.”
Navigators Art’s inspiring line-up features award-winning and published Yorkshire writers and performers in a mixed-media event replete with songs and physical theatre, as well as poetry.
“Expect the unexpected!” says Richard. “An informal discussion will precede the main event from 6pm. All ticket holders are welcome to attend. The performance will begin at 7pm after a short break.”
Carrieanne Vivianette: Leeds performance artist
Taking part will be:
Anthony Vahni Capildeo: poet, professor and writer in residence at the University of York.
Antony Dunn: poet, dramatist and screenwriter.
Carrieanne Vivianette: performance artist and experimentalist from the creative hotlands of Leeds.
Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell: York poet, English/Drama tutor and co-host of Rise Up! at Bluebird Bakery in Acomb.
Ian Parks: Award-winning and widely published poet and translator; editor of Versions Of The North: Contemporary Yorkshire Poetry
Anthony Vahni Capildeo: poet, professor and writer in residence at the University of York
Jane Stockdale: Singer and multi-instrumentalist from beloved York alt. folk legends White Sail.
Janet Dean: Poet and novelist exploring contemporary themes through the prism of history.
JT Welsch: Exploratory musician and poet; lecturer in English and Creative Industries at University of York.
Richard Kitchen: Visual artist, poet and Navigators co-founder.
Plus contributions from York luminaries Alan Gillott, Hugh Bernays and others.
For full details and tickets, go to: https://bit.ly/nav-auden. “Advance booking is advised,” says Richard.
Effie Warboys’ Ann Walker, left, and Sally Mitcham’s Anne Lister in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets. Picture: John Saunders
YORK Shakespeare Project audiences are greeted by not one, but two testaments to the groundbreaking impact of Anne “Gentleman Jack” Lister at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate.
First, by the entrance, York Civic Trust’s rainbow plaque commemorates the Easter 1834 wedding sacraments of “Anne with an ‘E’ and Anne without”, Ann Walker, recorded as the first lesbian marriage in Great Britain. Another historic landmark in this most storied of cities.
Once inside, by the churchyard path, Anne Lister has temporarily taken on tansy beetle form in a metallic sculpture for the York Trailblazers trail of unsung heroes until September 30.
Theatre spat: Rival actresses Lily (Alexandra Logan), left, and Felicity (Grace Scott) in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets. Picture: John Saunders
In Jen Dring’s design, the beetle’s back is covered in the diary scribblings of Anne Lister: words that have helped to shape the opening to Josie Campbell’s script to accompany 12 of Shakespeare sonnets in this tenth anniversary YSP production.
YSP’s theatrical conceit is to offer an invitation to a secret wedding – spoiler alert, the nuptials of Anne Lister (Sally Mitcham) and Ann Walker (Effie Warboys) – toasted on arrival with a free celebratory drink.
The audience is welcomed by the Reverend Goode, the “poptastic vicar and host” played by director Tony Froud, who promptly introduces himself as Ebenezer Goode in the first of a plethora of “couldn’t resist” pop culture references by Campbell. Status Quo, Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones all follow, Rev Goode at one point quoting the lyrics of You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
Cleaning up: Marie-Louise Feeley’s Doreen and Helen Wilson’s Maureen, the church-cleaning double act in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets. Picture: John Saunders
Attired in York Theatre Royal costumes, Mitcham and Warboys play out the Lister-Walker betrothal, each bursting into a sonnet in the manner of characters breaking into song in a musical when there is no other form of expression that will suffice in that moment.
Mitcham’s assertive When I Have Seen By Time’s Fell Hand Defaced will be the first of four Shakespeare sonnets making their YSP debut in this summer’s set.
Warboys follows, one of six new sonneteers in Froud’s 2024 ranks, having made her mark in cheery fashion in YSP productions such as The Tempest. As she discovers in her opening conversation with Mitcham’s Miss Lister, the challenge for all is to acclimatise to performing outdoors, against the absorbant backdrop of the church walls, under the open sky.
Emily Hansen’s Lavinia, the unflappable costume designer, in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets. Picture: John Saunders
What’s more, the nearby restaurant kitchen fan is whirring loudly and the staff are busy with bustling crockery and food prep on the 6pm shift. Not the easiest of circumstances in which to perform, and Froud’s last words of advice before the first performance were of the need for volume.
In such a space, as soon as heads turn sideways, the loss in clarity can be considerable, but only through experience does a performer learn the skill of projection. Best advice here: follow the example of Maurice Crichton and Helen Wilson, old hands at this sonneteering malarkey.
