Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary
YORK River Art Market’s tenth anniversary season on the banks of the Ouse begins this weekend.
As many as 80 artists will take be taking part this year, split into 30 exhibitors on each of the six days, August 2 and 3, August 9 and 10 and August 16 and 17, from 10am to 5.30pm.
For details of each day’s participating artists and designers stationed at riverside stalls on Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, head to YRAM’s Facebook page at https://facebook.com/YorkRiverArtMarket/events.
As ever, the free event is organised by founder Charlotte Dawson, a graphics, jewellery and vocational art and design tutor and Fenwick Street artist, who specialises in abstract paintings, layered with paint and collage, and is now setting up her own jewellery business too after making pieces for ten years.
“York River Art Market is something I’ve always run on my own, albeit with a little help this year,” she says. “People can see my graft and my passion for it, and it has that drive behind it. It’s about supporting the artists of York and beyond; it’s free to attend; it’s a grassroots initiative– and that has a positive knock-on effect for the artists.
“It’s a collective enterprise, where I hold the reins but it wouldn’t be anything without the artists and the people who support it by attending.
“We care that each of the six events are never the same and so we host a different variety of creatives at each one, which means there’s always something for everyone’s creative tastes and budget. You can buy an original artwork for £500 or a card for £2.”
Her market has been called York’s answer to Paris’s Left Bank and its multitude of bohemian arts fairs by the Seine, but Charlotte says: “I’ve still not been there, so I’ll have to take people’s word for it.”.
Looking back to the York market’s origins, Charlotte recalls: “Like everything, inspiration came from various things. I was working with Sophie Jewett at York Cocoa House and she knew I wanted to do something after I’d left university. I knew there wasn’t an arts market in York, and that’s when the space at Dame Judi Dench Walk was brought to my attention by Sophie’s friend at the council.
“It was the right time for me to go off and do something more freelance, and when I looked into setting up a market positioned by railings, Bayswater Road Art Market, in London, came to my attention, so I contacted the organiser for advice and started the York market after that.”
Charlotte marked out the cornerstones for establishing a market. “Part of the running of this event involves strong quality artists, but a huge part of it is creating an atmosphere that is welcoming. Part of the drive for me was to make it accessible and less imposing that having to go into a shop,” she says.
“You get the direct relationship between the artist and the potential buyer. There’s no middle man. That relationship between maker and buyer, for me, when I purchase something, you know it’s hand-made, and if you can get a bit of a back story, you’re getting more for your money as a buying experience, which makes it more valuable.”
Charlotte Dawson: York River Art Market founder and organiser, teacher, artist and jewellery designer
Reflecting on ten years of York River Art Market, crowned by winning the Best Community Project/Event at the York Culture Awards, Charlotte says: “In the Covid year, the event went online and obviously it wasn’t the same, but it survived and I can honestly say that the amount and the quality of the submissions has really grown, especially over the past two years.
“There were hundreds of applications this year, and plenty of them were new. The call-out goes out in January and the six days were full by the end of February – and I don’t take people on just because they apply; I do select who will take part. The quality is really good this year.
“If I were to run my own gallery, the art might be exclusively more to my taste, but I see York River Art Market as being ‘by the people, for the people’. There’s something for everybody.” To prove the point, ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, textiles, ceramics, photography, woodwork, clothing, soaps, candles and cards will be on sale.
Among the artists and makers taking part this year will be regular participants Bejojoart, Adele Karmazyn, York 360 illustrator Elliot Harrison and FangFest potters Fangfoss Pottery; York singer and artist Heather Findlay; North Eastern ceramicist Amy Rutherford; York College graphics degree tutor and Ripon artist Monica Gabb, of Twenty Birds designs.
So will be Katrina Mansfield, from PICA Studios, in Grape Lane, showcasing her fluid art animal inks; conceptual artist Hannah Turlington, whose paintings “evoke the fragility of emotions”, and Feis Crochet Studios. “With the way of the world right now, you think, ‘we need the vibrancy of her crochét flowers’,” says Charlotte.
Look out too for CharKnots’ eco-conscious macramé homeware and accessories, from Sheffield; LDM Designs’ eco-friendly lino-prints that raise awareness of environmental issues, and York landscape painter Charley Hellier, who is working on two collections: the dark, stormy and gothic Tempestarii, related to medieval storm creation mythology, and the peaceful and quietly pensive Reverie.
Lucy Hook Designs had “the absolute pleasure” of designing this year’s poster to mark YRAM’s tenth anniversary. “I had so much fun designing it,” says Lucy. “We wanted to incorporate the tools used by all the makers, and also different parts of this wonderful city. My favourite part is the river coming out of the gouache tube!
“We’ve done some limited-edition Risograph printed versions that have been put up in some special businesses around York and I’ll have some prints for sale at the markets too. I’ll be down by the river for all six dates, so let’s all pray for nice weather. Come on down to say ‘hi’.”
York River Art Market not only nurtures artistic talent from York and beyond but also supports charities, led off by York Rescue Boat, whose tenth anniversary also falls this year. Amnesty International’s Bookshop will be on site on August 9 and graphic designer Laura Sanderson’s Art Is My Career Studio on August 17. Her charity specialises in investing in arts education, travelling around schools to promote art as a career. How apt for YRAM.
Will York River Art Market still be here in a decade’s time, Charlotte? “The next ten years? Well, I like to take it one year at a time but I would be honoured if YRAM could continue and, like Bayswater, be a staple of the art scene. Maybe I could even hand it over one day,” she says.
“There is scope, when so far it’s been a sideline for me from my teaching, doing it without support. There’s potential for working with a team and growing where it can grow, but I like the organic nature of it as it is now: working with a different artist each year for the poster, supporting charities and promoting local artists.”