Yorkshire Sculpture Park

New Article Added : Anish Kapoor: Flashback

10-04-2012

ARTS COUNCIL COLLECTION PRESENTS

ANISH KAPOOR: FLASHBACK
 

A touring exhibition from the Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre

Opens at Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

16 June – 4 November 2012

Flashback is a major series of touring exhibitions from the Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre. Taking as its starting point the Collection’s founding principle of supporting emerging artists through the purchase of their work, the series showcases internationally renowned British artists whose works have been acquired by the Collection. The monographic exhibitions combine works from the Collection with new pieces borrowed directly from the artists, giving a unique insight into the evolution of these key figures in British art. Following on from the success of the first Flashback exhibition of work by Bridget Riley, the second artist in the series of monographic exhibitions is renowned artist and Turner Prize winner, Anish Kapoor. 

Kapoor’s sensual and beguiling sculptures are created using a range of materials including pigment, stone, polished stainless steel and wax. Following on from the critical acclaim of his show at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2009, this Flashback exhibition gives an opportunity to explore Kapoor’s earlier works alongside recent pieces lent directly by the artist. The exhibition includes a selection of major sculptures on loan from UK collections, and from the Arts Council Collection. This is the first survey of Kapoor's work to be held in the UK, outside of London.
 

The show is selected by the artist in close dialogue with the Arts Council Collection and includes works such as White Sand, Red Millet, Many Flowers (1982) which demonstrates Kapoor’s early interest in applying raw pigment to a range of organic forms. The sculpture was acquired by the Arts Council Collection the same year and has been lent to many major institutions as a key example of his early work. Alongside this, the optically illusionary Untitled (1997-98) is a highlypolished stainless steel void embedded into the wall that draws the viewer into a seemingly bottomless reflection and is emblematic of the seamless mirrored forms that have made Kapoor a household name. The exhibition includes the large-scale installation Her Blood (1998) shown for the first time in the UK.

Caroline Douglas, Head of the Arts Council Collection, said: “After launching Flashback with a highly successful show by Bridget Riley, we are proud to be able to follow this with another of the UK’s most important artists. Over more than two decades, Anish Kapoor has established an unassailable international reputation and his work can be found in major institutions and public spaces around the globe. It is testament to both the artist’s generosity and the strength of the works acquired by Arts Council Collection that we are able to bring this substantial overview of his career to museums and galleries in the UK.”
 

The exhibition is toured by Hayward Touring Exhibitions. It was seen at Manchester Art Gallery (5 March – 5 June 2011) before touring to the Sculpture Court, Edinburgh College of Art (Edinburgh Festival, Summer 2011), Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery (19 November 2011 – 11 March 2012) and Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (16 June – 4 November 2012).
 

An illustrated catalogue will accompany Anish Kapoor: Flashback including an essay by Michael Bracewell and an interview with Anish Kapoor by Andrew Renton.
 

The Arts Council Collection
The Arts Council Collection is one of Britain’s foremost national collections of post-war British Art. As a collection 'without walls', it has no permanent gallery; it can be seen on long term loan to museums, galleries, schools, hospitals, colleges and charitable associations and in touring exhibitions and displays at home and abroad. It is also, importantly, the most widely circulated and easily accessible collection of its kind, with nearly 8000 works available for loan. It is run by Southbank Centre on behalf of Arts Council England.

Established in 1946 to promote and enrich knowledge of contemporary art, the Collection continues to acquire works by artists, many at an early stage of their career, living and working in Britain and to foster the widest possible access to modern and contemporary across the UK. It includes work by Francis Bacon, Tracey Emin, Lucian Freud, Antony Gormley, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Henry Moore, Bridget Riley and Wolfgang Tillmans. Recent exhibitions of works from the Collection, created in collaboration with Hayward Touring, include Unpopular Culture: Grayson Perry curates from the Arts Council Collection, and Now Showing I & II. In 2009 the Arts Council Collection launched the Flashback series which showcases worldrenowned British artists whose works were acquired early on by the Collection, including Bridget Riley (2010) and Anish Kapoor (2011). In December 2006 access to the Collection was further enhanced when artscouncilcollection.org.uk was launched.
 

For further PRESS information please contact Sarah Ragsdale, Tel: 020 7921 0887 or

sarah.ragsdale@southbankcentre.co.uk or Helena Zedig, Tel: 020 7921 0847 or

helena.zedig@southbankcentre.co.uk
 

Notes to Editors:

• Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of

London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an

extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain.

Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the

Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection

New Article Added : First solo exhibition in the UK by artist Sophie Ernst

31-01-2012

Sophie Ernst: HOME

Bothy Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 17.03.12–01.01.12
 

YSP presents the first solo exhibition in the UK by Sophie Ernst. HOME is a major ongoing project confronting political turmoil and displacement with individual memories of home and ideal places. Ernst interviews people forced to leave their homes due to political upheaval, such as during the Partition of South Asia in 1947, and builds an architectural model of the houses they describe. She then projects onto this sculpture video footage of the person's hands as they describe their memory of that building, transforming the inanimate object into a virtually inhabited space, and ascribing a profound intimacy.
 

YSP is committed to supporting and articulating sculpture practice as well as effecting change on an individual and social level. During the exhibition, Ernst will develop a new sculpture. For this project she will work in collaboration with Taha Mehmood, the YSP Learning Team and a group of young people from YSP’s Shared Horizon initiative which works with unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK.
 

The YSP exhibition will be complemented by two important discussion events: Memory of Form at Delfina Foundation in London on 14 May 2012 will consider the sculptural significance and modes of display of HOME. Speakers include Professor Sean Cubitt, Professor in Global Media and Communication at the University of Southampton and Aaron Cezar, Director of Delfina Foundation. At Form of Memory at YSP on 20 June 2012, speakers including Astrid Schmetterling, Lecturer in Visual Cultures, at Goldsmiths and Maru&scaron;ka Sva&scaron;ek, Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at Queens University will discuss the experience of home and the narratives of refuge.
 

A book documenting HOME with essays by Iftikhar Dadi, Taha Mehmood, Helen Pheby and Sophie Ernst as well as commentaries on HOME by Nazmi Al-Jubeh, Yazid Anani, Kamila Shamsi and Salim Tamari will be published by YSP to coincide with this exhibition as well as Ernst’s inclusion in the Lines of Control group show at Johnson Museum, Cornell University, USA.
 

Born in 1972, Ernst first trained as a industrial mechanic with BMW before graduating from the Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunst in Amsterdam in 2000. She won the Golden Cube award at the 26th Kassel Dokfest awarded for best installation. Ernst works between Asia and Europe and was Assistant Professor at the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore (2003-2007). The exhibition is sponsored by The Mondriaan Foundation with support from the Dutch Embassy in London. The HOME project is made possible by the support of Green Cardamom, Sharjah Foundation

and the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

For further press enquiries contact:

Nina Rogers, Marketing Manager / 01924 832 633 nina.rogers@ysp.co.uk

Damon Waldock, Communications Assistant / 01924 832 539

damon.waldock@ysp.co.uk

Download images at www.ysp.co.uk/ysp-media

Notes to Editors

About YSP:

Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a leading, international centre for modern and contemporary art. It is an independent charitable trust and registered museum (number 1067908) situated in the 500 acre, 18th century Bretton Hall estate.
 

YSP was the first sculpture park in the UK and at 500 acres is the largest of its kind in Europe, providing the only place in the world to see Barbara Hepworth’s The Family of Man in its entirety and the largest public collection of Henry Moore bronzes in the open air. Its stunning Underground Gallery has presented major projects by artists including Willliam Turnbull, James Turrell, Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash, Isamu Noguchi and Jaume Plensa. The collection includes work by Sol LeWitt, Dennis Oppenheim, Martin Creed, Anthony Caro, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Ursula von Rydingsvard.

YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants. Find out more at ysp.co.uk
 

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield WF4 4LG.
 

About Sophie Ernst:

Sophie Ernst is represented by Green Cardamom Gallery, London and Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai. Ernst’s exhibitions include Presence of an Absence, (Ernst & Mehmood) at Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden; Emerging Discourse at Bodhi Art Gallery, New York; Re-Forming Landscape at the National Art Gallery, Islamabad; Best of Discovery at ShContemporary, Shanghai; The Punjab: Moving Journeys at the Royal Geographical Society, London; Sophie Ernst: Lovedolls at the Museum fuÅNr AbguÅNsse Klassischer Bildwerke, Munich; Along the X-Axis - video art from India and Pakistan at Apeejay Media Gallery, New Delhi; Touching from a Distance at Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork.

New Article Added : Founder of The Pogues opens new film installation at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

26-01-2012

This spring, visitors to YSP have the opportunity to experience Still, a beautiful installation by Jem Finer, founding member of pop group The Pogues, which opens to the public in the calm and atmospheric YSP Chapel on Saturday 11 February 2012.

Still is a large-scale projection of 700 images, edited from 18,000, taken in a forest by a solar-powered camera and constantly reordered through computer software. Commissioned by Stour Valley Arts (SVA) in 2011, Still captures a year in the Kent woodland showing the ever-changing sequence between dusk and dawn; an ebb and flow of time through which the viewer is as likely to witness the passing of a single day as the turning of a year’s seasons.

In Still, Finer extends a new art form, lying somewhere between photography and film – a still image in a state of constant flux. What seems static is actually an endless series of transitions, both subtle and dramatic. No two viewings of the work are ever the same as the film continually finds new and different paths through the days, weeks and months. The project reflects Finer’s interest in designing intricate programs and complex structures that encourage perception of the macro, the cosmological and the infinite. In Still, we are simultaneously drawn to consider our relationship to the natural world and its processes.

Since leaving The Pogues in 1996, Finer has established a highly respected multimedia art practice, which draws on his early training as a computer scientist. Finer is known for the Artangel commission Longplayer, a self-selecting musical composition that began at midnight on 31 December 1999 and will continue for one thousand years until the next millennium.

Four seasonal limited edition prints of Still will be available to buy from the YSP Shop and online at ysp.co.uk. Jem Finer will be in conversation with Ben Tufnell, Curator at Haunch of Venison gallery, London, later this year. Find out more at ysp.co.uk/finer 

New Article Added : Joan Miró: First UK exhibition of sculpture

05-12-2011

Miró: Sculptor
Underground Gallery and Gardens 17.03.12–06.01.13

“When I’m living in the country, I never think about painting anymore. It’s sculpture that interests me.”

“May my sculptures be confused with elements of nature, tree, rocks, roots, mountains, plants, flowers.”
Joan Miró

Yorkshire Sculpture Park stages the first major UK survey of sculpture by Joan Miró (1893-1983) in collaboration with the artist’s foundations and family. With key works sited in the Yorkshire landscape, the exhibition will fulfil the artist’s belief that “sculpture must stand in the open air, in the middle of nature”, as well as providing a rare opportunity to experience the repertoire of this iconic Catalan artist, demonstrating his continued relevance to sculpture.

While celebrated for his paintings, Miró strove to “destroy painting” through an art form that transcended the two-dimensional plane and was an early pioneer of construction; a radical approach to making that forever transformed the discipline of sculpture.

Miró produced around 400 sculptures and a similar number of ceramic works, the majority concentrated within the later part of his career. The artist viewed sculpture as equally important to his practice as painting although it was generally less known and critically examined. From his initial exploration of collage and assembled sculpture around 1930, sculpture became increasingly central, most notably from the 1960s to his death in 1983.

The Park’s purpose-built Underground Gallery will host Miró’s “phantasmagoric world of living monsters”, tracing the evolution of sculpture as an element of Miró’s practice from 1946 through to 1982. The works will relate to the sculptures for the open air shown in the gardens beyond the gallery’s impressive glass concourse.

The survey begins with small, smooth-finished bronze sculptures such as Oiseau Solaire (1946), through to the raw bronze constructions of found objects (including mannequins, dolls, rustic vessels, discarded cans) made consistently from the 1960s onwards and highly-coloured, painted bronzes of the 1960s and 70s. Miró’s anthropomorphic sculpture reveals his surrealist impulse, each work invested with character and pervaded by a palpable feeling of fecundity. By casting everyday objects in bronze the artist demonstrated his insistence that his work must engage with something real and recognisable – “free of tricks or grandiloquence, a direct art”.

Through the 1970s and into the 1980s, Miró’s work increased significantly in scale. Around this time he was completing major commissions, such as Lune, Soleil et une Etoile (Miss Chicago) 1981, located in the Brunswick Building Plaza in Chicago. The YSP exhibition provides the rare chance to experience a significant collection of Miró’s large-scale outdoor works, usually seen only at the artist’s foundation and estate in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.

The Project Space is devoted to the process of Miró’s work and through artefacts, drawings, models and photographs – many from the family’s private collection – a unique and fascinating insight evolves.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park is the perfect venue for this important and timely survey. It has a reputation for curating the most ambitious projects of many artist’s careers, including Andy Goldsworthy and Jaume Plensa, as well as highly significant historical exhibitions, such as Isamu Noguchi, Barbara Hepworth and Eduardo Chillida. The organisation’s commitment to enabling access to art of the highest international standard, integrated with an extensive public programme, reflects perfectly Miró’s own beliefs in the potential of art to inspire and engage.

 ”I feel attracted to an object by a magnetic force, without any premeditation whatsoever; then I feel attracted by another object which, when linked to the first, produces a poetic impact, first traversing this plastic, physical attraction, really making its poetry move you and without which it would not be effective.” 
Joan Miró

The exhibition is the catalyst for an integrated cultural programme of academic research, performance, music, poetry and family activities to engage a diverse and extensive range of audiences and contribute ongoing critical research around this important artist.

Works in the exhibition are being loaned by major collections including: Fundació Miró, Barcelona; Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró, Mallorca; Successió Miró, Mallorca; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Thanks to Connaught Brown Gallery, Galerie Lelong, Paris, and Waddington Galleries, London.

Sponsored by Christie’s. Supported by the Institut Ramon Llull and The Henry Moore Foundation. With additional support from Camper. Tourism Partner – Welcome to Yorkshire.

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New Article Added : Donna Wilson: Endangered Species opens 19 November

11-11-2011

YSP Centre and Shop, 19 November 2011 to 26 February 2012

Scottish designer Donna Wilson brings her playful textiles to YSP this winter, drawing inspiration from the landscape to create an eccentric world of knitted trees and curiosities featuring her trademark patterns and colours alongside exclusive limited edition prints. Her vision will transform the YSP Centre into a tactile enchanted garden from 19 November 2011 to 26 February 2012.

Named Designer of the Year 2010 by Elle Decoration and with ranges sold across 25 countries worldwide, Donna is known for her knitted creatures, textiles, homewares and furniture. The Upper Space in YSP’s visitor centre features a knitted woodland scene using Donna’s striking knitted patterns, blending textures and colours in the form of trees and animals resting on a carpet of luxurious rugs, with a wall of limited edition screen prints and giclee prints. The centre’s Upper Concourse showcases a wall of one-off original watercolours and drawings, ceramic plates, framed soft knitted plants and flowers with directional signage by Donna.