No doubt, Froud will have given post-show notes to re-emphasise that volume speaks volumes. There is a case too for having the actors move closer to the seated audience, or indeed for the seating to be moved forward, and also to project straight on as much as possible in this declamatory framework.
Maurice Crichton’s intemperate director, Callum, offering advice to Alexandra Logan’s wilful leading lady, Lily, in Summer Sonnets. Picture: John Saunders
Crichton, in beret, cravat and exasperated Scottish accent, is playing Callum, “the far from calm director” of what turns out to be a rehearsal for an amateur company at Rev Goode’s church. And so, rather than a play within a play in keeping with Frayn’s Noises Off, Ayckbourn’s A Chorus Of Disapproval or Mischief’s The Play That Goes Wrong, instead we have sonnets within backstage shenanigans.
One by one, or two by two, we shall encounter staff, actresses and helping hands. Here come the church cleaners, debutant sonneteer Marie-Louise Feeley’s Doreen, an aspiring performer, and Wilson’s world-weary, seen-it-all-before Maureen, marigold gloves stuffed in her overalls. Her sonnet, Th’expense Of Spirit In A Waste Of Shame, is one of the high points.
Two rival actresses, steady-away Felicity (Grace Scott) and flighty young leading lady Lily (Alexandra Logan) will spar amusingly, the latter’s nascent prima-donna tendencies in the role of Anne Lister’s earlier paramour Maria Belcombe, testing Crichton’s acerbic Callum to breaking point.
Liam Godfrey’s Graham, the tardy actor, in a tender moment with Grace Scott’s Felicity in Summer Sonnets. Halina Jarosewska’s Maggie, the indispensable stage manager, looks on. Picture: John Saunders
Liam Godfrey, another of the debutants, captures the diffidence of tardy actor Graham (playing Captain Sutherland, from Anne Lister’s story) as he makes his reacquaintance with Felicity, his partner in pantomime cow, as Campbell brings another artform into play.
Emily Hansen’s Lavinia, the unflappable costume designer, and Halina Jarosewska’s Maggie, the indispensable stage manager, pop up regularly, in that quietly essential way that such theatre stalwarts do. Hansen’s delivery of Being Your Slave, What Should I Do But Tend suits Maggie perfectly.
The finale brings everyone together, Lister, Walker, et al, led by Froud’s good shepherd Rev Goode in Let Me Not To The Marriage Of True Minds, rounding out Campbell’s amusing caricature of the theatre world, celebration of love and abiding joy in Shakespeare’s sonnets.
York Shakespeare Project, Summer Sonnets, Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York, until August 17, 6pm and 7.30pm nightly, plus 4.30pm on Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/summer-sonnets/.
Tony Froud’s Reverend Goode, the “poptastic vicar and host”in Summer Sonnets, addressing the flock in the Holy Trinity churchyard. Picture: John Saunders
Coming next:
William Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 22 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
AFTER “much deliberation, and too many wonderful people auditioning”, director Tempest Wisdom has picked York Shakespeare Project’s cast for The Two Gentlemen Of Verona.
In the company will be: Jodie Fletcher; Stuart Lindsay; Jamie Williams; Nick Patrick Jones; Thomas Jennings; Lily Geering; Anna Gallon; Liz Quinlan; Lara Stafford; Wilf Tomlinson; Effie Warboys; Mark Payton; Stuart Green; Jon Cook; Charlie Spencer; Pearl Mollison; Kay Maneerot; Celeste North Finocchi and Charlie Barras.
The first night, October 22, will be a preview performance (£10). Tickets for the rest of the week cost £15. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The Delma Tomlin sculpture in the York Trailblazers trail of tansy beetle artworks
TRAILBLAZERS in beetle form, Georgian festivities, colliery band dramas, and riverside art take Charles Hutchinson in different directions in the week ahead.
Trail of the week: York Trailblazers, around York city centre, August 1 to September 30
FACT of the day: the river Ouse has the largest population of tansy beetles in the United Kingdom. Now sculptures of these insects form a new trail, York Trailblazers, a celebration of York’s unsung heroes mounted by York Civic Trust and Make It York with National Lottery Heritage Fund support.
Nominated by the public and community groups, the Trailblazers project highlights remarkable individuals who have made a difference to people’s lives either locally or globally.
Author Terry Deary: Introducing his new novel at the York Georgian Festival this evening
Festival of the week: York Georgian Festival, today to Sunday
THE second York Georgian Festival opens tomorrow, when Horrible Histories author Terry Deary’s 6pm showcase of his new novel, A History Of Britain In Ten Enemies, will be an early highlight.
