Bob Lees
Ceramics
01924 848289,
"I came to pottery after taking an early retirement from the ‘proper job’. I studied at Huddersfield and Holmfirth Adult Education colleges and soon became addicted to the pottery wheel."
Simon Edwards
I work professionally as a digital artist creating virtual models within the confines of a computer.
Computers can however only produce exacting work, framed within an electronic monitor and often void of sensual stimulation or personal signature.
Having been inspired by the jungles of Borneo with its inherent ‘super sized’ inhabitants and the vibrant colours of India’s religious art, i enjoy using my hands to sculpt fantasy and expression, generally using very simple media such as paper and card.
Gus Wright
Ceramics
email, 01274 552180,
"I have always sought to create forms, whether in ceramic or soapstone, that are pleasing to the eye without the need for deep analysis and I feel I know when a shape or form ‘works’ as a sculpture."
Helen J. Houston
Photography
01387 810032, 07771550068,
"My photographic work encompasses close ups of things that we all too often pass by; the intimate details of the subject rather than the bigger picture. I have always been drawn towards nature and naturally occurring materials; the textures, the colours, the patterns formed by grasses, leaves, water on sand along with man's use of natural materials."
Caroline Riley
Drawings
email, 01278 660456,
"Inspired by local landscape, animals and growing collection of feathers, stones, shells and leaves. Caroline works from a converted tractor shed on the North Yorks Moors."
ART IN THE PEN
EXHIBITORS 2009
Gordon Knight
Crafts
"Using trees which have been damaged in some way by nature, whether it be storms or disease, or trees which have been taken down for environmental reasons, I strip away the layers of bark and wood on a journey of discovery to find features nature has hidden within. Then, using simple shapes to encapsulate nature’s artistry, I aim to create an item of elegance and beauty."
Chris Rymer
Wood Art
“Chris creates contemporary wood art by reshaping nature, revealing fascinating combinations of patterns, lines and wood grain.
The work evolves through careful shaping, controlled drying, seasoning and finishing with natural oil - a slow process, but well worth the effort in order to conserve the beauty that is wood.”
Eryl Fryer
“Small enticing holes to look in and discover hold a strong attraction to the inquisitive. Thrown in Porcelain, singularly, they are beautiful and fragile but when assembled in multiples they take on a spontaneous power which is even more beautiful and compelling. This meditative environment suggests the expansion of space.”
EXHIBITORS OF 2009
Please keep coming back to see the latest updates of successful artists selected for Art in the Pen 2009.
This page is being constantly updated.
Niki Gray
Jewellery
“I am inspired by natural, organic forms and shapes – raindrops resting on leaves or seaweed clinging to pebbles on the seashore.
Working with Silver, Copper and Brass, I create simple forms using Silversmithing and Oxidising techniques.”
Catherine Wells
Mosaics
07792 940598, website
Mosaic clocks, mirrors and hearts are created with recycled china, buttons, beads and lace to name a few. Her ‘finds’ often inspire her work and the resulting pieces are quirky with a quintessentially English feel to them.
Working from her unit in a listed former water powered weaving and spinning mill, Higherford Mill in Barrowford was featured on BBC’s Restoration last September.
Jennifer Barlow
Ceramics
"I am currently looking at a range of decorative slip cast, earthenware ceramics.
Developed a range of coloured glazes to compliment these simple forms which is then sprayed over wire. Later work sees smaller pieces to form more uniform patterns and stripes. The wire runs and rusts through the glaze during firing making each piece unique.”
Natalie Collett
Mixed media
website 01422 300955
07919 024116
Still discovering the beautiful places in Yorkshire that provide the inspiration for new work. She transfers her love of colour to her garden which in turn provides inspiratrion
Past three years studied Reiki which has sparked off interest in Colour Thereapy and its healing benefits
Jane Carlisle
Silk collages
email, 01423 858806,
"As an artist I specialize in hand-painted silk collage, discovering places whilst walking and recording images with photography from which I can develop stylized designs. Having always been a silk painter I developed the hand-painted silk collage medium as I found it enabled me to lift a simple composition with vibrant colour and a crisp line."
