'Within These Walls' began as a large-scale print installation exploring the theme of endangered upland meadows of the Yorkshire Dales. My five 4-metre prints feature imagery inspired by these beautiful habitats and were hung in a traditional field barn at the Grassington Festival in 2017. All the hangings are handprinted on cotton voile. The central panel is an intaglio collagraph consisting of four consecutive metre-long cardboard plates that were printed on an etching press at Northern Print. The two either side of the collagraph feature reductive monotypes inspired by the shadows of meadow plants and printed on an etching press at Ålgården Studios in Sweden and the swallows are block printed by hand in the Village Hall at Horton-in-Ribblesdale.
The slideshow below shows the making of the 'Within These Walls'. (Thanks to Jo Denison for the use of some of her photos & Paul Harris for his film).
Since the festival, Within These Walls has become a larger ongoing project encompassing collagraphs, linocuts, monotypes and a further installation (work in progress) that explore the importance of traditionally-managed, species-rich meadows in agriculture, ecology, cultural history and the fight against climate change.
Exhibitions: Within These Walls: Haytime in the Yorkshire Dales, Dales Countryside Museum, 28 April 2023 - 17 September 2023 Within These Walls at Great Print 9, Rheged, Penrith, 8 December 2023 - 3 March 2024 Within These Walls, The Folly, Settle, 6 July - 28 September 2024