Tours, talks and fascinating hidden Georgian gems will be at the heart of the festival. The first York Georgian Ball will be held at the Grand Assembly Rooms (now home to the ASK Italian restaurant) on Saturday at 7pm. Look out for Mad Alice’s Rogues Gallery Tour around the city at 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. For the full programme and tickets, head to: yorkgeorgianfestival.co.uk.
Brass band blues: A scene from Brassed Off at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Play of the week outside York: Brassed Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tomorrow (2/8/2024) to August 31
ADAPTED for the stage by Paul Allen from the 1996 screenplay by York filmmaker Mark Herman, Brassed Off takes to the stage in a co-production by Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake, Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre and Bolton’s Octagon Theatre, directed by Liz Stevenson.
The setting is 1994, ten years after the miners’ strike, when the tight-knit mining community of Grimley, Yorkshire, is fighting to keep the colliery open. Once the uncertainty around the pit’s future becomes too much for the pit band members, loyalty is tested, pressure mounts and the community begins to break apart. Can the band find a way to play on? Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Yard Act: Leeds art rock band play in their backyard on Saturday. Picture: Phoebe Fox
Leeds gig of the week: Yard Act, Here’s Our Utopia, Leeds Millennium Square, August 3, doors 6pm; 10.30pm finish
LEEDS art rock band Yard Act play their biggest gig yet on home turf at Leeds Millennium Square this weekend in the wake of the March release of second album Where’s My Utopia?.
Co-produced by James Smith’s indie quartet and Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr, the album peaked at number four, following the number two success and Mercury Prize shortlisting of 2022 debut The Overload. Support acts will be English Teacher, Fat Dog and Ultimate Thunder. Box office: 0113 376 0318 or millsqleeds.com/whatson-event/yard-act/.
Laura Joy’s poster design for the 2024 York River Art Market weekends. She will be participating in all six days. Check out her work at laurajoydesign.co.uk
York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris: York River Art Market, August 3 and 4; August 10 and 10; August 17 and 18, 10am to 5pm
ORGANISED by jewellery designer and York College art tutor Charlotte Dawson, York River Art Market returns to the riverbank at Dame Judi Dench Walk for a ninth summer season from this weekend.
Up to 30 artists and makers per day will be exhibiting ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, T-shirts, shaving products and more. “We care that each of the six events are never the same, so we host a different variety of creatives at each one,” says Charlotte. Admission is free.
Richard Hudson’s Unwind: On show at Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
Exhibition of the week: Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden, Kirkgate, Thirsk, open Wednesdays to Saturdays, 11am to 5pm, last entry 4pm
THIRSK Hall Sculpture Garden showcases modern and contemporary sculptures in 20 acres of walled gardens and parkland at the grade II-listed town house, complemented by artwork in Gallery One and The Orangery.
Artists on show include Farnoush Amini, Kenneth Armitage, Tere Chad, Tim Ellis, Laura Ford, Richard Hudson, Jeff Lowe, Gerald Laing, Michael Lyons, Trory Menage, Zak Ové, Tim Pomeroy, William Tucker, Austin Wright and Emily Young. To find out more about the 2024 exhibition, visit willoughnygerrish.com. Tickets: thirskhall.com/sculpture-garden.
Chris Hagyard, pictured in Guys And Dolls mode, will sing in Bev Jones Music Company’s One Night Of Broadway Hits
Musical revue of the week: Steve Coates and Bev Jones Music Company present One Night Of Broadway Hits, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, August 3, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
BEV Jones Music Company performs hits from 26 musicals, including Guys And Dolls, in an unashamedly traditional fashion under the musical direction of James Rodgers.
His band is joined in this moving, lively and at times funny show by vocalists Chris Hagyard, Annabel Van Griethuysen, Anthony Pengelly, Ruth McNeil, Sally Lewis, Stephen Wilson, Geoff Walker and producer Lesley Jones, back on stage for this show, wearing a silver cat suit unseen since 2010, when she played Vera in Stepping Out. Box office: 01904 501395 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Hurry up Harry: The Three Inch Fools cast for The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII at Helmsley Walled Garden
Ryedale play of the week: The Three Inch Fools in The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII, Helmsley Walled Garden, August 6, 7pm; gates 6pm
THE Three Inch Fools, founded by the Cumbrian Hyde brothers, producer James and writer, composer and director Stephen, present an essential guide on how to keep your head in the Tudor Court in a new comical take on Henry VIII and his six-pack of infamous wives.