Jane Carlisle
Silk collages
email, 01423 858806,
"As an artist I specialize in hand-painted silk collage, discovering places whilst walking and recording images with photography from which I can develop stylized designs. Having always been a silk painter I developed the hand-painted silk collage medium as I found it enabled me to lift a simple composition with vibrant colour and a crisp line."
Diana Morrison
Textile
email, 01253 890411,
Work based on the tactile constantly evolving intimate detail in nature both in its enormity and its close familiarity.
Design knitted gloves, woven, felted and stitched fashion accessories using hand dyed yarns, embellished with beading and stitched detail. Introducing more sculptural elements using needle felting to create textural surfaces inspired by forms within the landscape.
Vanessa Plews
Textiles
"I work principally with all natural fibres such as cotton, silks and merino wool tops. The base fabric for each of the scarves is personally hand dyed using my own specific mixes. The labour intensive craft of Nuno felting is then employed to apply pattern often inspired by my extensive knowledge of floral forms and colour gained through botanical drawing studies."
Val Marshall
Pottery
01524 262512, email
I just love the unpredictable results of a Raku firing, especially the excitement of opening the kiln and seeing all the wonderful colours on the pots – particularly the copper matt. Smoke firing is still also one of my favourite projects as I am able to use leaves from the woods for decoration and impressions for shaping dishes.
Iron Vein: Viki Govan and Richard Warner
Metal
"Our desire is to create sculpture which not only complements and enhances the landscape into which it is placed but also provokes thought and contemplation, pleasing the mind as well as the eye. Our pieces have resonance because they are created through traditional blacksmithing methods, yet the resultant forms are vibrant, energetic and contemporary."
Jeniene McNicholl
Has worked in all aspects of textile design and illustration working for various companies and also as a freelance designer. Initially working under Jennifer Sanderson of Nottingham
Freelance Interior Design Work for various individuals both in the UK and Australia
Kirsty Hopkins
Textiles
Predominantly working in textile art, her work also includes photography, 3D, and printing.
Her current work is influenced by the Yorkshire landscape and the stone walls seen throughout the countryside. Journey and narrative within the changing landscape can be seen as influences in her current work, which has been purchased for private collections in the U.K., South Korea and U.S.A.
Karen Redmayne
My work mainly derives from landscapes, seascapes and buildings and I try to replicate the colours and forms found in the natural world in my work. I am also inspired by traditional methods of producing artwork such as linoprinting and glass fusing, techniques which if not used may be lost. I admire the work of Charles Rennie Machintosh, Gaudi and Mucha and the Art Deco and Art Nouveau style.
Elizabeth Elliot
My influences are tribal, neolithic, near and far east – ancient forms.
My animal forms are pared down to simple abstract lines but still contain the character and spirit of the animal. However the link remains with the past both in the making process and in the subject matter.
In primitive societies vessels where either functional or ritualistic. Animals were worhiped and painted on cave walls. This quality imbues the pieces with character and mystery and I aim to capture something of this in my work.
Stuart Ball
Painting
email, 01572 812051,
"I am a self taught artist with ever changing styles and believe that water-colour is arguably the least forgiving medium to paint in. But despite that I believe it suits my style, which could be described as sometimes loose and impressionistic, sometimes whimsical and witty in a simple naïve almost childlike perspective, but always full of strong and warm colours."
Vanessa Graham
Textiles
email, 07841517201,
"Using mainly weave and braiding I push the boundaries and test the viewer’s perceptions of the techniques. Inkle weaving is the main method I exploit to translate my ideas, having developed a system of weaving bands of text."