The display in the shop window is an enticing scene with Donna’s unusual creatures hiding in woodland, complemented hand drawn illustrations. A range of products are available to buy in store or online at ysp.co.uk including cushions, throws and blankets, ceramics, creatures, scarves, hats, socks and gloves, and stationery.

Much of Donna’s work is a celebration of traditional methods and materials combined with her distinctive style. She is committed to using UK-based manufacturers and suppliers wherever possible, keeping craftsmanship alive. Donna sources her lambswool yarns from Z. Hinchliffe and Sons in Denby Dale, West Yorkshire and retains her Scottish roots with her smaller pieces such as toys and scarves knitted on machines by a small family run business in Galasheils on the Scottish borders.

The events programme accompanying the exhibition includes a free Professional Practice Talk at Huddersfield University, sponsored by Tigerprint, on 1 February 2012 where Donna will talk about her progress from graduate to award-winning textile designer and a cushion-making workshop with the opportunity to make a luxurious lambswool cushion on 18 February 2012. Visit ysp.co.uk/donna for details.

About the artist:
Donna Wilson graduated from Gray’s School of Art in 1999 and went on to study mixed media textiles at the Royal College of Art. She set up her company in 2003 after making odd knitted creatures for her final show at the Royal College of art. The creatures sold out and since then she has built her business designing and making a collection of curious cushions, luxurious lambswool blankets, and a variety of products for you and your home. She is passionate about creating products that people can connect with and making things that customers will treasure. Donna runs a studio and workshop in East London. Her hardworking team knit, sew, pack and send out products to individuals and design shops around the world – 25 countries at the last count. Last year Donna won the prestigious accolade of Designer of the Year 2010 in the Elle Decoration British Design Awards.

New Article Added : YSP prepares to welcome the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay Route

07-11-2011

Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has today been confirmed as one of the landmarks to welcome the Olympic Flame. On 25 June 2012, YSP will play host to the Olympic Flame and share in the excitement that the Torch Relay will bring and celebrate the achievements of the Torchbearers. Limited public access will be available and more details about this will be released nearer the time.

YSP is one of just a few landmarks and special activities to be announced today by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and ParalympicGames (LOCOG) through which the Olympic Flame will be carried by Torchbearers during the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay which is presented by Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung. LOCOG has worked closely with representatives from a number of sectors in Yorkshire to include these on the route and the majority of other special events and activities will be confirmed next year as we aim to build further excitement and anticipation much closer to the time of the Torch Relay.

Peter Murray CBE, Executive Director of YSP said: “We are delighted and honoured that Yorkshire Sculpture Park will play a part in welcoming the Olympic Flame to Yorkshire and have the opportunity to share in the Olympic spirit. This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity and will allow us to showcase just how unique the Park really is as a location for sculpture and landscape”.

Sebastian Coe, Chair of LOCOG said: ‘We are thrilled to confirm that the Olympic Flame will be visiting Yorkshire Sculpture Park as part of its journey around the UK. We have worked hard to devise a route that achieves the optimum mix of proximity to people whilst taking in the diversity of the UK’s landscape and landmarks, and by taking in Yorkshire Sculpture Park we are doing just that. This is the UK’s moment to shine and I want to encourage people across the Wakefield District to start planning how they can be part of this once in a lifetime opportunity and show their support for the inspirational Torchbearers chosen to carry the Olympic Flame as we count down to the start of the Olympic Games."

The 70 day Olympic Torch Relay, will start at Land’s End, Cornwall on the morning of 19 May 2012. On leaving Land’s End, the Olympic Flame will travel an estimated 8,000 miles around the UK giving thousands of communities and individuals their moment to shine as the Olympic Flame comes to a place near them.

In announcing the villages, towns and cities and some of the landmarks and alternative modes of transport the Flame will take in as part of its journey, LOCOG has realised the aspiration of taking the Olympic Flame to within an hour’s journey time of 95% of the population. In fact, over 95% of the population will be within just 10 miles of the Olympic Flame next summer. The street by street detail of the route will be confirmed next year.

People are invited to view the interactive map at www.london2012.com/olympictorchrelaymap to find their nearest community through which the Olympic Flame will be carried.

On the final day of the Olympic Torch Relay, it is LOCOG’s intention that the Olympic Flame will travel down the River Thames as it makes its way to the Olympic Stadium on 27 July 2012 for the lighting of the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony, signifying the official start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

For logistical reasons, not all the landmarks will be accessible to large crowds but LOCOG have worked with the local areas to ensure that there is as much public access as possible.

The Olympic Flame will be carried across the UK by 8,000 inspirational Torchbearers each of whom will have a story of personal achievement and/or contribution to the local community. In December this year, successful nominees will be contacted with a conditional offer and final Torchbearer places will start to be confirmed from February 2012 onwards.

Today LOCOG launches two new public participation programmes. The ‘Local Leaders’ initiative is an invitation to people to take the 2012 Games into their community and create their own celebrations next year, for the Olympic Torch Relay and other key moments during the Olympic and ParalympicGames. People are encouraged to sign up to the Local Leader programme at www.london2012.com/localleaders to receive further information on a range of themed celebration ideas focusing on the Opening Ceremony evening, gardening, quizzes and barbecues and be in the front row to receive free London 2012 event materials to support events.

Also launched today is the ‘Get Set for the Olympic Torch Relay’ education resource, available to all schools registered with Get Set, London 2012’s official education programme. The aim of the resource is to provide schools with cross-curricular resources aimed at teachers working with 3 to 16 year olds to aid learning around history of Olympic Torch Relays, the design of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay and the Torch itself. A further education resource will launch next year to encourage schools to plan a welcome for the Olympic Flame and show support for the Torchbearers. Lloyds TSB, official Education Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, have launched their Flame Followers schools programme whichcompliments the Get Set resources, and gives schools once-in-a-lifetime opportunities be right at the heart of the excitement and celebrations of the Relay.

Press Contacts

Vic Collins, Marketing Manager 01924 832515 / victoria.collins@ysp.co.uk
Nina Rogers, Marketing Officer 01924 832633 / nina.rogers@ysp.co.uk

Notes to editors

About YSP
Established in 1977, YSP was the first sculpture park in the UK and is the largest of its kind in Europe. It is the only place in the world to see Barbara Hepworth’s The Family of Man in its entirety and the largest public collection of Henry Moore bronzes in the open air. Set in 500 acres of historic landscape, YSP is a gallery without walls providing ‘great art for everyone’. The open nature of the Park is designed to encourage visitors to explore the relationship between art and nature, allowing over 350,000 visitors attracted to the Park every year to make their own personal discoveries.

As a major centre of artistic excellence, YSP plays an essential role in the local visitor economy, contributing £5million every year, highlighting just how essential arts and culture are in building a successful visitor economy.

As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

As the longest standing Presenting Partner of the Olympic Torch Relay, Coca-Cola will be using its heritage and experience to spread excitement across the UK ahead of London 2012. Coca-Cola's national nomination campaign – Future Flames – has focused on finding inspirational young people from across the country to have the once in a lifetime opportunity to carry the Olympic Flame. Next summer Coca-Cola will celebrate these Future Flames: young people who use their passions in areas like sport and physical activity, music and dance, and community and the environment; to spread happiness in their local communities. Find out more at www.coca-cola.co.uk/olympic-games

As the only National Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, Lloyds TSB will be taking the spirit and inspiration of the Olympic Flame right to the heart of communities across the UK. As part of Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of Scotland will be the National Presenting Partner in Scotland. We will bring the Relay closer to our customers through our branches on practically every high street and our activities in the community, National School Sport Week and Local Heroes. Customers can be the first to hear about exclusive offers, including how they can have the chance to carry the Olympic Flame, through our customer-exclusive programme, Trackside. Find out more at www.lloydstsb/london2012. Schools can be right at the heart of the celebrations through our Flame Followers programme, giving them access to free resources to get their pupils inspired and excited about the Olympic Torch Relay, and the chance for their school to carry the Olympic Flame, win a celebration party at their school during the Relay and win a Cheer Kit to welcome the Relay to their community. Customers can be the first to hear how they can follow the Olympic Flame, through our customer-exclusive programme Trackside. Find out more at www.lloydstsb.com/london2012.

As part of its support for the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, Samsung is providing a number of the Olympic Torchbearers through its public nomination process. These ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunities to carry the Olympic Flame on its journey around the UK, represents one of the many ways that Samsung is enabling people from all corners of the world to be part of the greatest show on Earth. Becoming an Olympic Torchbearer thanks to Samsung means everyone can become a part of the Olympic history. From June 13th 2011, Samsung has invited the world to recognise its unsung heroes. Samsung’s nomination programme for Olympic Torchbearers is a worldwide search for these unique and selfless individuals. The campaign has been communicated globally via a number of marketing channels to ensure that the maximum number of people become aware of the opportunity. It is Samsung’s ambition that London 2012 will be an event that reaches and involves more people than on any other Olympic Games occasion. To learn more about the Samsung nomination programme, please visit www.samsung.com/london2012.

New Article Added : Yorkshire Sculpture Park worth over £5million to local economy

03-11-2011

Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is celebrating a fantastic year with a 40% increase in visitor numbers, an overwhelmingly positive public response to the current exhibition by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, record levels of visitor satisfaction, the opening of a new learning centre, the restoration of 150 acres of historic lakes and woodland, and two prestigious awards.

An independent economic impact study conducted by DC Research has also revealed that YSP is worth over £5million to the local economy. Based on visitors to the Park, these statistics firmly underline the importance of YSP as a major international centre of artistic excellence, a unique part of the Yorkshire tourism offer but also as a key economic driver for the local and regional economy.

Alongside impressive economic impact figures, satisfaction levels amongst visitors to YSP are also extremely high with 99% stating they would visit again and 100% stating they would recommend YSP to a friend. Record numbers of visitors have flocked to YSP this year: April saw the Park’s busiest month ever with 50,000 visitors and in June visitors increased by 167% compared to 2010. The main reason has been to experience the extraordinary exhibition by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, which due to popular demand has been extended by four months until 22 January 2012.

Building on this success and highlighting YSP’s popularity, the Park was voted Yorkshire’s ‘Most Magnificent Attraction’ by the public, beating off competition from over 100 other attractions across the region. YSP has also recently been named winner of the Business Tourism Award in the 2011 Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards, recognising it as a centre of excellence for corporate hospitality.

YSP was the first sculpture park in the UK and is the largest of its kind in Europe, providing the only place in the world to see Barbara Hepworth’s The Family of Man in its entirety and the largest public collection of Henry Moore bronzes in the open air. Set in 500 acres of historic landscape, the open nature of the Park is designed to encourage visitors to explore the relationship between art and nature, allowing over 350,000 visitors attracted to the Park every year to make their own personal discoveries.

Peter Murray CBE, Executive Director of YSP said “YSP opened to the public on 24 September 1977, with an exhibition of 31 sculptures and a grant of just £1,000. Over the last 35 years we have developed a ‘gallery without walls’, providing ‘great art for everyone’. As a centre of international standing, the recent economic impact study has served to highlight just how essential the arts and culture are in building a successful visitor economy and accelerating economic growth. As we enter a challenging phase of funding cuts, the continued support from our partners and stakeholders is essential to build on and enhance the international profile of the arts in this district”.

Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said “Yorkshire Sculpture Park is one of our most prestigious cultural attractions and having something of this calibre in the county really helps to set Yorkshire apart from other destinations in the UK and Europe. Tourism in Yorkshire employs more than 250,000 people and is worth £7billion to the county’s economy annually, and the unique nature and international profile of YSP contributes significantly to this figure. It has helped to ensure that Yorkshire is bucking the trend this year as tourism spend and visits to this region increase, well ahead of the national average”.

Together with an international exhibition programme, education and learning is central to the work of YSP. The pioneering learning programme uses art and landscape to build young people’s confidence, self-esteem, skills and aspirations and reaches around 45,000 people every year, from school children to third-age learners. A new Learning Centre, created by converting the historic Kennel Block site, opened this year and these first-class facilities will be a springboard which allows YSP to reach more communities. Two new outreach initiatives will target schools located in areas scoring highly in the Index of Multiple Deprivation to use YSP as a valuable resource. The Spark project will work with 15 Wakefield schools, offering a major new programme of free artist workshops alongside a transport bursary, whilst the Ignite programme of artists’ residencies in local schools will give children of all ages and abilities the opportunity to work with artists both in and outside the classroom.

Visit the image gallery to download high res stock images from YSP.

New Article Added : Half term at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

12-10-2011

Celebrate October half term at Yorkshire Sculpture Park with events celebrating Black History Month, the Big Draw 2011 and a new trail designed to uncover the myths and secrets surrounding the recently opened 150 acres of historic lakes and woodland.

This October, YSP takes part in Black History Month by celebrating Afro-Caribbean traditions with an eclectic mix of fun activities for all the family. On Saturday 22 October visitors can embrace the spirit and freedom of carnival by creating their own headdresses, learning dance moves and taking part in lively and uplifting Calypso singing workshops with Mango Arts. Visitors can also sample the tastes of the Caribbean in an interactive and hands-on healthy Caribbean cooking experience led by YUM.

Throughout the day steel pan music, performed by awarding-winning youth bands Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows, Leeds Silver Doves and Foxwood Steel will be heard across the Park.

Between the 24 and 30 October, families are invited to uncover the myths and hidden secrets surrounding the newly opened 150 acres of historic lakes and woodland. Visitors can pick up a free Young Explorers Hidden Myths Trail leaflet from the YSP Centre and then enter their findings for the chance to win a Young Explorers gift pack, which is part of the new Young Explorers range in the YSP Shop.

On 26 and 27 October visitors are invited to take inspiration from the drawings of YSP exhibiting artist Rachel Goodyear by participating in the workshop Me and Other Creatures, part of the Big Draw 2011 celebrations. Participants will be able to create drawings and flip books exploring self portraits and representations of their favourite creatures. Rachel Goodyear: Modifications of the Host, runs in the Bothy Gallery until 3 January.

The main exhibition by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa continues in the Open Air and Underground Gallery until 22 January 2012.

Half term event listings
Yum Caribbean Cooking Workshops
22.10.11 / 10.30 / 12.00 / 13.30
Suitable for children age 5+ / Free

Mango Arts Carnival Workshops
22.10.11 / 10.30 / 12.00
Suitable for children age 5+ / Free

Calypso Singing
22.10.11 / 13.30 & 15.00
Suitable for children age 5+ / Free

Steel Pan Music
22.10.11 / 12.30 & 13.15 (YSP Centre) & 14.30 (YSP Learning) / Drop in / Free

Young Explorers: Hidden Myths Trail
24-30.10.2011 / Drop in / YSP Centre
Suitable for children age 7+ / Free

Me and Other Creatures Big Draw Family Workshop
26+27.10.11 / 10.30–12.30 & 13.30–15.30 / £4
All materials provided

Find out more and book online

Notes to editors
As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

About Black History Month
Black History Month is celebrated throughout October to promote knowledge of Black History and celebrate the impact of Black communities on British culture. Black History Month at YSP is part of a new community programme celebrating Afro-Caribbean traditions, in association with Mango Arts and YUM.