Unexpectedly thrust into the limelight, Henry must navigate the ups and downs of courtly life, all while fighting the French yet again and re-writing religious doctrine. Bring chairs, blankets, picnics, but not umbrellas. Park in the Cleveland Way car park. Box office: 01439 771700, helmsleyarts.co.uk or threeinchfools.com.
Korn-ucopia of heavy metal hits at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on August 8
Coastal gig of the week: Korn, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 8, gates 6pm
FORMED in California in 1993, Korn continue to push the limits of alt. rock and heavy metal after 40 million album sales, two Grammy awards and countless tours. Expect to hear such anthems as Blind, Falling Away From Me, Here To Stay, Freak On A Leash, Twisted Transistor, Make Me Bad and Did My Time as their European tour arrives in Yorkshire. Support acts will be Wargasm and Loathe. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/korn.
Riley Catherall: Playing Pig & Pastry, York, on a tour that takes the Australian singer-songwriter to Nayland, Kirton in Lindsay, High Wycombe and Stockholm, Uddevalla and Oland in Sweden
Introducing: Riley Catherall, Pig & Pastry, Bishopthorpe Road, York, August 8. Doors: 7.30pm for 8pm start
MELBOURNE singer-songwriter Riley Catherall’s graceful trajectory into the Australian alt-country world has not gone unnoticed. So much so that he will be playing in York on Thursday, promising songs of poetic sincerity from his June 14 sophomore album The Light, The Beautiful Liar and his 2021 debut When I Go, a record focused on leaving, losing love and finding somewhere to settle down. Box office: wegottickets.com/event/624233/.
Anastacia: Playing York Barbican next May on her Not That Kind 25th Anniversary Tour
Gig announcement of the week: Anastacia, Not That Kind 25th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, May 4 2025
CHICAGO singer-songwriter Anastacia will play York Barbican as the only Yorkshire concert of the 13-date British and Irish leg of her Not That Kind tour next year, marking the 25th anniversary of her debut album.
“I didn’t get to do a tour for my first album, which makes this all the more special,” says Anastacia. “I can’t believe it’s been 25 years since Not That Kind; we will be sure to celebrate in true Anastacia style. It’ll be one big anniversary party. I can’t wait to see you all there !” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/anastacia-2025/.
In Focus:The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, near York, August 9 and 10
Actress, vocalist and accordion player Natalia Tena fronts Molotov Jukebox at The Magpies Festival, backed by Balkan fiddle, Latin trumpet and a pounding rhythm section, on Friday
RUN by transatlantic folk band The Magpies, The Magpies Festival is rooted in the trio’s native Yorkshire, where they first met. Now in its fourth year, the 2024 event will be headlined on Friday on the main stage by bi-lingual six-piece Molotov Jukebox at 10pm, preceded by Chris While & Julie Matthews, 6pm, and Jim Moray, 8pm.
Friday’s Brass Castle Stage bill features Em Risley, 5pm; Taff Rapids Stringband, 7pm; The Turbans, 9pm, and Easingwold musician Gary Stewart’s Graceland, 11pm.
Saturday’s main stage bill will be topped by Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys at 10pm, preceded by Charm Of Finches, 12 noon, The Often Herd, 2pm, Jesca Hoop, 4pm, The Magpies, 6pm, and Nati (formerly known as Nati Dreddd), 8pm. Saturday’s Brass Castle Stage line-up comprises Painted Sky, 1pm; Suntou Susso, 3pm; Northern Resonance, 5pm; Awkward Family Portraits, 7pm, and Marvara, 9pm.
Festival organisers The Magpies
The all-female The Magpies – Bella Gaffney (singer, songwriter, guitarist and banjo player), fellow founder Holly Brandon (fiddle player and tunesmith) and Ellie Gowers (guitarist, singer and songwriter) – are set on championing gender equality in the music industry, achieving gender parity in both line-up and staff, as well as providing a safe and comfortable environment for female musicians and festival goers.
Festival director Holly Brandon says: “We are so excited to put on The Magpies Festival. We’ve been over the moon at the response to the festival, from the incredible performances from world-class folk musicians to the high-energy spirit that our attendees brought along. It’s felt like a whole new feel to a folk festival.”
Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
Sam Kellly & The Lost Boys: To be found at The Magpies Festival at Sutton Park on Saturday
Delma Tomlin in Tansy beetle sculptural form at Merchant Adventurers’ Hall,designed by HazardOne
YORK Trailblazers, the city-wide sculpture trail celebrating York’s unsung heroes, launches on Yorkshire Day, August 1.