Julie Miles
With my work I celebrate nature, landscape and memory by using the details that are sometimes missed when viewing the whole scene like the delicateness of a petal or the veins of a leaf. With these elements I try to incorporate the feeling of fragility within my porcelain work that may be lost in more rugged clay. I also use the actual forms themselves and encase them in porcelain firing away the flower seed head creating a ceramic fossil of the object itself.
Daniel Metcalfe
Playing around with this stylistic balance to establish a certain ‘rightness’ of execution often pushes the motive towards the abstract which is not discouraged.
I prefer to paint fast seeking resolutions through accumulated layers of paint rather than meticulously copying.The resultant controlled chaos would probably be near to my ideal painting style. The poetic idea that nature itself can buckle and break apart under the weight of its own beauty is for me an inspiring painterly vision.
Paul Smith website
I am a full-time gallery artist showing my work at art fairs, festivals and in galleries nationwide. My figurative sculptures re-interpret fairytales and fables for a contemporary audience. I strive to make my work thought-provoking and unusual. My style is bold and semi-abstract with sweeping curves and simplified details.
I make hand-built ceramics and press-moulded limited edition ceramics. I also make limited edition sculptures in either bronze, marble or iron resin.
Libby Jubb
Jewellery
email, 01943 605489,
"Vintage lace, embroidery and jewellery from the Victorian and Art Nouveau period are the man sources of inspiration for Libby Jubb’s work. Semi Precious stone chips and Swarovski Crystals are threaded onto sterling silver wire. The wire is then crocheted to form intricate, textural and tactile jewellery."
Ian Roberts
Ian enjoys the process of slab building, particularly constructing items with an architectural feel to them. His clock have a definite sense of fun but also are well proportioned and aesthetically pleasing.
Ian loves the immediacy and unpredictability of the Raku process and he thinks it allies well with his clocks giving them and aged patina that enhances their look.
Jim Springham
My work is not traditional, but delicates and contemporary in design. I try to be as fresh as possible with my approach and work with as many different woods as possible.
Many pieces are so thin you can see light shining through them, and others are difficult to see how they were made. I like people to be wowed and surprised at how this material can be so versatile.
All materials are sourced from local tree surgeons and friends.
Artist: Janet Yau
07821 867527, website
I combine innovative as well as traditional jewellery making techniques to create subtle textures with simple yet striking forms. I am drawn to the qualities of the precious metals and the compliment these with a combination of freshwater pearls, gemstones and coloured metal mesh.
My overall aim is to enhance the enjoyment of the wearer by creating unique, elegant and contemporary pieces.
Anna Tosney
Paintings and Prints
My current work is based on Yorkshire farming scene. I aim to recreate the atmosphere of Yorkshire’s unique scenery and beautiful skies, incorporating the familiar figures of farmers contemplating the countryside or having a friendly chat.
The technique I use is a mixture between drypoint and monoprint. The ink I use is made with very high quality light-fast pigment. It is soy based as apposed to oil based, making it kinder to the environment.
Pat Butler
All my photographs are taken in Britain and I would like to think my work captures the world as it is or rather should be. I have no wish to express the seedier side of life in my photography, which is probably what is considered to be more artistic. We are inundated from all forms of media by the grossness of human influence on our planet and although my photography is not a form of escapism, I find nature, in all its intrinsic aspects, truly uplifting and gives us hope for our own future.
Mark Butler
Photographer
I take photographs for the satisfaction of ‘seeing’ a potential image in the landscape searching an area for the best viewpoint, arranging the elements within the camera viewfinder and capturing the moment that best expresses the vision ‘I saw’. An image works for me when others can view the print and experience the same beauty and wonder I experienced without having to be there.
Claire Baxter
Her work ranges from figurative landscapes, commissioned pet portraits and expressionist abstract art.
The latest collection are set in the beautiful town of Harrogate at night. Using this scenery as backdrop each figurative scene tells a tongue in cheek story allowing the viewer to make up their own mind about the tale that lies beneath. She loves to paint the environment around her.