About Mango Arts and YUM
Mango Creative Arts is a visual theatre company specialising in sustainable Carnival Arts and holistic approaches. YUM is an established social business that is determined to address the well reported and rising problems of poor food culture which is prevalent and causing concern in society today.

About The Big Draw 2011
Launched as a one-day event in 2000, The Big Draw is now an annual month-long festival of over one thousand events across the UK. Every October, museums, galleries, heritage sites, libraries, schools and parks join in, inviting people of all ages to discover how drawing can connect them with their surroundings and the wider community.

New Article Added : YSP wins Business Tourism Award

11-10-2011

Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has won the prestigious Business Tourism Award at the 2011 Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards, the ‘Oscars of the tourism industry’, in a glittering event held at Doncaster Racecourse on Monday 10 October. The judging panel praised YSP for its ‘unique combination of sculpture and tailored event management’, which helped it beat off tough competition from industry heavyweights in a strong category including Magna Science Adventure Centre, Sheffield International Venues, Harewood House, Weetwood Hall and Conference Centre, and the Royal Armouries (International) plc.

The annual White Rose Awards are Yorkshire's biggest and most spectacular tourism awards, intended to recognise and celebrate the best of the regions tourism industry. The award for Business Tourism recognises excellence in conferencing and corporate hospitality.

Jo Rodger, YSP’s Head of Visitor Services said “As one of the world's leading open air art galleries, the stunning 500-acre setting and intimate meeting spaces combined with a unique blend of modern facilities, historic landscape, world-class sculpture, fantastic food, and experienced professional team make YSP an outstanding location. It is testament to the strong team effort that YSP continues to thrive despite the challenging economic environment”.

The 2011 Business Tourism Award is yet another accolade for YSP which was voted Yorkshire’s Most Magnificent Attraction last month and which was shortlisted in the Best Retailer category in the Elle Decoration British Design Awards 2011. YSP was named Unique Venue of the Year and Team of the Year at the 2010 Business Insider Awards.

Winners from this year’s awards will go through to the national Visit England Awards for Excellence in 2012.

Read more about corporate hire at YSP
 

New Article Added : Inspirational papercut artist Rob Ryan returns to YSP

03-10-2011

Papercut artist Rob Ryan returns to Yorkshire Sculpture Park this October to coincide with the publication of his new book, A Sky Full of Kindness. The internationally renowned artist will meet visitors to the Park at 2.00pm on Saturday 15 October where he’ll sign copies of the book, published by Hodder.

Visitors will also have the chance to purchase original artwork and limited edition screen prints featured in the publication, alongside a varied and ever-changing collection of Rob Ryan books, prints and homeware.

With Ryan’s trademark magical, intricate papercuts, A Sky Full of Kindness tells the story of two birds about to become parents for the first time. From the hopes for their unborn child to the fears about their own state of readiness, the book, priced £16.99, captures the intense and contradictory feelings of an unconditional love.

Ryan first appeared at the Park in 2009 when his papercuts and screen prints adorned the YSP Centre in a solo exhibition. The show was accompanied by an illustrated publication, limited edition screen prints and a range of homeware and greetings cards, which continue to be popular with visitors to the YSP Shop and website.

Ryan has worked on a diverse array of commissions and collaborations with names such as Paul Smith, Tatty Devine, Earnest Sewn, Vogue and Elle. He has produced Easter egg packaging for Fortnum and Mason and designed a shop window display for Liberty. He has also illustrated book jackets for authors including Louis De Bernieres and Jackie Kay, and collaborated on a children’s book with Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

Find out more about the event
Buy A Sky Full of Kindness 

New Article Added : YSP named Yorkshire's 'Most Magnificent' Attraction

16-09-2011

Yorkshire Sculpture Park voted Yorkshire’s ‘Most Magnificent’ Attraction

After weeks of public voting, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has been named Yorkshire’s ‘Most Magnificent Attraction’, beating over 100 other popular Yorkshire venues to this prestigious accolade.

Situated in 500 acres of an open rural space just off Junction 38 on the A1 near Wakefield, YSP is home to permanent collections and temporary exhibitions of world class sculpture, and welcomes over 300,000 visitors every year. YSP prides itself on providing ‘Great art for everyone’, enabling access, understanding and enjoyment of art and landscape for everyone, whilst dismantling many of the barriers that often exist between the public and contemporary art.

Over 4,000 people voted for their favourite Yorkshire venue at www.yorkshireattractions.org, with YSP beating Yorkshire Wildlife Park into second place, followed - in order - by the National Media Museum (NMM), The Deep and Newby Hall and Gardens. All of the top 5 venues are members of the Yorkshire Attractions Group, and overall voting was dominated by the 21 venues that make up the membership of that group.

Deborah Hindley, Yorkshire’s Magnificent Attractions Chair, said: “We’re delighted with the phenomenal response we’ve had from the public during voting.

“YSP’s success in coming out on top in the poll is testament to its continuing dedication to giving the widest possible audience access to world class sculpture in an inspiring and welcoming setting.

“The top five venues, as voted for by the public during this process, are truly reflective of the range of high class attractions available to people living in or visiting Yorkshire – some of them indoors, others outdoors and many of them free to visit. Many have made significant investments in developments to further improve their offering to visitors, and Yorkshire really can count itself lucky to have such a variety and volume of superb visitor attractions on its doorstep.”

Peter Murray CBE, Executive Director of Yorkshire Sculpture Park, said: “Over the last 34 years, we’ve worked incredibly hard to develop Yorkshire Sculpture Park and provide world class contemporary art for everyone in the magnificent setting of our 18th Century Bretton landscape.

“We are delighted that visitors and the public have voted to make YSP their most magnificent attraction in Yorkshire. Given the wealth and breadth of quality attractions across the region, this is a tremendous achievement.

“The blockbuster Jaume Plensa exhibition combined with the opening of 150 acres of newly restored Historic Lakes and Woodland has helped us to achieve record breaking visitor numbers this year and our passion for inspiring people to get involved with and experience great art is as strong as ever”.

The Yorkshire’s Magnificent Attractions group was founded 10 years ago, and has grown to 21 members. The attractions work together - and closely with Welcome To Yorkshire, the agency responsible for promoting Yorkshire tourism - on combined marketing activity and collaborate on best practice to ensure visitors to Yorkshire receive the best possible experience. New members include The Hepworth Wakefield and Newby Hall and Gardens, near Ripon.

Ends

For further information on Yorkshire’s Magnificent Attractions visit www.yorkshireattractions.org

21 members:

1. Magna Science Adventure Centre
2. JORVIK Viking Centre
3. RHS Harlow Carr
4. Eureka! The National Children’s Museum
5. The Deep
6. Yorkshire Museum
7. York Castle Museum
8. Harewood House
9. Yorkshire Wildlife Park
10. Thackray Museum
11. Lightwater Valley
12. National Coal Mining Museum
13. Castle Howard
14. Royal Armouries
15. Xscape
16. York Minster
17. National Media Museum
18. National Railway Museum
19. Yorkshire Sculpture Park
20. The Hepworth Wakefield
21. Newby Hall and Gardens

For further information on any of the attractions in the group, please contact Rory ffoulkes at Bonner and Hindley Communications, rory@bandhcommunications.co.uk or telephone 0113 243 4713.
For further information on Yorkshire Sculpture Park contact Vic Collins, Marketing & Communications Manager or Nina Rogers, Marketing Officer on 01924 832515/633

 

New Article Added : YSP shortlisted for British Design Awards 2011

08-09-2011

Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) and The Hepworth Wakefield are delighted to announce that they have been shortlisted for The British Design Awards 2011 organised by Elle Decoration, in association with John Lewis and supported by Telegraph Magazine.

Now in their tenth year, the British Design Awards recognise beautiful, useful and original new work created by designers for UK and international brands. The Yorkshire Sculpture Park Shop is shortlisted in the Best Retailer category, facing competition from four London-based companies including The Wonder Room concept store at Selfridges. The Hepworth Wakefield is one of five organisations shortlisted for the Best Architectural Achievement including Heatherwick Studio’s UK Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010.

This year’s shortlist was chosen by the Elle Decoration team and David Nicholls from The Telegraph. The public can vote online for both organisations at thebritishdesignawards.com. The closing date for voting is 28 September and winners will be announced in the December issue of Elle Decoration (on sale 2 November) and The Saturday Telegraph (on sale 6 November). Each vote will be entered into a prize draw to win £5,000 John Lewis vouchers.

Peter Murray CBE, Executive Director of YSP says: “The YSP Shop continually selects innovative contemporary craft and design, providing a unique alternative to high street shopping. We have strong relationships with artists and designers including Rob Ryan, David Mellor and Donna Wilson and we are delighted to have the quality of our work recognised with this nomination. I hope we can motivate the region’s shoppers and art lovers to vote for YSP.”

Simon Wallis, Director of The Hepworth Wakefield says: “Both The Hepworth and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, along with The Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery are consolidating Wakefield and Yorkshire on the international map as a world centre for sculpture. The Hepworth is one of the most sensitively designed galleries to be found anywhere and is now one of the most visited in the UK. We are delighted by this nomination that recognises the quality of our gallery and we hope to win with the support of the voting public.”

To vote for YSP and The Hepworth please visit thebritishdesignawards.com or pick up a copy of the October edition of Elle Decoration.

Ends

For further press enquiries contact:

Nina Rogers, Marketing Officer / 01924 832633 / nina.rogers@ysp.co.uk
Naomi Roberts, Press Officer / 01924 247360 / naomiroberts@hepworthwakefield.org

About YSP
As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

About The Hepworth Wakefield
The Hepworth Wakefield is Yorkshire’s inspiring new art gallery that explores the area’s unique artistic legacy through our collection and presents the work of major contemporary artists. Designed by David Chipperfield Architects, our ten superb gallery spaces make this one of the UK’s largest purpose-built galleries outside London. We are an independent charitable trust and our major funding partners are Wakefield Council and Arts Council England. hepworthwakefield.org

New Article Added : New inspirational Learning Centre opens at YSP’s historic Kennel Block site

30-08-2011

Photocall with artist Emily Speed and Towngate Primary School:
Wednesday 7 September 2011, 11am

A new, inspirational Learning Centre opens at Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s (YSP) historic Kennel Block site this September. The development of this important and transformational new Learning Centre has been made possible through the support of Wakefield Council and Rushbond plc, who helped to acquire the building, and funding from Arts Council England’s Sustain Programme, the Audrey and Stanley Burton Charitable Trust and Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement who made the refurbisment possible. The new facility provides two high quality workshop and teaching spaces, an artist workspace and indoor lunch facilities, and sends a strong signal to young people that their learning experience at YSP continues to be valued.

Education and learning has been central to the work of YSP since opening to the public in 1977. Its innovative education and community work evolved from the educational ethos pioneered at Bretton Hall College from Sir Alec Clegg’s work throughout the 1940s and 1950s. YSP’s education programmes now reach over 40,000 children and young people every year.

Over the past 34 years, YSP has enabled access, understanding and enjoyment of art, landscape and nature for everyone by dismantling barriers between the public and contemporary art, creating a ‘gallery without walls’ situated in 500 acres, and helping to make art and creativity a part of people’s lives. YSP’s incomparable combination of art, nature and powerful spirit of place provide a cultural experience of the highest quality, visited by 300,000 people every year.

The YSP programme is underpinned by creative education and events which ensure that YSP is an immensely important venue for local schools and community groups, who take part in over 250 workshops and tours each year. Outreach work is an important element of YSP’s learning offer and is undertaken in many settings including artist residencies in primary, secondary and specialist schools and in many under-served communities. The new Learning Centre will be the hub for education at YSP, enhancing the offer provided to thousands of participants each year.

The impressive Kennel Block was built in the 1840s by the architect George Basevi and was originally used as a hayshed store and then later as kennels by Viscount Allendale who used Bretton Estate for shooting parties and race meetings. Its most recent use was as a student union bar for Bretton Hall College which was affiliated to the University of Leeds until 2007. The creation of this major new Learning Centre breathes new life into the historic building and will for the first time offer access to quality indoor surroundings, including two new workshop spaces, indoor lunch room facilities and the new YSP Café.

The new Learning Centre will be opened on Wednesday 7 September by Councillor Peter Box, Leader of Wakefield Council and Jonathan Maud, Managing Director of Rushbond plc, whilst artist Emily Speed, whose exhibition MAKE SHIFT is currently on show in YSP’s Bothy Gallery will lead a workshop with children from Towngate Primary School.

Peter Murray CBE, Executive Director of YSP said: “We are delighted with the new YSP Learning Centre which comes at a vital and exciting time following the restoration of the Park’s Historic Lakes and Woodland; it is a tremendous achievement for all involved. Learning and education is absolutely core to the work that YSP delivers, and our passion for inspiring young people to get involved with and express themselves through art and nature is as strong as ever”.

Councillor Peter Box, Leader of Wakefield Council and a member of the YSP’s board of trustees, said: “Yorkshire Sculpture Park is one of our most prestigious cultural attractions and, in conjunction with The Hepworth Wakefield, establishes the district as the home of contemporary sculpture, boosting the district’s cultural offer and bringing it international recognition.

“The new Learning Centre will give schools and local communities more exciting opportunities to learn about and be inspired by some of the great art on display and we are extremely pleased to be able to support YSP in this important development.”

Jonathan Maud, Managing Director of Rushbond Plc said: “Rushbond is thrilled in its Silver Jubilee Year to be able to continue to support education and the arts within this ambitious project. The world class quality of YSP, their skillful team and the commitment of Wakefield Council working with Rushbond is an impressive example of a successful public; private relationship”.

Cluny Macpherson, Regional Director, Arts Council England said “We are delighted to support YSP in their continued pursuit of artistic excellence and innovation in this tough economic environment. The new Learning Centre will help many more people to experience great art - including the local schools and communities that YSP consistently embraces in its work”.

Jeremy Burton of the Audrey and Stanley Burton Charitable Trust said: “The Trustees are delighted to support the conversion of this historic building into a new learning centre. It will be a fitting tribute to the memory of Audrey and Stanley Burton, both of whom were passionate about modern art, and who would have been so pleased to see this new facility which will help young people share in this passion".

Alyn Davies, former Principal, Bretton College said: “Around 40,000 children visit Yorkshire Sculpture Park every year. They come to look, touch, think and to make and do; every child brings an imagination and most go away with a new nugget gleaming quietly in a corner of the mind.”