Organised by York Civic Trust and Make It York, the trail is co-curated with organisations, community groups, schools and universities with £249,999 funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Trailblazers project provides the opportunity to discover these lesser-known people who have made a difference to lives either locally or globally.
Members of the public and community groups nominated their trailblazers, whereupon a co-created final list of these stories was researched by partner organisations, highlighting each invaluable contribution.
To honour these remarkable individuals, artists worked with community groups to create the tansy beetle sculptures that represent them.
Why tansy beetles, you may well be asking. This beetle, an emblematic symbol of York, was chosen on account of its connection to the city, one of only two places where tansy beetles are found.
Faith Gray’s sculpture, designed by Martha Beaumont, at Grays Court Hotel, Chapter House Street, York
This vibrant and resilient beetle mirrors the spirit of the Trailblazers – each sculpture not only pays tribute to these changemakers but also brings their stories to life along the trail.
Andrew Morrison, chief executive officer of York Civic Trust, says: “The York Trailblazers project has revealed a fantastic range of people from York, many of whom we did not know of before. With Make It York, it has been fantastic to collaborate with so many local artists and communities. We hope that this is the first of many such celebrations.”
The sculpture trail has been designed to be as sustainable as possible. The materials used are recycled, repurposed or recyclable and the sculptures and the reused bases will be repurposed or recycled after the trail has ended.
Each sculpture has been produced by local artists and crafters working with local people to create “something unique and meaningful to them”. The choice of sustainable materials and artwork and the decoration of each sculpture has been developed by the partnership of artist and local community. This process of sustainable co-production is considered to be as important as the finished product.
Commissioned to create the beetle structure, Tom Springett Metalwork Creations drew on his experience of working in set construction, visual merchandising, architectural metalwork and art fabrication industries to create the metal works of art.
Mary Ward’s sculpture for York Trailblazers, designed by Jen Dring, in the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre gardens. Picture: David Harrison
Some of the sculpture artwork may exist only for a few weeks but the beetle structure itself and an accessible digital record of the artwork will continue to celebrate York’s Trailblazers.
Seventeen sculptures will be placed throughout the city, each one reflecting a different trailblazer, designed to capture the legacy of these inspirational people,.
Among them will be The Luddites,a sculpture created collaboratively by a small group of people affected by homelessness with the Good Organisation. Rather than celebrate an individual ‘trailblazer,’ it serves to commemorate 64 Luddites who were tried in the court in York in 1813.
The Luddites were a group of early 19th-century workers who protested against the introduction of machinery that they believed threatened their jobs. The movement began in the textile industry, where mechanised looms and knitting frames were replacing traditional hand-weaving methods, leading to job losses and reduced wages for skilled workers.
Although the Luddite movement did not stop the process of industrialisation, it highlighted the social and economic challenges faced by workers during a period of unprecedented change, and many of their underlying concerns still resonate today with the rapid rise of AI and digital technology.
W H Auden’s sculpture, designed by Navigators Art and Performance, at West Offices, Station Rise, York
The Luddites sculpture at the Eye of York is designed by theatre and performance design graduate Alex Gray, an aspiring theatre designer now working as a stagehand at the Darlington Hippodrome.
The Delma Tomlin sculpture was researched by the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall and National Centre for Early Music. Dr Delma Tomlin MBE is a living trailblazer, who came to York in 1984 to administer the York Festival Mystery Plays and loved the city far too much to ever leave.
She championed the move to return the York Mystery Plays to the city streets and served as chief executive officer of the Millennium production in York Minster.
As the founder of the National Centre for Early Music, based in the medieval church of St Margaret’s in Walmgate, Delma has been a pivotal figure in music making, focusing her energies on supporting young professional musicians locally, nationally and internationally and flying the flag for York whenever possible.
A member of the York Merchant Adventurers Company, in 2022 Delma became the first woman to become Governor since the company’s inauguration more than 650 years ago in 1357. She does not plan to be the last.
The Delma Tomlin sculpture, sited at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, is designed by HazardOne, recognised by the Guardian as one of the top five female graffiti artists in the UK and named among the top 25 female street artists worldwide in the Huffington Post.
Alex Gray’s sculpture for The Luddites at the Eye of York
The York Young Carers sculpture, at the Principal York hotel, was researched by unpaid young adult carers aged 16-25 from the York Carers Centre, who worked with artist Zoe Phillips to represent unpaid carers in York, including both identified and hidden carers.
The group reflected that carers share similar experiences and circumstances, but have unique stories in their own right, and decided that it would be difficult to find one trailblazer to represent them all.
