New year, new project!

I am very pleased to announce that with the start of 2019 comes the beginning of a brand new project in association with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and the Dales Countryside Museum. Last year I was approached to see if I would be able to reprint the museum's collection of 120 beautiful wood engraving (and some lino) blocks created by artist, historian and founder of the museum, Marie Hartley MBE (1905-2006). After a really exciting meeting with Fiona Rosher, the museum manager, we came up with a plan for me to spend a number of days in the museum printing the blocks up and carrying out research on Marie Hartley using their extensive archive of notebooks, diaries and sketchbooks etc. I would then have a year to develop a body of new work inspired by my research, Marie's work and the Yorkshire Dales National Park which would be exhibited in the museum gallery in the summer of 2020.

​Today I felt like I started the project properly when I test printed two of Marie's blocks to check my paper choice and also the tools that I have for handprinting. All worked beautifully and I am very much looking forward to the first proper printing session on the 5th of March. Visitors to the museum can watch me print the blocks and ask questions. I will be there from 12-4pm on consecutive Tuesdays up to and including the 7th May 2019 (excluding Tuesday 16th April when I'll be there on the previous Sunday 14th April, 12-4pm). I will be writing a project blog at my wordpress site, link to that HERE. Suffice to say, I am honoured to have been asked and very excited to get started!