YSP offers a vibrant combination of formal and informal learning for all ages including self-guided or tailor made visits, artist led workshops, academic research, community and outreach projects and a range of events and activities for families. Two new projects also launching in September are the Spark Project and a new annual artist in schools initiative, the Ignite Programme. Both projects are possible due to generous investment by the Liz and Terry Bramall Charitable Trust into YSP’s community outreach. The Spark Project will work directly with up to 15 schools in Wakefield, offering a free 3-day introduction to Sculpture and the Environment whilst the Ignite Programme will work with children of all ages from infants up to GCSE and A level students by giving them the the opportunity to work directly with artists both inside and outside the classroom. Other new learning initiatives will launch throughout 2012 making full use of the new facilities but also draw on the newly opened 150 acres of Historic Lakes and Woodland.

To celebrate the official opening of the new YSP Learning Centre, a weekend of events will take place over the 10 and 11 September including family friendly foraging days and Edible Landscapes with artist Rebecca Beinart along with live music on the Formal Terrace. All made possible by the Co-operative whose chef will be demonstrating seasonal recipes. Find out more and book online at ysp.co.uk/events

Notes to editors

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, is an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity, number 1067908. YSP attracts 300,000 visitors each year, including over 40,000 learning visits.

Wakefield Council and Bretton Hall
Wakefield Council acquired the Bretton Hall campus from the University of Leeds in 2006 to ensure that any development was not detrimental to Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

YSP has taken over the management of the estate grounds, nature reserve area and lakes to integrate them into the wider Park to allow for public access and benefit.

Wakefield Council are working with Rushbond plc, a Leeds-based property company to transform the Bretton Hall into a high quality hotel and spa and the old Bretton Hall College campus buildings into a creative business park. As part of this process Rushbond plc have generously gifted the historic Kennel Block building to YSP which has been transformed into the new Learning Centre.

Arts Council England Sustain
In September 2009, Arts Council England announced a £1.4 million allocation of funds for YSP from its Sustain fund, £350,000 of which was allocated to the development of YSP’s new Learning Centre. Sustain is one of a number of measures Arts Council England made to help artists and arts organisations continue to produce exciting and innovative work during the economic downturn. It is not a fund for failing organisations. All awards from the fund are one-off and made to cover the period 2009-2011. artscouncil.org.uk/funding/sustain

Generous donations to develop the new Learning Centre have been received from The Audrey and Stanley Burton Charitable Trust and Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement.

YSP used Wakefield based DLA Architecture as architects for the project and the main contractors were Morgan Sindall, who are currently undertaking other projects within Wakefield.

New Article Added : Donna Wilson – First ever limited edition print

12-08-2011

Scottish textile designer Donna Wilson, who will bring her playful textiles to Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) in a new exhibition opening on 19 November, has been commissioned by YSP to create an exclusive limited edition screen print, marking the start of her printmaking career. Made to accompany the exhibition entitled ‘Endangered Species’ and available exclusively at YSP the edition of 100 has been produced on 270gsm bread and butter wood pulp paper and hand pulled by Snow Print of London. Inspiration has come from the parks landscape and features Donna’s trademark characters in the form of plants and flowers.

Awarded ‘Designer of the Year 2010’ by Elle Decoration, Donna is known for her knitted creatures, textiles, homewares and furniture. Her vision will transform the YSP Centre into a tactile enchanted garden where woolly pompoms become leaves, knitted tubes become branches and layers of patterned rugs create a forest floor. The upper space features a knitted woodland scene using Donna Wilson’s naive sculptural creations to striking effect. Mixing patterns, textures and colours, the soft shapes are a playful vision of the natural landscape. The upper concourse showcases a wall of decorated ceramic plates, framed soft knitted shapes, one-off paintings and drawings and small run prints.

The display in the four-metre shop window, a seasonal highlight at YSP, is an enticing scene with Donna’s unusual creatures hidden in woodland and complemented by her hand-drawn illustrations. Alongside the limited edition print, which can be pre-ordered from ysp.co.uk, a range of products will be available including cushions, throws and blankets, ceramics, knitted
creatures, scarves, hats, socks and gloves.

Much of Donna’s work is a celebration of traditional methods and materials combined with her distinctive style. She is committed to using UK-based manufacturers and suppliers wherever possible, keeping craftsmanship alive. Donna sources her lambswool yarns from Z. Hinchliffe and Sons in Denby Dale, West Yorkshire, and retains her Scottish roots with her smaller pieces such as the toys and scarves knitted on machines by a small family-run business in Galashiels on the Scottish border, and another lady based in Orkney has produced Donna’s ‘Cyril Squirrels’ for the last six years.

About the limited edition print:

First ever screenprint made by Donna Wilson
Available exclusively at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Edition of 100 / Size A2 / Priced £80 unframed or £125 framed
Produced on 270gsm bread and butter wood pulp paper and hand pulled by Snow Print of London.
Pre-order at ysp.co.uk

About Donna Wilson
Donna Wilson graduated from Gray’s School of Art in 1999 and went on to study mixed media textiles at the Royal College of Art. She set up her company in 2003 after making odd knitted creatures for her final show at the Royal College of art. The creatures sold out and since then she has built her business designing and making a collection of curious cushions, luxurious
lambswool blankets, and a variety of products for you and your home. She is passionate about creating products that people can connect with and making things that customers will treasure. Donna runs a studio and workshop in East London. Her hardworking team knit, sew, pack and send out products to individuals and design shops around the world – 25 countries at the last count. Last year Donna won the prestigious accolade of Designer of the Year 2010 in the Elle Decoration British Design Awards.

For further images see the earlier press release

New Article Added : Rachel Goodyear from 1 October 2011

21-07-2011

Bothy Gallery
01.10.11– 03.01.12

Goodyear’s pictures are like rebuses that lie somewhere between the poles of reason and unreason. They take entirely familiar components and fuse them in unfamiliar ways... The Romantics and Surrealists imagined such fusions in their own day, but Goodyear envisages hers with sharp observations and finely rendered drawings.
Morgan Falconer, 2009

In autumn 2011 Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents the work of Rachel Goodyear in a new exhibition created for the Bothy Gallery, featuring commissioned works alongside recent drawings. Goodyear’s extraordinary drawings have rapidly attracted award nominations, public and private collectors, and critical acclaim. The compelling cast of characters she has created inhabit a strange and complex world of contradictions, existing somewhere between the macabre and mundane. Exploring themes of fear, desire, vulnerability and isolation, Goodyear invites the viewer into a dark place where human psychologies and animal behaviour collide and merge.

Just like the mythological trickster the drawings are slipping through holes and crossing into unfamiliar territory... fragile, delicate, yet defiant and tricky... accompanied by hand drawn animations featuring characters trapped in repetition.
Rachel Goodyear

The exhibition includes a new series of work inspired by time spent walking and discovering the physical and imagined landscape at YSP, resulting, for the first time, in small-scale sculptures. As if scrambling from the pages of Goodyear’s sketchbook, figures appear in the gallery as animations and porcelain sculptures, still fragile and unsure of their new configuration. The viewer struggles to recognise the human or animal depicted in sculptures such as the hazards of falling asleep in the woods, but is nonetheless intrigued by what could have happened to these creatures, whose bodies have become engulfed by a strange material.

New works on paper offer curious situations: dogs’ new tricks sees a faceless bride led to the altar by, and perhaps towards, a pack of labradors. Elsewhere Goodyear draws on various mythologies, including manifestations of the ‘trickster’ who appears at doorways, or in poorly constructed disguises and waits to be discovered. New animations show devils locked in an endless spiral, their dance more than tinged with menace. Sinister sound within them draws the viewer through the gallery and into Goodyear’s world, where fascination and bewilderment at the conduct of these characters takes over.

Goodyear’s current work is informed by to her recent residency at the Banff Centre, which is set within the stunningly remote mountains of Banff National Park, Canada. There, she imagined feral women simultaneously vulnerable and defiant, their delicate skin covered in scratches and their tough bare feet black with mud. In Goodyear’s scenario, bears emerge from hibernation early and creep into towns half-formed, unable to hold their own weight, inciting both pity and fear in those who encounter them.

The artist exploits these contrasts and ambiguities: between anxiety and compassion, good and evil, friend and enemy, pain and pleasure. Her characters can be found embedded in destructive relationships, each party involved in either a state of resignation, or else trapped in an eternal loop of repetition, preoccupied by a pointless task or locked in a moment of resignation.

The accompanying YSP publication will be the first to offer a survey of Goodyear’s work to date, with archive images and a commissioned essay by Laurence Sillars, Chief Curator at Baltic.

New Article Added : Aeneas Wilder: Untitled #155

13-07-2011

Longside Gallery
30.07.11– 03.11.11

By limiting the creative act to one simple material, in ample supply, with clearly defined parameters (no fixing, no joining, no additional materials, only balance and gravity allowed for the construction process) a door opens into a wholly unexplored creative territory.
Aeneas Wilder

From 30 July Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents the first major UK installation by international artist Aeneas Wilder. Wilder uses uniform lengths of wood, without fixing materials, to make freestanding and increasingly complex, awe-inspiring structures. Conceived especially for Longside Gallery, Untitled #155 commands the vast space, creating an apparently solid structure that is also extremely fragile. Wilder both references and challenges ideas about architecture by providing an enclosed, seemingly safe space for visitors to inhabit, but one which is unstable and liable to collapse. Wilder’s compositions dominate the spaces they occupy, encouraging visitors to enter and interact with the work.

After three months on exhibition at YSP, Untitled #155 will be completed with the UK’s first ‘kick down’ event, a powerful act executed by the artist that brings the structure crashing systematically to the floor. This event will be an unforgettable experience and also poses questions about the idea of artwork as asset or investment, inviting a revaluation of how the value of works of art are assessed. The process of recycling – of both previous artworks and materials found locally – is an important aspect of Wilder’s practice, referencing a world in constant flux. The precariousness of each construction hints at the delicate balance of man versus nature, a relationship Wilder saw tested to its limits whilst in Japan during the recent devastating earthquake.

Relating to many recognised art forms, including process and time-based art, installation and performance art, Wilder’s practice is rooted in empirical knowledge: with each installation the artist learns more through the experience of making; adjusting timing, measurements and placement with each composition. The importance of experience continues with the deconstruction of the artwork, providing an invited audience with a truly unique experience and cancelling the artwork in order for it to be reconstructed at a later date, thereby denying the commodification of his work in market terms.

Wilder’s process of building his work is meditative, with the artist working alone for days to carefully create increasingly complex and large-scale structures. Video and photography documentation of both the creation and destruction of his work is an intrinsic element of his practice; the first space in Longside Gallery contains a film documenting the construction of Untitled #155 as well as films and maquettes of previous projects, such as those completed for the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Japan, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and other venues in Europe.

Wilder began implementing his system for creating artwork in Japan in 1998, placing one stick of wood on the ground and repeating the process until a vertical structure was created. By using the bare minimum of material within a strict framework, the artist has calculated that an infinite field of creativity is possible, for example 3,000 sticks of wood has the potential for 3,000 different compositions, limited only by time and imagination.

Kick down: Thursday 3 November, Longside Gallery, YSP
Details to be confirmed, find out more at ysp.co.uk/events
01924 830579

Notes to editors:
Born in Edinburgh in 1967 Wilder is now based in Japan, where he has exhibited extensively. Ongoing projects include the creation of a universal flag developed from research into Zen gardens, which Wilder imagines all nations could adopt, leading to a non-nationalistic approach to our identity. As well as exhibiting his own work and developing commissions, Wilder is a curator and has also written extensively on his own relief efforts following the recent earthquake in Japan. Find out more at aeneaswilder.co.uk

As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants. ysp.co.uk

New Gallery Added : Historic Lakes & Woodland

06-07-2011

Images of this historic lakes and woodland, newly restored and open to the public for the first ever time from 23.07.11

New Article Added : YSP Reveals Hidden Secrets this Summer – 23/24 July

06-07-2011

Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s 500-acre historic landscape reveals hidden secrets this summer following a major restoration project supported by Natural England, Wakefield Council and English Heritage. 150 acres including two 65-acre designed lakes and 85 acres of historic woodland will be opened to the public for the very first time over the weekend of 23 and 24 July with a series of celebratory events. Antony Gormley’s iconic One & Other, also gets a new home on an impressive beech tree, welcoming visitors into the Historic Lakes and Woodland at the Cascade Bridge entrance after being in storage for over 18 months.

In 2009, with the support of English Heritage and funding from Natural England, YSP commissioned The Landscape Agency to produce a Historic Landscape Management Plan. This provided YSP with an understanding of the historic development of the important Grade II registered 18th centurydesigned landscape of Bretton Hall, which forms the core of the YSP land holding. The Plan also recognised the importance of integrating the historic, landscape and wildlife features on which the sustainable future management of the park depends and set out a framework for the conservation and future management of the Estate.

Work began in September 2010 to restore and enhance acres of woodland around two historic lakes and to restore water management infrastructure, historic footpaths, bridges, views, follies and incredible historical features including a Greek-style summer house, a now land-locked Boat House, an Obelisk, Stepping Stones and a magical Shell Grotto.

This newly restored area is a remarkable addition and gives another dimension to the already popular Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Visitors will be able to enjoy and discover areas previously out of bounds, explore 4000 metres of footpaths and begin to uncover the 18th century landscape, as idyllic vistas and views reveal hidden depths. Historic features that were created and developed over many years as part of a private pleasure ground for generations of Dronsfields, Wentworths and Beaumonts, who lived within the Bretton Estate from 1407 to the early 1900s, can now be explored by YSP visitors.

Peter Murray CBE, Executive Director of YSP said “The timing of this project has been absolutely crucial. The support of Wakefield Council and funding from Natural England has allowed the transformation of this incredible area. In many ways is the final piece of the jigsaw in terms of reuniting the 500 acres of the historic Bretton estate. It is a significant moment and provides new areas that have never been open to the general public before.

The lakes and woodland will also provide new possibilities for artists, wonderful education opportunities and will allow us to continue providing a unique centre for art, heritage, learning, space and landscape for people to enjoy."

Financial support for the work came from Natural England’s Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme, which supports environmentally friendly land management practices including projects that help safeguard and provide better appreciation of important historic farmed landscape.

Margaret Nieke, Natural England’s Historic Environment Adviser said “Natural England is extremely delighted and very proud of this project which ensures that YSP is sustaining and protecting this historic landscape and its wildlife habitats for future generations to enjoy. Over half of this historic area is also a farmed landscape home to mixed grazing and this exciting project will continue to have a positive effect by helping to enhance the wide range of important natural habitats on the Bretton Estate. This has been a wonderful example of partnership working that will benefit local people, visitors to YSP and improve everyone’s
enjoyment and access to the wealth of wildlife that lives in its lakes, woods and farmland”.

