Palettes primed
The annual York Open Studios – a significant event in the city’s cultural calendar – returns next weekend with more than 150 artists and makers set to welcome visitors into their homes and studios. Yvette Huddleston reports. Main pictures by James Hardist
Before embarking on designing and making jewellery, Toni Mayner worked as a youth and community worker for 15 years. At the age of 40, she decided to retrain, initially learning traditional fine jewellery skills before going on to further study in contemporary jewellery practice and latterly a career as a teacher and academic at the School of Jewellery in Birmingham. She has now retired from academia and, having moved to York last year, decided to take part in York Open Studios for the first time. “I actually first lived in York at the age of 17 when I came to do an art foundation course here, but
I got distracted and did other things, although I have always been actively involved in the arts and continued doing my own artwork,” says Mayner. “When I was 40, I just thought ‘if I am going to do this, I have to do it now’; I loved the work I was doing as a youth and community worker, but I knew I wanted to be a maker and I had reached a point where I decided to focus on what I felt passionate about.”
She has no regrets about her change of direction. “For me it is like meditation when I am at the bench and I have never met anyone who isn’t delighted by the magic that is making jewellery – it is a real delight.”
Mayner is looking forward to being part of York Open Studios and sees it as an opportunity to engage with other artists and also the public. “It will be lovely to talk to people about how I work and to see the work of other artists. I went last year just after I moved here and I thought there was such a lovely supportive atmosphere and a keenness for everyone to succeed. It made me want to be part of it, so I applied.” She is very happy to be back in York – and there is a nice circularity to it. “I have friends here and I wanted to spend the last part of my working life doing what I originally intended to do.”
The range of work on display, which is all for sale, includes painting and print, illustration, drawing and mixed media, ceramics, glass and sculpture, jewellery, textiles, photography, furniture making and installation art. All the participating artists are handpicked by a panel of art professionals in order to keep the line-up fresh and diverse each year.
One of the key aims of York
Open Studios is to support and work closely with developing artists or those who are new to a creative career. Over in Poppleton, printmaker and mixed media artist Jo Rodwell is happy to be “launching myself as an emerging artist”.
A former primary school teacher, Rodwell left teaching in 2015 after the birth of her second child and enrolled on an Access to Art and Design Course at York College which she completed part-time between 2016 and 2018. “It is the most wonderful thing I have ever done in my life,” she says. “The course covered everything – from painting and drawing, to ceramics and 3D design; I learned so much.”
She is delighted to be part of this year’s event.
“To get the recognition in qualifying has been a real boost. And I’m really looking forward to talking to people about my work. I do prints and printmaking
and a bit of everything. I like to explore lots of different media. We are just in the process of finishing a studio in the garden – up until now I have been cluttering up the family kitchen table.”
Furniture designer and maker Richard Frost also made a career change a few years ago. He was a civil engineer working for the railways but took redundancy in December 2016, which enabled him to do a short taster course at Waters & Acland Furniture School in Cumbria.
“I then took six months off and did a series of courses on woodworking and furniture making with Ilkley-based woodworker and teacher Chris Tribe. After that I went back into consultancy for a while to deliberate and then returned to Waters & Acland to do a year-long course.”
He set up Richard Frost Design in December 2018. “I have always been keen on how things look,” he says. “My dad is a silversmith and through my childhood and teenage years he was teaching silversmithing at Manchester Poly. So, I think it is a little bit in the blood and I just always liked wood, the look and the feel of it.” He makes bespoke furniture commissioned by clients – everything from a small coffee table to a large-scale statement piece – and he also creates speculative designs. “I really love that whole creative process of coming up with ideas and I like to exhibit those pieces in galleries. I’m interested in patterns and I like to create striking visual effects. I’m currently taking a lot of inspiration from Ancient Egypt.”
Painter, illustrator and textile maker Marie Murphy moved to York from Brighton a few months ago and has found the city she now calls home quite an inspiration. “All my work is based around architecture and my new series is all inspired by buildings around York. There are so many that are beautiful, detailed and intricate.” Murphy describes her work as “mid-century Brutalism meets a riot of colour” and she uses blocks of colour to represent different aspects and areas of a building. “Many of my paintings are about making you feel like you are looking into the distance – there are a lot of laneways in York and I really like the play of light and shadow that you get.”
Murphy originally trained as a textile designer at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and her creative practice also includes making lampshades, cushions and embroidered vintage linen. “But painting and illustrating are something I have always had a real passion for, so I am moving more towards that.” She is looking forward to taking part in her first York Open Studios. “It is about engaging with your customers and getting their feedback – it’s so interesting because people always see things in your work that you might not necessarily see.”
■ York Open Studios, April 2&3 and 9&10. www.yorkopenstudios.co.uk