YORKSHIRE LIFE
September, 2007
Art & Exhibitions By Justine
Brooks
At
some stage in its history Yorkshire would have been covered by forest
that over the centuries has been cleared to make way for people
and agricultlure. Certainly many of its trees have been the source
of legend, such as the mulberry tree that grows in Wakefield Prison
and is immortalised in the nursery rhyme Here We Go Round the Mulberry
Bush - a chant and game made up by the children of washer women
who worked there.
This year Yorkshire Life readers have dedicated more than 1,000
trees to help create a new wood in the Yorkshire Dales and it seems
that an appreciation of trees and wood is a major theme in art exhibitions
around the county at the moment.
Andy Goldsworthy's show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park is an overt
celebration of tree life. Back in July I mentioned an exhibition
called Knock On Wood at the Craft Centre and Design Gallery in the
Headrow, Leeds. The exhibition includes some stunning work in wood
by artists such as Jeff Soan and Emma Lister, as well as exquisitely
crafted wooden automata by sculptor and puppet maker Jan Zalud.
Kath Libbert Jewellery at Salts Mill, Saltaire, has launched an
exhibition all about jewellery made of wood. Called Wood You? far
from being just a collection of wooden beads, the exhibition includes
work in all kinds of wood, from polished maple to curly hazel, featherweight
balsa wood and cork to heavy weight oak and gnarled driftwood. Using
innovative methods, makers have combined wood with materials such
as crystal and pearls, incorporating embroidery and fabric as well
as metals and even vintage Formica and reclamation yard finds. The
work includes elegant sculptural bangles and necklaces by Mette
Jensen, figurative brooches by Julia Harrison which the artist says
are inspired by '...a child's pout, a furrowed brow, a flash of
cleavage, a clenched fist. . . '
The arboreal theme is taken even further with an exhibition entitled
Wild Wood due to open in Leeds at the end of September. This exhibition,
which will contain photographic work and projections by nationally
and internationally renowned artists, is curated by artist-curator
Diane Howse at Leeds' newest gallery project space, PSL.
Andy
Goldsworthy, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bretton Park, Wakefield,
until January 2008. Tel: 01924832631. www.ysp.co.uk
Knock
on Wood. The Craft Centre & Design Gallery, Leeds, until September
30th. Tel: 0113 247 8241
Wood
You? Kath Libbert Jewellery, Salts Mill, Saltaire, until September
30th Tel: 01274 599790. www.kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk
Wild
Wood, PSL (Project Space Leeds), Whitehall Waterfront, 2 Riverside
Way, Leeds, Wednesday to Saturday, 12 noon- 5pm