Councillor Peter Box, CBE, Leader of Wakefield Council said: “YSP is part of Wakefield’s unique offer to tourists coming to see contemporary sculpture. I am very pleased that the Council has been able to support this major restoration project to open up the historic woodlands and lakes of the former Bretton Country Park.
It will be an asset not only to the Sculpture Park but to the district as a whole and comes in a big year for Wakefield with the opening of The Hepworth Wakefield which has already attracted more than 100,000 visitors.”

Patrick James, MD of the Landscape Agency, noted “I am delighted that our proposed series of works, that were informed by our management plan, have now successfully been completed on time and to budget. They help open up a whole new area of YSP which not only re-connects areas of this remarkable landscape, it provides many new opportunities for YSP and its proud visitors".

The opening of the Historic Lakes and Woodland will officially take place over the weekend of 23 and 24 July with a series of special events which are themed around the newly opened 150 acres. Events include workshops led by Emily Speed, whose current exhibition Make Shift is running in the Bothy Gallery from 16.07.11–18.09.11, talks and tours led by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and an exploration of habitats with Under the Sun. There will also be a display charting the restoration project in the YSP Centre Upper Space along with a publication for sale which has been produced by YSP and The Landscape Agency.

Download high res images for press use from the media gallery

New Article Added : Yorkshire Sculpture Park takes iconic works to the Great Yorkshire Show

01-07-2011

Two iconic sculptures from the world-famous Yorkshire Sculpture Park are sure to prove a huge draw for visitors to the Great Yorkshire Show, which opens in Harrogate next week (Tuesday 12 July 2011).

In a ground-breaking move, England’s premier agricultural event will showcase the two giant works of art in what is believe to be the first time internationally-acclaimed sculptures have been displayed at an agricultural show. The two 3.6m high works of art, which have a combined weight of 14 tonnes, will have pride of place on the President’s Lawn at the event.

The show’s guests of honour this year are HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall who will be amongst the 130,000 or so visitors who will have the opportunity to see the works of art.

Bill Cowling, Honorary Show Director said: “We are absolutely delighted to showcase such impressive pieces of art and the setting is just perfect for them. Our two organizations are flagships of excellence, not just in Yorkshire but internationally and this trailblazing initiative celebrates that. We believe it is the first time that sculptures of this stature have been displayed at an agricultural show and I am sure they will cause great interest.”

Crawling and Héros de Lumière will arrive at the showground on board a 16-metre long trailer and they be carefully lowered into their temporary home by a giant crane. Their journey from Wakefield to Harrogate has kindly been supported by Welcome to Yorkshire.

Peter Murray CBE, Executive Director of Yorkshire Sculpture Park said: “Yorkshire Sculpture Park is delighted to bring sculpture by two internationally-acclaimed artists to the Great Yorkshire Show.

“As a pioneering organisation that aims to challenge, inspire, inform and delight, welcoming over 300,000 visitors each year, YSP strives to deliver great art for everyone.”

“We hope that visitors to the Great Yorkshire Show will enjoy Sophie Ryder’s ‘Crawling’ and Igor Mitoraj’s ‘Heros de Lumiere’ and that they are inspired to visit YSP to explore works by some of the world’s finest artists, sited in 500 acres of historic landscape, and enjoy exhibitions throughout five stunning galleries.”

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “The eyes of the world have been on Yorkshire this year because the county is fast becoming the UK’s centre for sculpture. The Great Yorkshire Show is a major date in Yorkshire’s calendar and this year’s visitors are in for a real treat as they can see first hand why our sculpture offering is attracting so much attention.”

British sculptor Sophie Ryder’s bronze ‘Crawling’, a hybrid female/mother figure, with the head of a hare and a human body, has been displayed at the Park, for the past three years.

Ryder created the piece in 1999 using a steel armature, around which she moulded and bent different thicknesses of wire. The finished bronze - 6.2m long and weighing five tons - was then dipped in boiling zinc to galvanize it.

Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj’s ‘Héros de Lumière or ‘Hero of Light’ was created in 1986 and can be seen at the show after a period out of the limelight. The nine ton piece of artwork has been modelled in carrara marble by Mitoraj, following the style favoured by Renaissance sculptors such as Michaelangelo.

New Article Added : Emily Speed: MAKE SHIFT – from 16 July 2011

16-06-2011

From 16 July YSP presents MAKE SHIFT, the first solo exhibition by Liverpool-based artist Emily Speed. Emily’s work explores the temporary and the transient through reference to architecture and the body, producing sculpture, installations and drawings. Her use of found, often throwaway materials like cardboard and tape reflects the essence of her work and her consideration of precariousness, delicacy, implied degeneration and isolation in the most basic and pared back forms of architectural shelter. YSP’s eclectic built environment, from the historic through to the contemporary, has been a source of fascination to the artist during her preparation for this exhibition, informing and inspiring new works on display in the Bothy Gallery.

Emily examines buildings literally and metaphorically – as physical shelters and as containers for memory, bound with the human history of their occupiers. The inevitability of decay plays an important role, with the structures she makes often seeming to exist in an in-between state appearing either half-built or half-derelict.

In recent pieces Emily has introduced the body directly to her work, through sculptures that can be worn or inhabited. The old Bretton Hall student accommodation buildings at YSP – which now lie empty and destined for demolition – have become the site for a new work. Keen to employ the abandoned items of furniture that were a temporary part of the lives of generations of students, Emily built new hiding spaces made out of drawers and mattresses, giving a fleeting new life to the vacated spaces. The associated photographs will be displayed along with a new installation made within the gallery using the same furniture and which visitors can enter.

Emily has also built a coracle and added an architectural structure to create a floating shelter, which she sailed on the lake at YSP. A series of photographs capturing this will be displayed alongside the coracle . A new work egg-nest-home-country-universe, comprising plaster eggs which support tiny fragments of buildings, addresses the delicate balance between existence and disintegration. Whilst eggs are a microcosm of the universe and define notions of home, protection and shelter, they are also inherently fragile and only reveal their contents once fractured and broken.

Study Day:
06.08.11 / 11.00–16.00 / £4
Book online
An informal day of discussion looking at the spaces we inhabit, with artist Emily Speed and YSP deputy curator Sarah Coulson. Includes a walking tour round parts of the estate that have influenced the new work made for Emily’s Bothy Gallery exhibition. A selection of short texts will be circulated prior to the event.

The exhibition is accompanied by a new publication, featuring texts by Gordon Brennan, Laura Mousavi, Emily Speed and Sarah Coulson, priced £5. A limited edition cast plaster egg work is also available, priced £120.

Emily has kept a record of the exhibition’s development, collecting related texts, ideas, thoughts and images in a blog: www.emilyspeed.tumblr.com

Emily Speed is an emerging artist with a growing reputation: in 2010 she was shortlisted for the Liverpool Art Prize, and was selected to undertake residencies at A Foundation, Liverpool and Project Space Leeds. In 2009 she took part in a European Capital of Culture exchange, making work in Linz, Austria. Her practice encompasses sculpture, installations, drawings and artist’s books.

Supported by Design Centre North.

www.emilyspeed.co.uk

New Article Added : Mel Brimfield, The Breakfast Sculpture - 18 June 2011

13-06-2011

The Breakfast Sculpture is a specially commissioned one-off performance on 18 June, conceived and produced by Mel Brimfield to coincide with her current YSP exhibition This is Performance Art. In collaboration with Dinnington Colliery Band, stars of BBC2’s A Band for Britain, and composer Paul Higgs, the award-winning New Art Club present this new work based on Morecambe and Wise’s infamous breakfast-making sketch.

The evening begins with a walk through YSP’s stunning landscape with musical accompaniment by Dinnington Colliery Band, followed by an introduction to the exhibition by YSP Curator Helen Pheby. There will be a interval, with ice creams available to purchase and a complimentary glass of wine, before the special one-off performance of The Breakfast Sculpture followed by another piece from the New Art Club’s repertoire.

The YSP Cafe at Kennel Block, Shop and Underground Gallery will be open until 7.00pm on 18 June, and This is Performance Art continues in the Bothy Gallery until 3 July 2011.

Brimfield, a London-based artist and curator, is particularly interested in Performance Art and playfully re-imagines inspired by real artists, artworks and pop culture influences. Recognising that performance art is difficult to document and represent accurately, Brimfield toys with the truth and for her YSP exhibition has produced fabricated information, objects and ephemera to support her often comical parallel realities, demonstrating her capacity to subvert the truth and create entirely fictional scenarios that prove to be intuitively plausible.

Mel Brimfield is represented by Ceri Hand?Gallery in Liverpool.She has worked at the Institute of Contemporary Art; the?Liverpool Biennial; Pump House Gallery; Battersea Arts Centre; Camden Arts Centre; Whitstable Biennial; The International 3; De Appel and, most recently, Frieze Art Fair.

New Article Added : Dizzee Rascal visits YSP for Bing photography competition

19-05-2011

Hip hop artist Dizzee Rascal visited Yorkshire Sculpture Park earlier this month to seek inspiration for a new set of photographs seen everyday this week on http://www.bing.com/

The Mercury Prize-winner was in Yorkshire ahead of the launch of the search engine's Your Britain photo competition and his collection of original images are being showcased and updated each day this week on the site. Visit http://www.your-britain.com/ to find out more.

New Article Added : Henry Moore & Barbara Hepworth at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

11-05-2011

Spring 2011 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park includes major displays of sculptures by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth – two pioneers of British Modernism, born near Wakefield. Both artists were passionate about siting their work in the open air and the historic landscape of the Bretton Estate provides the perfect context in which to experience their monumental bronze sculptures. 100 acres of undulating hills in the Country Park are home to one of the world’s most significant open air displays of Moore’s bronzes. The selection of sculptures changes this year with five new loans from the Henry Moore Foundation including Upright Motive No. 5 and Mother and Child: Block Seat.

Peter Murray, Executive Director said:
"Henry Moore often talked of the influence on his work of growing up in Yorkshire, and how this informed the way he related sculpture to landscape. He was the first patron of YSP, and during a visit to YSP in 1979 he expressed a strong wish to site his work in the Country Park. This area is now one of the most popular areas of the Park, and we are delighted that visitors will have the chance to experience new works alongside familiar favourites this year."

Described as ‘radical, experimental and avant-garde’, Moore was one of the leading British artists of his generation. Celebrated and commissioned worldwide, his work introduced Modernism to a wide public and contributed to a seismic shift in sculpture practice. Moore’s work has been the subject of extensive exhibitions worldwide, from a large retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1946, to the most recent at Tate Britain in 2010, which opened in Leeds Art Gallery in March 2011.

"All my early memories are of forms and shapes and textures. Moving through and over the West Riding landscape, the hills were sculptures." Henry Moore

Barbara Hepworth
YSP displays one of Hepworth’s last major works The Family of Man (1970), a poignant personal and universal family tree of figures in the landscape. YSP is the only place in Europe where visitors can see this important piece in its entirety. Hepworth’s sculpture Squares with Two Circles (1963) is shown in close proximity on loan from Tate and forms part of this year’s Art in Yorkshire – supported by Tate project.

From 22 April–10 July 2011 there is display in the YSP Centre Upper Space of material that considers the career of Hepworth and the importance of landscape. Hepworth was born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in 1903 and spoke of the lasting memories of the West Riding, as well as the influence of St Ives, where she moved in 1939. Hepworth was one of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century and the display of sculpture, photographs, ephemera and film has been organised in collaboration with the artist’s estate. The influence of natural forms permeates Hepworth’s work and she was particularly keen for her sculpture to be shown in the open air, where she felt it could ‘breathe’ and be animated by changing light, weather and season.

New Article Added : Jaume Plensa at Yorkshire Sculpture Park - extended until 22 January 2012

09-04-2011

The most inspirational exhibition I’ve seen this year - Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC Radio 1 DJ

Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents the first major UK exhibition of sculpture and drawings by Jaume Plensa, with new and recent work displayed in the Underground Gallery and surrounding landscape. The extraordinary exhibition combines an unfurling dialogue of sculpture and landscape with a series of deeply moving gallery installations. Encouraging silent contemplation as well as physical and sensory exploration, Plena’s work examines the joy and contradictions of the human condition.

On the Underground Gallery roof are Nuria and Irma, the heads of two girls made in steel mesh, which seem to contain the statuesque trees of the Formal Garden and the valley beyond. Inside the galleries are an intense and powerful group of eleven alabaster heads, Jerusalem - a circle of 11 gongs engraved with text from Song of Songs, from the Biblical text Songs of Solomon, which can be gently struck to fill the room with sound, In The Midst Of Dreams, a group of illuminated heads with closed eyes, Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil – three large fibreglass resin ‘angels’ suspended from the gallery walls and Twenty-Nine Palms - a curtain of cut steel letters made of lines from poems and texts that have inspired the artist.

Plensa has an international reputation for major exhibitions and public art projects around the world, making sculpture, drawings, prints, acoustic installations and designs for opera and theatre. Pushing technical and artistic boundaries, his often transparent, large-scale sculptures incorporate light, sound and text, inviting the spectator’s active participation in a space where art and language, nature and culture, sound and communication collide and entwine.

A significant outdoor piece at YSP is House of Knowledge, part of a group of works in which the physical form of the body becomes architecture. With text forming a large human shape, visitors can walk inside and see the landscape through the spaces between steel letters. This 8-metre tall piece is a stunning addition to the YSP parkland. Building on the success of YSP’s
recent exhibitions, this project encourages real interaction and a particularly tactile engagement with his work that will delight and enrich.

Born and based in Barcelona, Plensa has installed numerous iconic sculptures across the globe, including Crown Fountain (2004) in Chicago's Millennium Park and Nomade (2007) in Antibes. UK projects include Breathing (2008), a memorial to international news journalists placed on the roof of BBC Broadcasting House, which projects a fine beam of light every day during the 10 O’clock news bulletin, and Dream (2009), a 20-metre high sculpture created for St Helens as part of Channel 4’s Big Art Project.

2011 will also see Plensa’s first public art project in New York City. Echo will be presented from 5 May – 14 August 2011 by the Madison Square Park Conservancy. In the UK, Chichester Cathedral recently announced Plensa’s winning proposal for the Hussey Memorial Commission, Together, expected to be unveiled in the Cathedral in 2012.

New Article Added : Art Council England - funding decision

30-03-2011

Yorkshire Sculpture Park is pleased to be part of the National Portfolio of organisations funded until 2015 by Arts Council England, and that they have recognised the importance of the artistic work we deliver and the meaningful experiences we provide for over 300,000 visitors and 45,000 children and students every year. ACE has informed us that we submitted a ‘model application’ and we have been rated as strong, the highest level available against all assessment criteria.

We submitted an application for uplift to our funding based on transformational infrastructure developments of recent years and the scale and complexity of YSP which makes it different to any other visual arts organisation in England. The level of funding provided represents a further cut of 5% from 2012 in addition to the 7% cut already made for 2011. Although this will impact what we are able to deliver we will continue to strive to provide a vibrant and innovative programme alongside the important work we do with schools and the local community. We will also work to ensure that we continue to contribute to the artistic, economic, social and overall quality of life of the whole community.