Jackie Stonehouse website
Jackie studied at HND Cleveland College of Art & Design
Degree Fine Art Winchester School of Art
Works in acrylic and mixed media.
Subjects are varies from figure drawing to landscape
Her work is semi-figuartive, strong in colour and composition, often taken from a literal subject then developed until she has an images that she is happy with.
Claire Troughton
Claires work is inspired by the beauty and fragility she sees in nature, using precious metals to recreate and highlight the delicacy of objects around us, New leaves of spring, slower petals, opening seed pos and eroded shells are all brought into focus and captured in simple and striking designs.
Bethan Hoyle
Jewellery
email, 01535 634579,
Bethan is a creative jeweller who has recently graduated from Craven College HNC 3D Design in Jewellery. Her style is colourful and feminine with a touch of sparkle. Her inspiration comes from the natural world and small items which she has collected over the years, such as buttons, beads, lace and other materials. She combines silver, felt, resin, fabric, buttons and other little objects like beads to create beautiful and desirable objects of design. She will gladly do jewellery demonstrations.
Della Clarke
My aims are to create ‘real’ jewellery. Like to create simple contemporary designs with some emerging and developing
My work is wearable everyday jewellery and are indicative of my personality. Keeping things simple and uncluttered so people can see quite clearly the design.
Barbara Cassell
Textiles
email, 01423 501311,
Developed her skills in particular to metal work and jewellery making combining textiles, metal and wood. Inspired by nature she combines all these elements in the making of jewellery, hats and wall hangings using their texture and colours designed by nature
Joanne Guite.
Through the use of drawings, wire, textiles and stitch Joanne has created unique and individual pieces work.
Using her pets as her initial inspiration she has created a family of little dogs, cats and other small creatures, each one with its own personality and identity.
All Joanne’s designs are created using recycled and new materials. The eclectic mix gives her designs a fresh and unique appearance.
She has recently added affordable jewellery, cards, aprons and small pictures to her ever-evolving collection.
Toni Hargreaves
Painting
Primarily using a limited palette of sepia tones but sometimes engaging the use of bold colour in a statement piece.
Cattle have now become a very prominent feature in my work and I continue to experiment with different perspectives and angles to emphasise different features. These themes often combine metaphors and ‘plays on word’ so that the title of the piece can play an important and sometimes essential factor
Anita Burrows
Painting
Burrows often works in monochrome and uses film and wet process developing as well as digital formats. It is this essence of place that links her personal work with that of her engaged practice with people.
Burrows is interested in the way art can be used in the regeneration of urban communities. Her practice is grounded in socially engaging participants and adopting strategies to gain trust, enabling the participants to contribute to the developing agenda of the project.
Pete Barnes
Photography
My passion for photography began when I was travelling, relishing the challenge of capturing the stunning landscapes and cultures in which I was immersed in exciting and enduring ways.
Living in Yorkshire, I am lucky enough to have natural beauty on my door step to continually inspire me to experiment and develop my self taught skills. I’d like my photos to inspire others to enjoy and protect our valuable natural environments.
Martin Priestley
Photography
“I am a professional photographer, specializing in landscapes. The British landscape provides rich vein of inspiration for me, with the stunning Yorkshire countryside holding particular importance to me. I strive to take eye-catching and arresting images, with strong graphical elements and a sense of atmosphere.
01274 530887, www.landscapes-uk.com
Darren Dearden
Commercial Artist with twenty five years experience working in the advertising and greeting card industry.
I recently won an open art competition organised by the Leicestershire NHS trust, this had over 300 applicants and was held over six month period exhibiting in four galleries across the county.
Moira Benoit
I have amassed a varied range of experience since graduating from the Glasgow School of Art in printmaking. I am an experienced theatre designer, graphic designer for Calderdale Arts & Museums, art lecturer and community artist. However recently I have returned to painting just to realise my own artistic desires - just to paint.
