Pamela Knight: “Drawing, painting, ‘making things’ have always been part of my life,” she says
PAMELA Knight, Vanessa Oo and Sandra Storey are taking part in the Three Printmakers: Energy, Atmosphere & Light exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, until May 7.
York Printmakers member Pamela Knight specialises in collagraphy, enjoying the textures and effects she creates using this process, often enriched with monoprint and chine colle.
“Drawing, painting, ‘making things’ have always been part of my life,” she says. “I worked as a designer of sets and costumes in professional theatre for many years, following further education in Manchester and Bristol studying fashion and textiles, then stage design.
“I came to York in the late 1980s to join the new heritage industry as a costume researcher and designer. I’ve lived and worked here for over 30 years and I now work from my studio making paintings and prints. I love the city and I love Yorkshire and I now regard it as my home.”
Walking in the natural landscapes of Britain and abroad gives her great joy, “moving through, looking at, soaking up these landscapes – the colours and patterns, the light and the shadows”.
“The memory of the experience becomes the subject of my paintings, sketches and prints. I try to evoke the feeling, the essence, of the special place, expressively with semi-abstract imagery,” says Pamela, who also paints and sometimes incorporates mixed media into her small-edition prints.
Vanessa Oo’s profile picture from the York Printmakers website
Fellow York Printmakers member Vanessa Oo predominantly creates small families of hand-pulled screenprints by placing together abstract drawn elements in different combinations, but she is displaying monotypes for the first time at Bluebird Bakery.
Each work is unique, while always evoking a sense of movement. “The energetic compositions are instinctive and spontaneous: I’m interested in the tensions and relationships which emerge,” says Vanessa, who was a SCAF Emerging Artist Award 2024 finalist.
“My work is about capturing the magic of the moment; an unseen energy and rhythm. Although the marks are abstract, they have an organic feel and are based on shapes found in nature or the human figure.”
Her original designs are all hand drawn in ink, chinagraph or paint. “So it’s a very ‘undigital’ process,” says Vanessa, who likes exploring the reactions to her abstract pieces and raising the question about what that says about the artist and the viewer. “I enjoy the combination of control and spontaneity of the marks it allows.”
Harrogate artist and printmaker Sandra Storey’s work evokes “the talisman-like quality” of plants, birds and natural objects found within the North York Moors landscape. Often reusing old printmaking plates and making her own plates from recycled cartons, she explores traces of the past revealed in both the objects that fascinate her and the landscape itself.
Born in 1961, Sandra grew up in a small village outside Whitby. After studying for a degree in Fine Art, she trained as an art psychotherapist and worked in the NHS for more than 30 years, followed by independent practice for five more.
Sandra Storey in her studio
Sandra completed an MA in Creative Practice in 2016, graduating with a Distinction and the Dean’s Prize (Art and Design) from Harrogate College. She is a member of York Printmakers, Yorkshire Art Collective and Scaffold, exhibits regularly in both group and solo exhibitions and was shortlisted for the Scott Creative Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award.
“My work explores trace, imprint and the ethereal quality of moorland or coastal landscapes,” she says. “Printmaking, drawing and painting are combined to evoke the mythological nature of childhood landscapes and the talisman-like feel of natural objects.”
Often drawn back to the moors and coast near Whitby, Sandra uses material found on walks there to create her printmaking plates, from which she makes her prints.
“Discovering unexpected images through the printmaking process can feel akin to an archaeological find or discovering buried treasure,” she says. “A print is a trace, an imprint from a printmaking plate. It parallels my interest in traces from the past, those that can be found in landscape or images seared or imprinted in our memories. Printmaking can sometimes unearth these.”
Working largely with collagraphs, her prints are often made from multiple plates. Some plates have a built-up, complex surface that embosses the paper, giving texture and dept, and Sandra also works with monoprint, drypoint and aquatint to create layered and painterly prints. The final piece is often a one off or part of a small edition.
In addition to the Three Printmakers show, she will be exhibiting with the Yorkshire At Collective at Zillah Bell Gallery, Thirsk, from April 5 to 19.
Further exhibitions coming up at Bluebird Bakery in 2025, curated by Rogues Atelier artist, upholsterer and interior designer Jo Walton will be: Jill Tattersall, from May 8; Clare M Wood, from July 3; Mandi Grant, from August 28; Di Gomery, from October 23 and Donna Maria Taylor, from December 18.