YSP Executive Director, Peter Murray CBE said:
“During the last 34 years, Yorkshire Sculpture Park has undergone significant transformational changes. From humble beginnings in 1977, with £1000 to fund a small exhibition of 31 sculptures and no audience, to 300,000 visitors, 45,000 learning visitors, multiple projects supporting the local community and to generate £4 million annually.

‘Great art for everyone’ has been YSP’s goal since opening to the public in 1977, enabling access, understanding and enjoyment of art and landscape for everyone, whilst dismantling many of the barriers that often exist between the public and contemporary art. This vision remains as strong as ever.

YSP is a success story. Our ACE application was described as a ‘model application’ and was rated as strong, the highest level available against all assessment criteria. For every £1 invested by ACE we generate £3. The level of funding provided represents a further cut of 5% from 2012 in addition to the 7% cut already made for 2011 but we will continue to work with ACE to deliver their priority of great art for everyone”.

YSP ACE Funding
2010/11 £1,472,000
2011/12 £1,370,912
2012/13 £1,302,574
2013/14 £1,333,836
2014/15 £1,369,812

For further information please contact:
Vic Collins, Marketing and Communications Manager
01924 832515
victoria.collins@ysp.co.uk

New Article Added : Structure & Material: An Arts Council Collection exhibition - from 31 March 2011

10-03-2011

Structure & Material
Claire Barclay • Becky Beasley • Karla Black
An Arts Council Collection exhibition curated By Katrina Brown and Caroline Douglas

Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
31 March – 26 June 2011

A new exhibition of work drawing from the Arts Council Collection will open on 31 March 2011 at Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park bringing together for the first time the work of three British artists Claire Barclay, Becky Beasley and Karla Black, who each investigate the meaning generated by materials. Structure & Material takes a fresh and particular look at current British sculptural practice, at a time when all eyes will be on Yorkshire’s rich sculptural heritage in the run up to the opening of The Hepworth, Wakefield in May.

Barclay, Beasley and Black’s chosen media and techniques are very diverse, though in each case familiar materials are often made unsettlingly strange. Unlikely sculptural materials such as cosmetics, sugar paper, blackboard paint and brass hinges, or craft in the form of turned wood and tapestry, are co-opted by all three to diverse and distinctive effect. From elements that are sometimes meagre or over-familiar, new forms are created that are often mysterious and highly evocative.

A sense of instability, ambiguity and fragility is shared by the works included in the exhibition. A paper and cellophane construction by Black looks like it could be easily crushed and her delicate, pastel-coloured chalk dust which forms a tectonic plate across the gallery floor could blow away on a strong breeze, despite its significant size. Beasley’s life-sized but fragile, hand-printed photographs of mute objects and her delicate brass-hinged woodworks are a deeply personal exploration into the relationship between the inanimate object and its image, the individual and its fate. The work from Barclay holds traditional handcrafts and industrial techniques in a delicate balance – soft leather, wool and a strong sense of manual labour are at odds with machined brass spikes and gimlet steel rods, with decorative techniques often used to create structure and vice versa.

The exhibition features significant recent acquisitions from the Arts Council Collection that exemplify the continued support offered to young and emerging artists in this country, alongside new works either made especially for Longside Gallery, or borrowed directly from the artists and private collections. In Wakefield, women artists are more than metaphorically in the shadow of Barbara Hepworth who once wrote “art is anonymous” and denied any relationship between gender and artistic production. A long road has been travelled ideologically since that remark, however her comments remain live in 2011.

Henry Moore
Longside Gallery Project Space
31 March – 26 June 2011

To complement the Structure & Material exhibition and to further accentuate the focus on sculpture in Yorkshire in 2011, a new display in the Longside Gallery Project Space will examine the strong holdings of work by Henry Moore in the Arts Council Collection. Henry Moore is an important figure for the Collection; he was a key advisor to the acquisitions committee during the early 1950s, shaping the collection by advocating the acquisition of a significant group of post-war British sculpture. His representation within the Collection is also very strong, with sculptures and works on paper spanning five decades. During spring 2011, all twenty-six works by Moore in the Collection will be on display in Yorkshire, including nine sculptures and fifteen works on paper in this exhibition.

Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth are also the focus of a collaborative conference on 3 – 4 June 2011 with events and debates taking place at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Hepworth Wakefield and Arts Council Collection at Longside.

New Article Added : Rebecca Chesney: Diligent Observation - from 9 April 2011

08-02-2011

Garden Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 9 April – 3 July 2011

On 9 April 2011 Yorkshire Sculpture Park launches an exhibition of work by Rebecca Chesney developed during her year as Visiting Artist 2009–2010. Chesney’s project demonstrates YSP’s unique ability to provide a landscape for art, in this case as a laboratory in which to research and develop new work. The exhibition maps the landscape of the Bretton Estate in relation to its populations of bees and wildflowers and includes drawings based on the sounds of bees and their hives, dead plant and animal specimens.

From her base in the nature reserve Chesney has carried out field research into resident bumblebee and solitary bee species, including sound recording and sample collecting. Working with the Regional Bee Inspector (FERA) she introduced two honeybee colonies and an observation hive, providing a focus for her research and has mapped their journeys around the site at different points in the season. Her work has been informed by engaging with key partners including botanists, National Museum Liverpool and the University of Central Lancashire, giving the artist further insight into the environmental and human factors that are contributing to declining bee populations.

As part of the exhibition, the artist has devised a planted intervention in the grassed area just beyond the Garden Gallery windows comprising two equal patches of wildflower meadow containing native plants favoured by bees. Selecting blue flowers for one and yellow for the other, the meadows will have a striking presence in the grounds and will remain for at least three years, signaling YSP’s commitment to promoting health in our bee populations. As part of this, the Park will introduce four more honeybee colonies in addition to the two already resident – these will be positioned just beyond the meadows and will provide the restaurant with a good supply of YSP honey.

The meadow project not only exists as a legacy to Chesney’s project, but also as a comment on how farming practices and land management is affecting bee populations in the UK. In the exhibition, the artist will present her initial research into the potential for establishing meadows on owned land, detailing the difficulties faced in trying to find the right amount of space to plant a wildflower meadow. The exhibition will include a scale model of YSP with Chesney’s proposed meadow sites, imagining that ownership and use of land are not an issue.

Rebecca Chesney is a Preston-based artist whose work has been exhibited in the UK, Europe and the US. Her work looks at changing environments and human activity.

Project supported by The Co-operative Membership

New Article Added : Mel Brimfield: This is Performance Art - from 9 April 2011

08-02-2011

Bothy Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 9 April – 3 July 2011

From 9 April 2011 Yorkshire Sculpture Park is showcasing the work of Mel Brimfield, a London-based artist and curator particularly interested in Performance Art and who creates playful alternate histories inspired by real artists, artworks and pop culture influences. Recognising that performance art is difficult to document and represent accurately, Brimfield toys with the truth and produces fabricated information, objects and epherema to support her often comical parallel realities, demonstrating her capacity to subvert the truth and create entirely fictional scenarios that prove to be intuitively plausible.

For her exhibition in the Bothy Gallery at YSP Brimfield re-imagines the space as ‘Room 27’ of a major museum survey entitled This is Performance Art, presenting her interpretation of its history. Room 27 considers Performed Sculpture and Dance and begins with a framed gallery plan by Edward Ward and Mel Brimfield of her imagined major museum exhibition. Key terms and people from popular and high culture that inform Brimfield’s exploration of Performance Art are presented in a font and layout reminiscent of Tate Modern’s Artist Timeline and includes artists such as Gilbert and George alongside Morecambe and Wise.

Subsequent spaces in the gallery feature key works from Brimfield’s history of Performance Art, including a photographs and paintings relating to Alex Owens, the character in the 1980s film Flashdance. Brimfield re-imagines Owens as a highly important woman artist struggling in the macho world of US minimalism, which she overcomes through choreographed dance and aerobic routines, and re-worked vaudeville techniques including juggling, balancing and paper-tearing. Further works within Brimfield’s history of Performance Art include a the presentation of pioneering British performance artist Bruce McLean as an amateur stripper who is launched on the art world by the influential Marxist dance quartet Two Left Feet.

YSP?has commissioned Brimfield to produce a special performance on 18 June 2011. In collaboration with Dinnington Brass Band, stars of BBC2’s A Band for Britain, the award-winning company New Art Club (Tom Roden and Pete Shenton) will present THE BREAKFAST SCULPTURE, based on Morecambe and Wise’s infamous breakfast-making sketch, to the theme of The Stripper newly arranged by Paul Higgs. For further info and to book visit ysp.co.uk/events

The YSP exhibition grows from Brimfield’s 2010 residency at Camden Art Centre.

Mel Brimfield is represented by Ceri Hand Gallery in Liverpool. She has worked at the Institute of Contemporary Art; the Liverpool Biennial; Pump House Gallery; Battersea Arts Centre; Camden Arts Centre; Whitstable Biennial; The International 3; De Appel and, most recently, Frieze Art Fair.

New Article Added : Special screening of Shirin Neshat's feature film Women Without Men, 24 March 2011

27-01-2011

Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents a special screening of Women Without Men, the first feature film by the Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, on 24 March 2011 to coincide with the presentation of Neshat’s Soliloquy from 4 March - 26 June 2011. Neshat was awarded Best Director at the Venice Film Festival in 2009 for Women Without Men, set in Iran during the CIA-backed coup of 1953. The enigmatic film tells the stories of four women sheltering in an orchard, bringing together the personal and the political as it explores the ways their lives are affected during a time of great turbulence and unrest. Based on the 1989 magic realist novel by Shahrnush Parsipur, Neshat’s artistic vision combines ethereal, dream-like moments with realistic action sequences, realised in a painterly palette of faded, sun-bleached tones.

Neshat has worked in film since 1996 and explores the ideology of Islamic society through study of the lives of women, such as those who live in her native Iran. She was born in 1957 and, after leaving school, moved to the USA to study art. She was exiled in 1979 following the Islamic Revolution in Iran and now lives in New York. Her work has been widely exhibited throughout the world.

Soliloquy (1999) is displayed in the unique context of YSP’s Georgian chapel, providing a serene yet provocative space for a rare showing of Neshat’s poetic film, which explores themes of identity, exile and cultural history. With characteristic subtlety, Neshat renders East and West as cultures in exile from each other, but which have distinct parallels and possible points of connection, revealing beauty and difference within each place. In Soliloquy Neshat uses architecture as a cultural reference, as she walks through two distinct landscapes; one in Mardin, Turkey and the other in Albany, New York. The two films make visual the state of longing and dislocation experienced as a result of being born in one country, living in another and belonging to neither. Dual screen projections face one another, physically immersing the viewer in hauntingly beautiful imagery and evocative sound.

Women Without Men: 24 March 2011, YSP Auditorium
6.30pm for 7pm screening. Tickets £4 including glass of wine.
Introduced by Clare Lilley, YSP Head Curator
Book online at www.ysp.co.uk/events or call 01924 830579
The Chapel will remain open until 6:30pm

Soliloquy: 5 March – 26 June 2011, YSP Chapel
On loan from Tate as part of Art in Yorkshire – supported by Tate.

YSP supports the centenary of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2011

Notes to Editors:
Art in Yorkshire – supported by Tate, is a year long celebration of the visual arts in 19 galleries throughout Yorkshire. Works from Tate's Collection of historic, modern and contemporary art will be showcased through a compelling programme of exhibitions and events.

Shirin Neshat is represented by Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York.

As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

New Gallery Added : Winter at YSP

23-12-2010

New Article Added : Shirin Neshat: Soliloquy - from 4 March 2011

14-12-2010

The Chapel, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 4 March to 26 June 2011

I have come to the conclusion that art can be a very powerful tool to communicate and frame some of the most significant issues we face in the world. I’m therefore more than ever committed to making art that functions beyond an aesthetic exercise; art that is also socially responsible without being didactic. Shirin Neshat

From March 2011 Yorkshire Sculpture Park will present Soliloquy, a film by the Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, in the unique context of the Chapel. On loan from Tate, the installation in YSP’s Grade-II* listed Georgian chapel provides a contemplative space for a rare showing of Neshat’s poetic film, which explores themes of identity, exile and cultural history. With characteristic subtlety, Neshat renders East and West as cultures in exile from each other, but which have distinct parallels and possible points of connection, revealing beauty and difference within each place.

In Soliloquy Neshat uses architecture as a cultural reference, as she walks through two distinct landscapes; one in Mardin, Turkey and the other in Albany, New York. The two films make visual the state of longing and dislocation experienced as a result of being born in one country, living in another and belonging to neither. Using dual screen projections facing one another, the viewer is physically immersed in hauntingly beautiful imagery and evocative sound. Neshat has said that Soliloquy ‘aims to offer a glimpse into the experience of a divided self in need of repair’.

Neshat explores the ideology of Islamic society through study of the lives of women, such as those who live in her native Iran. In 2009 she was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival for Women Without Men, which Mark Kermode has described as ‘a magical realist fable with a strong political backbone’. YSP is screening Women Without Men on 24 March 2011. Find out more and book tickets

The project further demonstrates YSP’s commitment to the promotion of cultural understanding. Associated activity includes partnership work with Batley Girls’ College to explore the themes within Soliloquy on a local level and feeds into YSP’s continuing work with young people seeking asylum.

Shirin Neshat was born in Qazvin, Iran in 1957 and left to study art in the US after leaving school. She was exiled in 1979 following the Iranian Islamic Revolution and now lives in the USA. Her work has been exhibited throughout the world and she has been working in film since 1996.

YSP supports the centenary of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2011

Notes to Editors:
Art in Yorkshire – supported by Tate, is a year long celebration of the visual arts in 19 galleries throughout Yorkshire. Works from Tate's Collection of historic, modern and contemporary art will be showcased through a compelling programme of exhibitions and events.

Shirin Neshat is represented by Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York.

As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

New Article Added : 2011 exhibition programme at YSP

09-12-2010

2011 programme at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
The Chapel, Bothy and Garden Galleries, Longside and open air

Shirin Neshat: Soliloquy
The Chapel, 5 March – 26 June 2011

Shirin Neshat’s extraordinary film Soliloquy (1999) follows the artist, wearing a veil, as she roams through two different cities, one western the other eastern. Filmed in Albany, New York, and Mardin, Turkey, she reveals the beauty and differences within each place and an internal dialogue between two identities. The project further demonstrates YSP’s commitment to showing work of the highest international standard and the promotion of cultural understanding. The Chapel at YSP, built in 1744 for the Bretton Estate, is a serene and calm space that provides a unique context in which to experience the work of this important artist.

Soliloquy is shown as part of Art in Yorkshire – supported by Tate, a year long celebration of the visual arts in 19 galleries throughout Yorkshire. Works from Tate's Collection of historic, modern and contemporary art will be showcased through a compelling programme of exhibitions and events.