I have been working in acrylics with the subject being landscape or still life or whatever takes my fancy! I have not established a programme or specific theme and may not. It could be I will continue to just paint for paintings sake!
Tony O’Connell
Photographer
email, 01274 641527,
I am fascinated by the transient nature of reflections as they come and go with changes of light. Avoiding perfect mirror images, I prefer reflective surfaces that distort, obscure, combine and rearrange. The result is often more like a double exposure inviting the viewer to separate the layers.
I have photographed reflections in the UK, Europe and Africa. Each location generates images, unique in character, offering different perspectives on familiar scenes, which can highlight hidden details, or unexpected juxtapositions.
I continue to work with reflections, seeking out new locations and fresh approaches.
Joe Hesketh
My work functions like short stories compressed into single images. The images are composed of fragments, clues to whatever subject is affecting me at one time, fashioned together by my subconscious.
I try to capture the essence of what I am experiencing, so that the image remains like a window onto that experience forever.
I never work from a blank canvas. The process begins with a collective of thoughts and drawings and a creation of symbols in notebook form. For me it is like writing something down to remember.
The thoughts behind my new paintings are based upon people and values, my interpretation of simple chaos, a reference to society.
Nicky Dillerstone Textiles
email, 01472 311819,
My work is the result of a long held fascination with fabrics, their touch, colour and movement, from my mother’s dance dress of the 50’s to the multi layered work I produce now. I have 12 years experience of participatory arts and through that I have developed a style of my won, delivering workshops and talks throughout the UK to a very diverse audience. I make unusual boxes and books as well as fabric jewellery and elements of costume. All are rich with fine detail and texture, drawing the eye in to find the story in the layers
Tess Badcock
Tess works from her studio at home, designing and making handwoven scarves, wall hangings and rugs, using a wide range of textured yarns and fibres. For her wall pieces she draws inspiration from the rich and vibrant diversity of colours and textures in the natural landscape, at different times of the day and year.
She dyes all the yarns and fibres for the wall pieces herself, using a technique called space dyeing. This involves applying different colour dyes to a skein of yarn, thus creating a subtly mulit-coloured effect.
The scarves are woven in different combinations of cotton and viscose chenille, ribbons, silk, cotton and other decorative yarns.
Gina B. Clarke
Glass
website, 01422 342679,
Using a small test kiln I experiment with many types of glasses and metals to establish their compatibility. Once the glass has been chosen it is cut and ground to size ready to fuse. This is done at a higher temperature than slumping so two separate firings are necessary for each piece.
My work varies dramatically from delicate jewellery to large chunky panels and bowls. Colour, light and texture are very important to my work. Inspirations have come from research into the Bauhaus movement, with particular interest in the works of Kandinsky and Klee
Jim Bond
Mechanical Sculptor
My sculpture combines organic forms with industrial aesthetics and symbols, using steel copper and aluminium.
I work with human forms which are built up of a fine network of steel and copper. Drawn in three dimensions, these delicately balanced deconstructions of the body expresses dynamic energy, movement and the tension and fragility of humanity.
I create interactive sculptures which are not passive objects but respond and react, engaging the viewer in a process of discovery using distorted perspective, anomorphic projections, and kinetic elements.
Bob Campbell Sculptures
01246 812566, website
“I make sophisticated sculptures that go far beyond their functional use. Every piece of work I produce takes its own form, each piece of material I use is re=claimed and re-used from industrial machinery that has now been discarded, by doing this I create a sculpture that has a use as well as an aesthetic beauty. My work is not only a sculpture it is a piece of history that addresses the global need to re-use existing materials.”