They felt the sculpture would be impactful if it enabled carers to recognise themselves as trailblazers for the roles they hold, sacrifices they make and difficulties they go through for the love of the person they care for.
They said the sculpture design “should be not what it appears – with lots going on underneath”. The group was struck by the grace of the tansy beetle’s exterior, along with the power and resilience of the driving legs and inner workings underneath the shell. They felt this was the perfect metaphor for a carer.
The York Young Carers’ sculpture designer, Zoe Phillips, is an inclusive mixed media artist who explores our connections with objects and the narratives they hold.
Gemma Wood’s tansy beetle mural on show at THOR’S Orangery, Parliament Street
Reflecting on her journey, Zoe says: “Working with the young adult carers group has been important to me both personally and professionally. Finding a way to share the identity and voice of this incredible group of individuals, for whom time and space for themselves may be sparse but they find a way to draw connections and share how important community is, was key.
“The beetle exposes all the hidden workings, those background details that are often overlooked or taken for granted but are so important to the running of things. With huge thanks to all those who shared their thoughts and experiences with me, you really are one-of-a-kind trailblazers!”
The trail will run from August 1 to September 30, opening on Yorkshire Day, whose celebrations, activities and events in the city will include a Yorkshire-themed market on Parliament Street.
Sarah Loftus, managing director of Make It York, says: “York Trailblazers is an inspiring tribute to the pioneers whose courage and vision paved the way for our community’s future. This project not only celebrates their legacy but also creatively highlights the humble tansy beetle, reflecting York’s ongoing commitment to its conservation in the city.”
Full details can be found at visityork.org/york-trailblazers, including Meet The Trailblazers and Meet The Artist. You can download the trail map and a cycle trail for exploring the trail by bike and learn how to minimisie your environmental footprint by using public transport.
Zoe Phillips’s sculpture for York Young Carers at the Principal York hotel
Did you know?
KNOWN as “the Jewel of York”, the endangered tansy beetle has been chosen as the emblem of the York Trailblazers project to reflect its special status as a York resident with its riverside habitat on the banks of the River Ouse.
The 17 sculpures
The Luddites
Location: Eye of York
Researched by: The Good Organisation.
Designed by: Alex Gray.
Rather than celebrate an individual ‘trailblazer,’ this sculpture serves to commemorate 64 Luddites who were tried in the court in York in 1813. This sculpture was collaboratively created by a small group of people affected by homelessness with the Good Organisation.
Coppergate Woman sculpture designer Sarah Schiewe at Thursday’s launch.York artist who hand-builds her stoneware pieces using coil and slab methods and decorate them with oxides, glazes, decals and mixed media. “Every individual is different, and we should celebrate these differences,” she says. “Each person has a set of values, feelings and memories unique to them. I take these impressions and turn them into a bespoke piece of ceramic art for that individual. The profits from my work fund free community art and sculpture workshops to help children develop confidence through creativity”
Coppergate Woman
Location: August 1 to 6: Parliament Street; August 6 onwards, Coppergate Walk
Researched by: University of York, Archaeology Department
Designed by: Sarah Schiewe
The Viking Age sometimes comes across as a world of rich and powerful men: kings, chieftains and raiders. This makes The Coppergate Woman, known affectionately by the research team and artists as Vigdis, an important Trailblazer: she tells us about her life as a migrant woman living with disabilities in York 1,000 years ago.
HazardOne: designer of Delma Tomlin sculpture. Combines rich colour palettes with illumination and modern-age glitch effects to create striking portraits using traditional free-hand graffiti techniques. From a seven-storey mural in St Paul’s, Bristol, to a community project on the Arizona-Mexico border, to the 79th floor of 3 World Trade Centre, New York, her work takes her all over the planet
Delma Tomlin
Location: Merchant Adventurers’ Hall
Researched by: Merchant Adventurers’ Hall and National Centre for Early Music, York
Designed by: HazardOne
Dr Delma Tomlin MBE is a living trailblazer. As the founder of the National Centre for Early Music, based in the medieval church of St Margaret’s in Walmgate, Delma has been a pivotal figure in music making – focusing her energies on supporting young professional musicians locally, nationally and internationally – and flying the flag for York whenever possible.
John Chesterman and Stuart Feather
Location: Spurriergate
Researched by: Queer Arts
Designed by: Jade Blood
John Chesterman and Stuart Feather, both from York, were instrumental in the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), organisers of the first ever Pride march in 1972.
Anne Lister
Location: Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate
Researched by: York University and Churches Conservation Trust
Designed by: Shannon Reed
Anne Lister’s (1791-1840) life and diaries have blazed a trail for the LGBTQIA+ community today, helping people understand their history and embrace their identity.