Rebecca Chesney
Garden Gallery, 9 April – July 2011

Rebecca Chesney explores and reveals changing environments and the impact of human activity, often creating installations that not only capture a sense of wonder in the natural world but also the inescapable struggle between survival and death.
Chesney’s project demonstrates YSP’s unique ability to provide a landscape for art, in this case as a laboratory in which to research and develop new work. The exhibition maps the landscape of the Bretton Estate in relation to its populations of bees and wildflowers and includes drawings based on the sounds of bees and their hives, dead plant and animal specimens and a conceptual work for an extensive landscape intervention created with bee-friendly plants.

Mel Brimfield
Bothy Gallery, 9 April – 3 July 2011

Mel Brimfield is a London-based artist and curator with a particular interest in Performance Art and who creates playful alternative histories inspired by real artists, artworks and pop culture influences. Recognising that performance art is difficult to document and represent accurately, Brimfield toys with the truth and produces fabricated information, objects and ephemera to support her often comical parallel realities. For her exhibition in the Bothy Gallery at YSP, Brimfield re-imagines the space as ‘Room 27’ of a major museum survey entitled This is Performance Art. Brimfield merges artists such as Gilbert and George with footage of Morecambe and Wise, and creates a film about the fictional sculptor and dancer Alex Owens, based on the female star of the popular 1980s film Flashdance. The exhibition captures Brimfield’s joyfully subversive capacity to create entirely fictional scenarios that are intuitively plausible.

Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth
Open air, from 21 May 2011

YSP’s Country Park is home to a significant open air display of Henry Moore bronzes, covering 100 acres of undulating hills. The selection of works changes next year with new loans from the Henry Moore Foundation and includes Upright Motive No. 5 and Mother and Child: Block Seat which are new to YSP. Moore expressed a strong interest in siting his work in the Country Park during a visit to YSP in 1979. Barbara Hepworth’s Squares with Two Circles (1963) loaned by Tate is shown alongside The?Family of Man (1970), a poignant personal and universal family tree of figures sited on a hillside. YSP is the only place in Europe to show this important piece in its entirety. Her work and legacy is further recognised next year with the opening of The Hepworth Wakefield in May 2011. One of the launch events is an international symposium that considers Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth in relation to Yorkshire, organised in partnership between Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Henry Moore Institute, The Hepworth Wakefield, Leeds Art Gallery and the Arts Council Collection.

Emily Speed
Bothy Gallery, 16 July – 18 September 2011

Emily Speed was the YSP Feiweles Trust Bursar holder for 2009 and creates architectural sculpture that considers shelter, protection and vulnerability. YSP is working with Emily to develop the outcomes of her Bursary, including extensive work with local schools, into a new body of work. As well as supporting the career of an important young artist, Speed's project will inform and develop extensive outreach with hard to reach groups and contribute to the sense of YSP as a sanctuary.

Rachel Goodyear
Bothy Gallery, 1 October 2011 – January 2012

Inspired by visits to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Rachel Goodyear has created a new series of compelling characters exploring the people, places and animals encountered, and the stories and local mythology of the area. Examining the changing role of the Park, as day becomes night, animals and humans exist side by side in Goodyear’s imagined world. Her ambiguous drawings are beautiful and sinister in equal measure, occupying a strange void somewhere between the macabre and mundane and evoking ancient fables and Grimm fairytales. The Bothy Gallery features new works on paper, and some characters in the exhibition will be animated, a more recent strand in the artist’s practice. Elsewhere in the exhibition drawings are released from the wall, pushing out into space and becoming three-dimensional, alongside fragile plaster and porcelain sculptural objects echoing the forms in the drawings.

Amar Kanwar: The Sovereign Forest
Longside Gallery, 1 October 2011 – January 2012

In October 2011 YSP will be the first organisation in the UK to show a new film by the important Indian artist Amar Kanwar. Part of his ongoing project The Sovereign Forest, the film explores the social and environmental impact of mining on the local community in Orissa, and will be displayed with related documentary evidence and ephemera.

New Article Added : Yorkshire Sculpture Park launches ambitious new landscape restoration project

24-11-2010

Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is embarking on a major new development to restore and enhance areas of the Bretton Estate that have never been open to the public before with support from Wakefield Council and a £500,000 grant from Natural England.

In 2009, with the support of English Heritage and funding from Natural England, YSP commissioned the Landscape Agency to produce a Historic Landscape Management Plan to provide YSP with an understanding of the historic development of the 18th century-designed landscape and to set out a framework for the conservation and future management of the Estate. For the very first time, following recent changes in ownership of Bretton Hall, this Plan was able to encompass the whole 500 acre Bretton Estate which is now under YSP’s management.

Following the recommendations in the Plan, Natural England are funding a £500,000 Historic Environment Special Project which will allow YSP to restore and enhance 85 acres of woodland nature reserve around two 65 acre designed lakes to restore water management infrastructure, historic footpaths, bridges, views, follies and incredible historical features including a Greek-style summer house, a now land-locked Boat House, an Obelisk, Stepping Stones and a magical Shell Grotto. The planned works, to include woodland management to open up historic vistas, will also allow the reconnection of the historic Grade II* listed Bretton Hall with the listed and designed landscape.

Margaret Nieke, Natural England’s Historic Environment Adviser said “Natural England are proud and delighted to be able to support this superb project. The work we are doing will not only open up new areas of the Park to visitors, but it will breathe new life into some wonderful historic features”.

These works will help protect these special areas for future generations and allow visitors the chance to explore new areas whilst providing ambitious new opportunities for artist projects and the development of YSP’s arts, ecology and nature learning, outreach and community programmes.
 

YSP Executive Director, Peter Murray CBE said “We are very proud that in these difficult economic times, YSP has been able to secure significant support and commitment for this major project, which will reveal a whole new area of the Park for our visitors. We are extremely grateful to Natural England and Wakefield Council for their support. It is testament to YSP’s success over the last 33 years that we are continuing to develop the Bretton Estate in order to create a unique centre for art, heritage, learning, space and landscape.

‘Great art for everyone’ has been YSP’s goal since opening to the public in 1977, enabling access, understanding and enjoyment of art and landscape for everyone, whilst dismantling many of the barriers that often exist between the public and contemporary art. This vision remains as strong as ever and the opening of a new area of the Park is central to this”.

Cllr Peter Box, Leader of Wakefield Council and member of the YSP’s Board of Trustees said “We are delighted that Yorkshire Sculpture Park has secured funding for this exciting redevelopment which will enable them to restore and enhance the grounds for visitors. I’m very pleased that we are able to continue to support its pioneering work”.

Patrick James, MD of the Landscape Agency, noted “I am delighted that our Historic Landscape Management Plan and Natural England's generous grant will help to open up a large area of YSP that the public has not seen before. The project will also re-connect areas of this remarkable landscape for the first time in more than 70 years. It is hugely exciting and will bring a whole new dimension to YSP”.

Work is underway on site and the newly restored 150 acres will be opening to the public in the summer of 2011.

New Gallery Added : Stock Images

22-10-2010

These images give a general sense of the Park, its scale and activity.

New Article Added : Zara Wood: Mirror Mime at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

05-08-2010

From 11 November Brighton-based artist and illustrator Zara Wood – aka Woody – brings her enchanting characters and imagined world to Yorkshire Sculpture Park with Mirror Mime, an exhibition featuring 20 new works and exclusive products. With a background in Fine Art, Zara has produced work for international fashion clients such as TopShop – her 2008 Star Gaze collection became their most successful artist range. YSP’s stunning landscape, designed over 200 years ago as a private pleasure ground, has provided Zara’s inspiration for Mirror Mime, infused with Renaissance imagery and 1920s style to depict a beguiling world where the boundaries blur between the imagined and the real.

Mirror Mime showcases original and limited edition framed works for sale, including intricate ink drawings and silkscreen prints. The Upper Space features 11 original works complemented by boxed dioramas, vintage china with platinum hand-painted designs and a collection of Little Treasures – vintage jewellery pieces such as lockets and pocket watches framing miniature wearable originals by the artist. Zara’s distinctive creations also adorn the shop and 20-metre concourse windows, welcoming visitors with imagined scenes designed exclusively for YSP as her creatures and characters appear to travel from distant lands to a decadent Gatsby-esque party.

The shop window features a forest scene with characters emerging from silver birch branches laden with Mirror Mime-inspired products. All these are available in the YSP shop, including an exclusive limited edition print and Christmas card, letter-press cards, printed candles, block-foiled sketchbooks and tote bags featuring Zara’s inimitable designs.

Workshops: Creating Characters at YSP
27 November 2010 & 29 January 2011
£50/£45 – Book on 01924 830579 or info@ysp.co.uk
Zara Wood will be hosting two ‘Creating Characters’ workshops with textile designer Amy Phipps at YSP. With a Christmas theme on 27 November and Valentine inspiration on 29 January, the workshops are ideal as a gift experience or a chance to make something unique for someone to treasure. Spend the morning with Zara creating your own character, and learn about the processes Zara works through in order to achieve her imaginary world of characters. In the afternoon, work with Amy to translate your character through hand embroidery onto fabric, personalising with specially chosen fabric or thread, and take home a sketchbook full of ideas and an embroidery hoop ready to hang on the wall framing your own creation.

Zara Wood: Professional Practice Talk at Leeds City Art Gallery
Wednesday 9 February 2011, 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Free – please reserve your place on 01924 830579 or info@ysp.co.uk
Join Zara to hear about the development and preparation for her Mirror Mime exhibition at YSP, and discuss her progression from student and artist to professional and commercial illustrator. This event is supported by ASOS.

Notes to the Editor

With a background in Fine Art, Zara Wood produces work for publishing and fashion clients in Europe and Australia. Her Star Gaze collection (2008) became the most successful artist range Topshop have ever launched. Zara also designs her own range of limited edition art products and regularly exhibits. Find out more at www.zarawood.com
As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

New Article Added : David Nash at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

29-03-2010

Most ambitious project to date by renowned UK artist

From 29 May 2010 - 27 February 2011 Yorkshire Sculpture Park will present a rich and extensive exhibition of work by David Nash, tracing the evolution of the artist's forty year career and offering a vivid statement of his life's work. Sculpture, installation and drawings will range across the Park and include new monumental works for the Underground Gallery, a retrospective survey in Longside Gallery and contextual displays from the artist's archive alongside sculpture in the open air and a permanent outdoor commission. The historic landscape of the Park is a fitting backdrop chosen by Nash, the culmination of a thirty-year relationship with YSP, for this unique survey. This is the largest exhibition to date by an internationally acclaimed artist who has developed an eloquent understanding of trees, working with their traits to create sculpture, installation, projects and related drawings.

The Underground Gallery will feature imposing new works, including huge redwood craggs and large black eucalyptus spheres, which the artist has sourced in California. The expansive Longside Gallery will present a survey of retrospective work from the artist's and international collections. The Bothy Gallery will illustrate one of the artist's most celebrated projects, Wooden Boulder, a large piece of 200 year-old oak released into a stream in the Welsh mountains in 1978, whose journey is documented through drawing, film and photography. The Garden Gallery will show early drawings, photographs and artefacts which explore the development of his practice.

Nash explores the different properties of wood as an artistic material from early tower constructions, burnt twig charcoal drawings and growing works, most famously Ash Dome, planted in 1977. Significantly, Nash began to use the unseasoned wood of whole tree trunks and limbs after rediscovering forgotten pieces of timber that had continued to change without his intervention. This method celebrates the unique attributes of his chosen material as it continues to dry, warp and crack, changing in appearance long after the artist has finished shaping it. These works convey a wealth of expression, from enormous force to exquisite delicacy, produced by Nash's unique use of chainsaw and charring as well as natural drying.

The exhibition will be documented through a specially commissioned artist film by Pete Telfer, edited alongside archive footage, presenting a fascinating insight into the artist and his practice. There will also be a publication with texts by YSP Director Peter Murray, Dr Sabine Schlenker, Ben Tufnell, Annie Proulx and the artist. The artist will also create three limited edition screenprints and a limited edition sculpture.

This year Sky Arts is working with YSP and is showing a behind-the-scenes film on Sky Arts 1 HD tracing the evolution of the Park, its programme and capturing a fascinating glimpse into daily life at YSP. Featuring insights from key people about YSP’s unique art, landscape and history, plus a preview of David Nash at work in his Welsh studio, the film will be repeated in the months before the exhibition opens. Watch a short version online at www.skyarts.co.uk/ysp

Notes to Editors:

Born in 1945, David Nash's first solo exhibition was in York in 1973. An artist of international renown, his work is held in private collections and public galleries all over the world including the Guggenheim, Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. At the age of 21, Nash established a base in Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, and lives and works at Capel Rhiw, a former chapel built in 1863.
The YSP project is generously sponsored by Roger Evans.
As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

New Article Added : Alec Finlay: Home to a king (3)

16-03-2010

Home to a king (3), an ongoing project by artist Alec Finlay, launches at Yorkshire Sculpture Park on 21 March with a free RSPB dawn chorus walk at 7am. Home to a king (3) comprises a series of ten nest-boxes sited throughout the Park, each featuring painted poem clues based on the names of British trees. These can be used to complete the crossword in an accompanying free guide. A representative from the RSPB will take participants around the Park, identifying birds and listening to their song. Each nest-box is designed to house a particular species of bird found at YSP and is colour matched to the leaves of the tree on which it is hung, enabling the project to become an important part of the Park's natural habitat.

Home to a king (3) at YSP is part of a larger ongoing project by Finlay in which he has sited nest-boxes at various locations in the UK, including Durham University Botanic Garden (County Durham), Brogdale Farm (Kent), Springburn Park (Glasgow), George Square Gardens (Edinburgh), Cove Park (Kilcreggan), Killhope Lead Mining Museum (County Durham), and St Andrews Botanic Garden (Scotland).

As well as publications and other products by Finlay, exclusive editions of Home to a king (3) nest-boxes will be available to purchase in the shop. Each will have a unique clue so the project can be continued at home. Ongoing projects by Finlay at YSP include circlesthroughthepath, a circular walk and poetic mapping of the YSP landscape. Visitors can discover and collect circle
poems contained within letterboxes located on the route. Instructions for the walk are available in a free leaflet from the YSP Centre.

In the Bothy garden visitors can discover Propagator, a greenhouse containing plant pots from which sprout mesostic poems based on the names of flora at YSP. A mesostic is composed of a name-stem and word-branches and each
poem reveals something of the plant's character. The poems are an invitation to the reader to compose their own. An anthology, Mesostic Herbarium, is copublished by YSP and is available from the YSP shop for £10.

Notes to Editors:

As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

New Article Added : Dennis Oppenheim

07-01-2010

Dennis Oppenheim, a key figure in the US Land Art movement, is an influential international artist who for five decades has created sculpture, installations, interventions, performances, actions, happenings and photographic works. His work is characterised by a constant shifting of style and ceaseless creative output. Trees: From Alternative Landscape Components, a flamboyant large-scale work, will be on display at Yorkshire Sculpture Park from 30 January 2010, and is the first time this work has been shown in the UK.