Eric Moss
Ceramics
“In raku, clay takes a spectacular, elemental journey through fire, air and water to become ceramic. My part in the creative process is tightly-controlled: thrown forms, inspired by aeronautical/spacecraft engine parts, seedpods/nut kernels and flower bracts, are measured and modified on the wheel using ribs. Masking tape and pre-cut labels as a resist to glaze application give me crisp, accurate geometric patterning for the blackened, unglazed areas. Then nature's forces take over for the raku firing and, if they allow the piece to survive, their mark is evident in the random crackle which dresses the forms.”
Catherine Ball
Ceramics
Jessica Stacey
I learnt about new ideas and theories within art and learned to re-evaluate themes within my work. I was concerned with highlighting the beauty of colour and texture that is found in nature but is often overlooked.
My final essay was concerned with Modernist principles in art but especially with regards to ceramics and my own work.
Jane Warman – Photographer
01282 773761, website
“Many people feel that the works of the great French photographers are ‘over exposed’ to the public eye as their work appears so often on calendars, greetings cards and posters. Personally I see this as a testament to their enduring appeal. The renowned French photographers Doisneau, Ronis, Cartier-Bresson, Brassai and Lartigus have been the inspiration behind my growing portfolio of photographs of France. With these I am trying to capture what is quintessentially French in my images, whether it is the ‘decisive moment’ in a secret scene (aspiring to the work of my aforementioned heroes) or the subtle elegance of even their municipal wrought ironwork.”
Duncan Pearson
Painter
0113 2252069, email
“I have painted on a professional level for 8 years now. My work is mostly about what I see socially going on around me although I will paint anything that comes into my head if I think it’s any good. I like to push my work in all directions evolving in subject matters, mediums and styles along the way although I usually use household gloss paint and oil. The most important thing is that the paintings have life in them.”
Debbie Johnson
Debbie Johnson is a self taught water colour and graphite artist living in Silsden, West Yorkshire. She specialises in pet portraits but equally enjoys painying wildlife and detailed landscapes
Heather Gatt
Oil Paintings
01974 601969, website
“Through my batiks and paintings I explore light and the way it dramatizes. Rhythm is also important. I often paint sky and water, challenged by the difficulties of creating the effect of transparency or reflections. I try to convoy a sense of spirituality and timelessness.”
Cilla Cameron
I am a Rug maker using the traditional techniques of hooking and prodding to make my rugs from smaller wall hangings to large rugs that are suitable for the floor. My rugs are made with both recycled and new woollen material as is and hand dyed.
I sell a range of rug making equipment eg. kits, patterns, frames, hooks, hessian. I am a dyer and have a range of beautiful hand dyed wool fabric and sheep fleece including, Wensleydale, Swaledale and Blue face Leicester suitable for rug makers and other textile artists.
Jon Scurrah
Hon’s ambition for Phrame is to create beautiful and individual artwork using his extensive skills gained through his diverse photographic career. Specialising in 360degree images he is now going back to more traditional elements of photography from his youth.
Phrame imaging gives Jon the chance to express his creativity in all parts of the process, from the concept of an idea, through to handcrafted framed photograph, giving you a piece of beautiful and distinctive art work.
Wendy Jones
Inspired by landscapes and their climatic influence I hope to relay my passion of Lancashire. My work is based on interpretation of my memories as much as visualisation. In addition, I paint with the emotional responses to weather, seasons and nature in mind.
Abstract canvases allow me to assign complimentary or opposing emotional reactions. Whilst my collages, working with various textural media, with acrylic on canvas reflect the texture, colour and form of landscapes and natural elements which is important to me.
Elizabeth Helen Spencer Textile Artist
I was born and brought up in the dales, and consider myself very fortunate to continue to live in an area whose natural atmospheric beauty provides a vast and diverse inspirational canvas for my work.
I have a background in floristry and interior design and have always been keen to express my creativity using colours and textures inspired by nature. More recently I have experimented with the use of different materials and fibres to produce dales landscape pictures.
I have developed a passion for the felted medium and I now produce not only pictures; but scarves, vessels, jewellery and bags.
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