Faith Gray
Location: Grays Court Hotel, Chapter House Street
Nominated by: York St John University
Designed by: Martha Beaumont
Faith Gray (1751-1826), born in York, dedicated her life to improving the conditions of girls and women in York. Her legacy of compassion and social progress endured beyond her death, paving the way for future generations of women reformers.
Mary Kitson Clark
Location: York Museum Gardens
Researched by: Yorkshire Philosophical Society
Designed by: Sian Ellis
Mary Kitson Clark (1905-2005) was one of the first female archaeologists to be recognised in a professional capacity in the UK for her significant contributions to the study and conservation of York’s archaeological heritage.
WH Auden
Location: West Offices, Station Rise
Researched and designed by: Navigators Art and Performance
Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) was born in Bootham, York. Informed by science and engineering, his fascination with the world and its workings was expressed in a myriad of poetic forms, earning him the title “the Picasso of modern poetry”.
York Young Carers
Location: Principal York, Station Road
Researched by: York Young Carers
Designed by: Zoe Phillips – By Deckle and Hide
Unpaid young adult carers aged 16-25, from the York Carers Centre, worked with artist Zoe Phillips to represent unpaid carers in York, including both identified and hidden carers.
Jen Dring: designer of Mary Ward sculpture. York printmaker who creates linocut and collagraph prints. Her work is inspired by her faith, everyday experiences, moments in nature and places she loves. She takes on bespoke commissions, as well as using her teaching skills to offer linocut and tetra pak workshops
Mary Ward
Location: Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street
Researched by: All Saints School and Bar Convent
Designed by: Jen Dring
Mary Ward (1585-1645) was a visionary Yorkshire woman who revolutionised education for girls in England. Despite societal and religious restrictions, Mary dedicated her life to providing equal education opportunities for girls, believing “there is no such difference between men and women that women may not do great things.”
Ivory Bangle Lady
Location: York Railway Station, Station Road
Researched by: University of York Archaeology Department
Designed by: York Anti-Racist Collective
The woman who has become known as the ‘Ivory Bangle Lady’ was buried at Sycamore Terrace, York, in the second half of the fourth century CE. As a trailblazer, the Lady has marked an important path in showing that ethnic and religious diversity and immigration is written in York’s history from its very beginning.
Annie Coultate
Location: Fishergate Primary School, Escrick Street
Researched by: Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington Local History Society
Designed by: Christine Joplin
Annie Coultate (1856 -1931), a dedicated suffragette, was instrumental in the women’s suffrage movement in York.
Anne Lister sculpture designer Shannon Reed.Part-time artist, full-time biology undergraduate, in York. Focuses on wildlife, paying particular attention to threatened native UK species. Her artwork is multi-media, ranging from pointillism portraits of endangered animals to oil paintings on recycled wood. Designed and decorated two wooden ducks for the University of York’s Long Boi-ology Art Trail to raise awareness of the threat that avian influenza and flooding poses to UK wildlife
Mary Tuke
Location: St Lawrence Parish Church, Lawrence Street
Researched by: Hempland Primary School
Designed by: Heather Dawe and Sarah Jackson
Mary Tuke was a pioneering woman who displayed remarkable ambition, resilience and courage. In 1725, as a Quaker in her thirties who had lost her family, Mary opened a grocer’s shop in Walmgate, York, defying societal norms.
Roma and Geoff
Location: Millennium Bridge Park, Hospital Fields Road
Researched by: The Tansy Beetle Action Group
Designed by: Cathy Simpson
The Tansy Beetle Action Group (TBAG) was established in 2008 by Geoff and Roma Oxford (University of York), following the designation of the rare and beautiful Tansy beetle as a UK conservation priority.
Mary Kitson Clark’s sculpture, designed by Sian Ellis, in York Museum Gardens
June Hargreaves
Location: Rowntree Park
Researched by: Herstory. York and Make Space for Girls
Designed by: Emma Feneley
The way historic cities such as York protected their heritage was transformed in the mid-1960s by a new law on ‘Conservation Areas’. This was the idea of June Hargreaves, a young York town planner, who became York’s senior planning officer in 1961.
Michael Rowntree
Location: Homestead Park, Water End
Researched by: The Rowntree Society
Designed by: Natalie McKeown
Michael Rowntree (1919-2007), from the globally renowned York confectionery family, held senior roles in Oxfam and was chairman from 1971 to 1977, during a time when the charity delivered its biggest ever aid package and set up the country’s first textile recycling plant.
