Alan draws up his list of Covid saints

●● Artist Alan Birch, from Waterfoot, has produced a series of lockdown saints

STUART PIKE

AVALLEY artist has overcome the creative difficulties posed by lockdown to unveil his satirical collection of pandemic icons.

Alan Birch, based at Waterfoot’s Prospect Studios, has long been fascinated with the depiction of saints. His portfolio includes Saint Sat Nav, Saint Selfie, and Saint Onesie, plus a tribute to Manchester City’s dramatic 2012 Premier League win - Saint Last Minute.Encouraged by friends, Alan, who lives in Bacup, revisited the series to produce seven new themed saints. The drypoints are engraved in perspex, printed on Fabriano paper and hand coloured.

He says they offer a little relief and a chance to reflect on the “bizarre” times through humour.

“The ideas for the prints came from news stories and human behaviour during these unprecedented and difficult times,” he said.

“I’ve found it a very difficult time to keep focus. I normally do a lot of work in schools - 15 years I’ve been doing that and it’s all gone, you can’t believe it’s really happening. I thought it would be a good addition to the saints.”

Alan, who runs printmaking classes, started with St Coronus, reflecting the early days of the outbreak. The image features masks, his hoarded supplies of pasta, hand sanitizer and toilet paper, Pangolins, bats, and a lava lamp with a peak. To that he has added Saint NHS, Saint Self Isolation, Saint Lockdown, Saints Social Distancing, Saint Zoom and Saint Vaccine.

Alan, 60, has also created an NHS tribute print which shows St Michael dressed in PPE slaying the virus. This hand coloured relief print is an edition of 100 and is for sale at £40, with £10 going to NHS charities.

Alan is currently looking into ways to run classes safely for small groups in his studio and in schools and local galleries. Twenty-five of the printmakers who attend his classes in Waterfoot will be showing their work at Burnley’s Towneley Hall when it re-opens.

Anyone interested should contact Alan at www.alanbirch.co.uk .

●● Artist Alan Birch, from Waterfoot, has produced a series of lockdown saints