Trees: From Alternative Landscape Components (2006) comprises a highly artificial landscape formed of fluorescent trees, fake hedgerows, seemingly genetically modified flowers and the Trees, which have branches laden with a range of curious domestic artefacts including baths, toilets, sinks, dog kennels, dustbins, plastic chairs and parts of fences. This installation was created for the 2006 exhibition Alternative Landscape Components: A New Land Art at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, New York and three outdoor locations across the city.

As with much of Oppenheim's earlier work, the Trees act as a dialogue, this time between the natural and artificial landscape and as a comment on the act of creating environments. The first location for this work, the seemingly natural environment of Central Park, was purposefully designed and manipulated by man. Similarly, the Bretton estate, home to YSP's 18th century rolling landscape, was originally a carefully designed private pleasure ground and now, as a open air gallery, provides a contrasting backdrop to Oppenheim's installation. Oppenheim also explores the mechanisms and communication of how artistic ideas are formed - the emotions we experience as the viewer and how involved we become in the work. His work often uses an element of risk or humour in order to fully involve the viewer and communicate his experience of the creative process.

Trees: From Alternative Landscape Components will be sited in the Lower Park area of YSP's historic 500-acre landscape and can be seen throughout the year. This loan is courtesy of Dennis Oppenheim and Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg, Germany.

Notes to Editors:

Dennis Oppeheim was born in Electric City, Washington State in 1938 and studied at the California College of Arts and at Stanford University. He lives and works in New York City. Oppenheim was part of the important exhibition Earthworks, considered to have presented Land Art as a movement for the first time. Curated by Willoughby Sharp at the Dwan Gallery New York, the exhibition featured work by Oppenheim alongside other leading land artists of the 1960s and 1970s such as Walter De Maria, Michael Heizer, Richard Long and Robert Smithson. Oppenheim has shown extensively around the world and is represented in many leading public and private collections, including Tate, London, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Reina Sofía, Madrid and Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Belgium.
As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants. w

New Article Added : Rebecca Chesney Bee Project

04-01-2010

‘It is generally held that one in three mouthfuls of the food that we eat is bee pollinated and bees likewise play an immeasurable part in providing food for our wildlife. Colony losses thus have a significant impact on food production and sustainability.’
British Beekeepers’ Association report, January 2009

From 6 March 2010, the artist Rebecca Chesney will begin a year long residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, researching the bees and plants of the Bretton Estate to develop new work. From her base in the nature reserve, Chesney will document different types of bees on site and make maps of their journeys around YSP, linked to current and historic planting schemes of the estate. With the help of experts and visitors, Chesney’s residency will draw attention to the plight of bees which are under great threat: a fifth of all honeybees in the UK were lost in 2008/9 and their disappearance would be catastrophic.

Working with the Wakefield Beekeepers Association, Chesney will introduce two colonies and an observation hive which will be the focus of free workshops, tours and talks all day on 3 May, Bank Holiday Monday. 

Throughout the residency, everyone is invited to participate during their visit by using bee identification cards and making bee promises – to plant something at home that will attract bees - in exchange for a limited edition pin badge. A display in the Upper Space of the YSP Centre will feature examples of Chesney’s work, which includes pressed specimens, intricate pencil drawings and photography alongside information on bees and planting, and a virtual hive for visitors to explore.

Rebecca Chesney is a Preston based artist who has exhibited her work in Salford, County Durham, Rome, Boston Massachusetts and at the Liverpool Biennial. Her work looks at changing environments and human activity, and previous residencies have resulted in exhibitions of drawings, photographs, installations and films. During her YSP residency, Chesney will reference the cultural significance of bees and how their behaviour has been used as a metaphor for a great number of human activities, from religious belief to political ideology.

Apian-inspired art dates back thousands of years and can be seen in music, notably in the Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The highly influential German visual and performance artist Joseph Beuys, was particularly interested in the organisational systems of bees and created works using honey and beeswax. The Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí used the bee both decoratively and structurally, inspired by the inner chambers produced in the hive, and the poet Sylvia Plath wrote a series of bee poems which are included in her seminal work, Ariel.

Notes to Editors:

As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

New Article Added : Stone

01-01-2010

STONE at Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a presentation through photographs, films and objects of an ambitious three-year research project being carried out by Edinburgh College of Art into traditional modes and concepts of carving and working stone.

When work began in 2008 a guiding concept was that these ancient human skills were in danger of being lost. Travelling the globe to access multiple and varied approaches and techniques, the researchers spoke to artists and artisans, visited quarries, took photographs, made films and collected tools and stone samples to ensure the widest possible relevance and potential of the resultant archive to current and future generations of scholars, practitioners and researchers.

YSP now presents a selection of this fascinating research. In the Bothy Gallery a striking group of large photographs shows quarries, tools, machinery, and artworks in progress. A separate group of smaller images captures individual hands of stone workers and artists; some are twisted, broken and contorted by decades of unforgiving work, others are nimble and slight, some are male, some female. Through these telling fragments of the body a story develops which conveys the human aspect involved in this highly physical and often hidden work. The films add further layers, capturing often astonishing working practices, from an Indian worker lowering himself hundreds of meters into a quarry using a single rope, to an elderly woman repeatedly hitting stone with a huge mallet, whilst wearing only a sari and sandals.

An extension of this research is a consideration of the ongoing relevance of carving to contemporary art practice. To highlight the range of work being produced in stone, in August 2009 a group of eleven sculptors from across the world came together in an event called Milestone, where each made a new work in public at the ECA as part of the Edinburgh Festival. During this period members of the public were able to watch carving in process, talk to the artists and see new sculptures emerge from blocks of
approximately one metre square. The resulting works are on display in the open air at YSP.

Participating artists:
Sibylle Pasche, Switzerland; Daniel Silver, Israel; Atsuo Okamoto, Japan; Gerard Mas, Spain; Jessica Harrison, UK, Scotland; Joel Fisher, USA; Jake Harvey, UK, Scotland; Susanne Specht, Germany; Hayashi Takeshi, Japan; Carlos Lizariturry Moro, Croatia / Spain; Peter Randall-Page, UK, England.

Notes to Editors:

As an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity (number 1067908), YSP's core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants.

New Article Added : James Lee Byars

05-11-2009

In September Yorkshire Sculpture Park launched St Bartholomew's Chapel as a unique exhibition space with The Angel, a spellbinding work by the late American artist James Lee Byars (1932-1997). Built in 1744, YSP is opening the chapel to the public for the first time since its deconsecration to showcase The Angel (1989), which comprises 125 Murano glass spheres, each one hand-blown using just a single breath, and arranged in curves based on the Japanese Kanji character for ‘angel’. Byars visited YSP in 1996 and was beguiled by the place and its atmosphere: it is fitting then that his work will create a graceful statement in a place that already contains a meditative presence. The exhibition opened on 19 September and will now be extended until 3 January 2010.

A further selection of sculpture, incorporating themes and motifs explored by Byars throughout his career, is shown in the Bothy Gallery at YSP. The sphere, with associations of perfection and wholeness, is pivotal in Byars’ work, and the use of gold, believed to be a divine metal representing immortality, is also a recurring element. This project will contribute to Byars' canon of posthumous works, giving YSP visitors the opportunity to experience a significant installation by this intriguing artist known for profound and challenging performance and sculpture.

The Grade II* listed chapel, set in the eighteenth-century landscape, is a sandstone Georgian church built to serve the Bretton Estate and designed by Sir William Wentworth whose family owned the estate until 1792. It continued to be used for services for the local village until the early 1990s when it was deconsecrated and a new church was built in the village. YSP is seeking funds to fully restore this elegant chapel and this inaugural project provides a welcome chance to breathe new life into a building that is part of the rich heritage of Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Notes to Editors:

James Lee Byars was born in Detroit in 1932 and died in Egypt in 1997. He spent ten years living sporadically in Japan where he taught English to Buddhist monks and nuns. Byars was constantly travelling and spent much of his time in Europe, most notably in Bern, where he developed an important relationship with gallery owner Toni Gerber – many of his performances took place at Gerber’s apartment. Byars’ early career reflects the development of live art in the mid-twentieth century and he ‘is increasingly recognized as a major 20th century artist who provides the third point between Beuys and Warhol, between shaman and showman’ (Power, Kevin, ‘James Lee Byars’, Third Text, 1475-5297, Volume 11, Issue 39, 1997). Byars’ work is included in the collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art, Kunstmuseum Bern, the Museum of Modern Art, New York and in many private collections.
The Angel was shown by Milton Keynes Gallery for the 2009 Venice Biennale, in collaboration with Michael Werner Gallery.
Supported by the Henry Moore Foundation.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, is an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity, number 1067908. Yorkshire Sculpture Park receives funding from: Arts Council England, Wakefield MDC, The Henry Moore Foundation, West Yorkshire Grants (a joint committee of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield Councils).

New Article Added : Rob Ryan: You Can Still Do A Lot With A Small Brain

13-07-2009

Artist Rob Ryan will be transforming the Visitor Centre at Yorkshire Sculpture Park this winter as his imaginative paper cuts and screen prints go on display from 11 November. Famed for his detailed hand-cutting of delicate papers into intricate patterns, often revealing whimsical stories or poetic phrases, Ryan will be decorating the four metre-long shop window at YSP with a huge paper cut panel. Framed one-off paper cuts and limited edition screen prints, exclusive to YSP, will be on display throughout the Centre.

Decorated vinyl panels by Ryan will also adorn the concourse windows in the Visitor Centre, and a hardback 64 page book featuring in-situ photography, an essay by Clare Dwyer Hogg and an interview with Ryan will accompany the exhibition. A range of items bearing Ryan's inimitable handiwork will be available in the YSP Shop, including an exclusive laser cut Christmas card.

Ryan has worked on a diverse array of commissions and collaborations with names such as Paul Smith, Tatty Devine, Earnest Sewn, Vogue and Elle. He has produced Easter egg packaging for Fortnum and Mason and designed a shop window display for Liberty. His creations are also on homewares sold at his East London shop, Ryantown. He has illustrated book jackets for authors including Louis De Bernieres and Jackie Kay and is currently working on a children’s book with Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. His own illustrated book, This Is for You, was published in 2007.

The YSP Shop continually sources innovative contemporary craft and design items, for home and garden, and high quality gifts and jewellery, providing a unique alternative to high street shopping. Arts Council England's Own Art Interest Free Scheme is available for purchases from £100 to £2000. All framed works are for sale. For enquiries, please contact Amanda Peach on 01924 832527 or amanda.peach@ysp.co.uk

MADE 2009
Also on display at this time is MADE, YSP’s annual Christmas contemporary craft show, which this year plays host to four recent graduates who are showing 2D and 3D work in a mixture of materials including found objects, ceramics, textiles and paper. Using innovative techniques, these graduates have produced highly covetable pieces of contemporary art. The exhibition also features exciting work by 30 jewellers, using materials such as, paper, textiles, silver, gold, acrylic, copper, tin, semi-precious stones, aluminium and wood adornment. To compliment the MADE exhibition, there will be work by new jewellers and graduates on sale in the YSP Shop.

New Article Added : Antony Gormley, Domain LXIX

01-07-2009

Domain LXIX, a human figure formed from stainless steel bars, is the latest work by Antony Gormley to take up residence at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and will remain there over the summer. New to YSP, this piece was previously on display at White Cube, London and has been loaned to the Park by a private collector. Over the last twenty years Gormley has revitalised the human image in sculpture through a radical investigation of the figure as a place of memory and transformation, often using his own body as subject, tool and material.

Best known for his iconic sculpture Angel of the North in Gateshead, and currently working with members of the public on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, Gormley has worked with YSP on several occasions. Sited on the roof of the Visitor Centre and overlooking the landscape, Domain LXIX forms a long-distance dialogue with Gormley’s One and Other, which
is located on a tree stump near to Cascade Bridge, a waymarker on the walking route to Longside.

This piece forms part of Gormley’s Domain Series (1999-2009) in which the artist seeks to reveal the usually concealed elements of the human figure in a way that still suggests a complete form. Gormley considers the series to be an escape from the limitations of the skin, enabling the body to be ‘a place of transformation’.

The Domain sculptures are made from stainless steel bars, each 4.76mm in width and of various lengths, which are welded together inside a mould of a human figure. As the Domain Series progressed Gormley found ways of using the least amount of material possible to convey the attitude of the body, in a structure that is still physically stable.

The finished sparkling work gives the impression of an energy field. Gormley views these works as a way of describing the ‘space of the body as a matrix formed from eight lengths of stainless steel in a reversal of the Greek pointing system, with rods resting on the internal surface of the body’.

New Article Added : Peter Randall-Page at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

27-06-2009

This summer Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents the most extensive exhibition to date by British artist Peter Randall-Page, opening on 27 June 2009, with over 100 works showcased in gallery spaces and the open air. Celebrating the quality and breadth of the artist's work, this significant display features ambitious new and recent works including two monumental sculptures made especially for YSP from Kilkenny limestone. Each weighing more than thirteen tonnes and standing over two metres high, they will make a dramatic statement in the award-winning Underground Gallery.

The exhibition explores the artist's fascination with the complex relationship between geometry and biology: the patterns and sequences vital to the emergence of life. A gifted and highly skilful artist with a passionate preoccupation with the natural world, Randall-Page carves striking and regular patterns on the surfaces of found glacial boulders and sourced stone such as marble, granite and Kilkenny and Guiting limestones. In the open air two stunning works, each comprising three large spherical stones, will be viewed against a two hundred year old yew hedge. Other pieces displayed in the Park will include an important example of Randall-Page's split boulder works.

The Underground Gallery will contain new works ranging from a series of six terracotta wall works to an installation of eighteen new and recent carved, glacial boulders; shown in a dense group, the red and dark grey stones will create a stunning and tense relationship. These new granite works have developed out of the artist's interest in organic form and growth patterns in nature, and explore the dynamic tension between order and randomness. The entire surface of the naturally eroded glacial boulders is carved so that the geometrical patterns have to adapt to the natural bulges and facets of the stone. As the artist explains: “the geometry on which the low relief pattern is based is found in many natural structures - it packs things together with optimum efficiency - nature loves economy.”

Accompanying the sculptural work, and highlighting Randall-Page's skill as a draughtsman, will be a selection of drawings and prints, including a new series of two metre-square charcoal drawings on canvas. The new work will be contextualised by an exhibition of maquettes, models, prints and drawings that consider the artist's stylistic, technical and thematic developments over a twenty year period.

Notes to the Editor:

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, is an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity, number 1067908. Yorkshire Sculpture Park receives funding from: Arts Council England, Wakefield MDC, The Henry Moore Foundation, West Yorkshire Grants (a joint committee of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield Councils).