Rosie Wall
Location: Sanderson Community House, Bramham Road, Acomb
Researched by: The Place at Sanderson Community House
Designed by: Leo Morey
Rosie Wall has dedicated herself to the Chapelfields community. She was instrumental in developing the Sanderson Court Community House (now The Place), and Crossroads, a safe space for young people, addressing significant anti-social behaviour in the area.
York Trailblazers: the back story
Geoff Oxford: Trailblazer, environmentalist and founder of the Tansy Beetle Action Group at the August 1 launch
YORK Trailblazers, the new city-wide sculpture trail, launched on August 1, kicking off the Yorkshire Day celebrations in York.
The sculpture trail celebrates York’s unsung heroes. Centred around the tansy beetle, each sculpture has a different design to capture the legacy of these inspirational people who have made a difference to people’s lives.
At the launch celebrations at THOR’s Orangery, artists and trailblazers gathered to enjoy the first day of the trail alongsidethe featured sculptures, Coppergate Woman.
Richard Kitchen, co-founder of Navigators Art and Performance, discussing York Trailblazer WH Auden at Thursday’s launch
Coppergate Woman depicts the life of a migrant woman living with disabilities in York 1,000 years ago. This sculpture will be on Parliament Street until August 6, then moving to Coppergate Centre, where she lay until she was discovered by archaeologists from the York Archaeological Trust in the late-1970s.
Discovered in a shallow pit by the river Foss, the remains of this unknown woman are displayed in a glass case in Jorvik Viking Centre. Her story was brought to life in Maureen Lennon’s play The Coppergate Woman, staged as a community production by York Theatre Royal from July 30 to August 7 2022.
A special mural was painted for the launch day by Gemma Wood. This will stay in place on THOR’S exterior until August 18.
Gemma Wood painting her tansy beetle mural at THOR’S Orangery on Thursday
Tansy Beetle facts:
The River Ouse has the largest population of tansy beetles in the UK, found on a 30km stretch of the river.
The iridescent green leaf-beetle, approximately 10 mm in length, has a smaller population at Woodwalton Fen, Cambridgeshire, where it was re-discovered in 2014.
Tansy beetles rarely fly; they find new food plants and habitats by walking. Finding a breeding partner is made more difficult by this resticted mobility. Most active in April and May, then August and September.
The tansy beetle is named after the Tansy plant, whose reduction in number has led to the beetle’s declining population too.
As an endangered species, tansy beetles are being monitored and bred in captivity to ensure that the populations do not disappear.
Trailblazers project facts:
National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant: £249,999.
More than 40 community groups have been involved.
York Trailblazer Rosie Wall’s tansy beetle sculpture, designed by Leo Morey, at Sanderson Community House, Bramham Road, Acomb
More than 1,000 schoolchildren participated in school workshops.
£30,000 of community grants were awarded to 23 York groups.
More than 150 workshops have been delivered.
39 York Trailblazers have been researched and celebrated.
17 Tansy Beetle Trailblazer Sculptures have been created.
What has the £249,999 support from the National Lottery Heritage delivered?
A COMMUNITY workshop programme to allow local communities and residents to research and uncover new trailblazers for York.
A community grants programme to enable heritage organisations, voluntary and community groups to contribute to the project, especially those groups who have not accessed heritage activities before.
A digital arts project to help celebrate York’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts.
A heritage trail around the city working with artists and communities, inspired by York’s lesser-known heritage stories.
A school workshop programme and resource packs providing opportunities for young people to learn more about their heritage and, in particular, the trailblazers that form the sculpture trail.
Sustainability
THE sculpture trail has been designed to be as sustainable as possible. The materials used are recycled, repurposed or recyclable and the sculptures and the reused bases will be repurposed or recycled after the trail has ended.
The choice of sustainable materials and artwork and the decoration of each sculpture has been developed by the partnership of artist and community. This process of sustainable co-production is as important as the finished product.
Tansy Beetle metalwork
COMMISSIONED to create the beetle structure, Tom Springett, Metalwork Creations drew on his experience of working in set construction, visual merchandising, architectural metalwork and art fabrication industries, to create these metal works.
Before the York Trailblazers metal works, a Tansy Beetle mural took shape in York…
ATM’s mural of a tansy beetle in Queen Street, York
STREET artist ATM, known for his depiction of endangered species, painted his mural of a tansy beetle on a brick wall on Queen Street, York, in 2019. Capturing the insect’s shimmering green hue, it is a bejewelled highlight of the walk from Micklegate to York Railway Station.
