Harland Miller: XXX at York Art Gallery

Harland Miller - XXX

 
Harland Miller: XXX is currently on show at York Art Gallery until 31 August 2025.  Miller, born 1964, uses the form of book covers to present his paintings which combine a love of text and abstraction.  He presents single short words in a colourful, eye popping style that draws inspiration from illuminated medieval manuscripts and Pop Artists such as Ruscha and Rauschenburg.  These works are part of his "Letter Painting" series.

Harland Miller - Bi

Here Miller has been influenced by the yellow daffodils on the city walls and the white rose of Yorkshire...

Harland Miller - York

Whilst Miller's works are very striking I liked his smaller, less refined studies better...

Harland Miller - York

Harland Miller - Moon

Harland Miller - Mojo

There is only one painting using a 5 letter word. As Miller progressed through painting words with more letters he found creating these painting with 5 letters challenging.  The advantage of this word is that 3 of the letters are "E" so they can be nested within each other...

Harland Miller - Eerie

Some of Miller's work is so abstracted it's impossible to see the individual letters..

Harland Miller - Nude

You may remember Harland Miller's previous exhibition at York Art Gallery in 2020, just before it closed as a result of the Covid pandemic, which took a similar form and was especially humorous.  You can see such works in the gallery's permanent collection...

Harland Miller - Whitby The Self Catering Years

The inspiration of Miller's upbringing in 1970s Yorkshire is definitely coming through here.

Harland Miller - Scarborough Have Faith in Cod

See more of his previous exhibition here.

Definitely worth a visit. Go see!

Monet at York Art Gallery

Claude Monet - The Water-Lily Pond - 1899

 

As part of the celebrations of the National Gallery's 200th year, a number of its famous works have been loaned, from London, to regional galleries.  The Water-Lily Pond, painted in 1899, by Claude Monet (1840-1926) came north and was central to an exhibition at York Art Gallery from May to September 2024.

The picture, which is a cropped view with loads of texture from the thick brush strokes, depicts Monet's much loved water garden at his house in Giverny in France.  Monet was a founder of Impressionism, a 19th Century art movement concerned with painting ordinary subjects, often outdoors, accurately depicting light to create a picture that caught the essence of a scene rather than an accurate depiction.

Having imagined I had plenty of time to see this exhibition, I only managed to get there on the final day.  I don't think I was the only one who was in that position, as all the online tickets had sold out and there was a queue to get in!

Claude Monet - The Water-Lily Pond
Details showing texture

There was a short film of Monet painting in his garden at Giverny.  What struck me most about this was the fact he was smoking while painting and his cigarette had an very long end of ash which I kept expecting to see fall onto his paint palette.  Added texture - who knows?

Camille Corot
The Convent of Sant'onofrio on the Janiculum, Rome
1826

To accompany the exhibition there were works by artists who led the way in painting in the open air, as Monet did and also artists who were influenced by Monet's work and then new work by contemporary artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan, who was inspired by both Monet's The Water-Lily Pond and by the Japanese woodblock prints of which he was so fond.

Narcisse-Virgilio Diaz de la Pena
The Feast at Fontainebleau - 1865-70

Diaz (1807-1876) not only painted outdoors but was a core member of the Barbizon School, who were a group of painters who gathered near the village of Barbizon to paint the Forest of Fontainebleau.

Monet had a fondness for Japanese woodblock prints.  This one is by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)...

Utagawa Hiroshige
Shimotsuke Province: Mount Nikko, Urami Waterfall - 1853 

Ethel Walker (1861-1951) was inspired by the Impressionist Exhibitions she visited in Paris and this influenced her style...

Ethel Walker - Landscape at Robin Hood's Bay - 1942-48

It was also interesting to see that the canvas had been stitched together...

Ethel Walker - Landscape at Robin Hood's Bay detail

Leticia Marion Hamilton (1878-1964) was also influenced by the Impressionists, evidenced by this unusual view of Ouse Bridge and her painted textures ...

Leticia Marion Hamilton - Ouse Bridge, York - 1925-31

The Michaela Yearwood-Dan: Una Sinfonia series of paintings were alive with colour and texture incorporating ceramic petals and beads.  She took the seasons as her starting point and Monet's fascination with the changing quality of light.

I loved these large colourful canvases...

Michaela Yearwood-Dan
When the green turns to gold, I settle in your nook

Michaela Yearwood-Dan - Ready, Steady, GO!

Her paintings included ceramic flower petals...

Michaela Yearwood-Dan
Ready, Steady, GO! - detail

and beads...

Michaela Yearwood-Dan
Will you still love me tomorrow?

We are told that Michaela Yearwood-Dan's work draws on a range of influences: Blackness, queerness, femininity healing rituals and carnival culture and that she endeavours to build spaces of community, abundance and joy.  I certainly found her work very joyful.

There was lots more to see at the York Art Gallery including some particularly fine work by women artists.  In addition there is a large selection of British Studio Ceramics in the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) which is on the first floor.  I particularly liked this chap (see above) but I didn't catch his name.

Harland Miller at York Art Gallery

Harland Miller - Bad Weather Painting 1

Hopefully in the fullness of time you will be able to see Harland Miller's exhibition at York Art Gallery once it re-opens.  However if you didn't get a chance to go before the gallery closed, or if York would always be too far to visit, you may want a taster of what's on show, so here's some pics and info to keep you going...

Born in York in the 1960s, Miller spent his formative years in Yorkshire. He combines his love of text and abstraction to devise book covers in recognisable and humorous formats.

Harland Miller - Bridlington - Something Tells Me Nothing's Going To Happen Tonight

His Pelican Bad Weather paintings relate to towns and cities in the north of England particularly the Yorkshire coast, where the weather just can't be guaranteed...

Harland Miller - Bad Weather Painting 3

Harland Miller - Bad Weather Painting 2

Miller's Letter Paintings draw on his study of the history of lettering and illuminated manuscripts and have a pop art vibe...

Harland Miller - If

Harland Miller - Ace

Inspired by a box of Penguin books outside an English bookshop in Paris, Miller began painting graphic covers in the 1990s with newly invented titles, aiming also to evoke in the painting the secondhand dog eared look of the books.

Harland Miller - Rags to Polyester - My Story

Harland Miller - Death, What's In It For Me?

Miller's work, hovering between humour and despair, hope and disappointment is very entertaining - well worth a look!

Gillian Lowndes: On the Edge at CoCA, York Art Gallery

Gillian Lowndes - Collage With Bathroom Tile

Gillian Lowndes exhibition "On the Edge" at the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) at York Art Gallery is on until May 2020.  Lowndes (1936-2010) is considered to be the most radical ceramicist of the 20th Century.

Gillian Lowndes - Brick Bag With Pot Shards

From the 1970s she developed mixed media 3D "collages" using discarded man-made objects and natural materials combined with latex, fibreglass and clay which were then fired in a kiln.  The resulting elements were then glued or wired together to create her compositions...

Gillian Lowndes - Corrugated Composition (Bird)

Gillian Lowndes - Collage With Tomato Root

Gillian Lowndes - Hooks

If you like interesting assemblages, this is the exhibition for you!

Lucie Rie - Ceramics & Buttons at York Art Gallery

Lucie Rie - Ceramic Buttons

Lucie Rie, 1902-1995, was an admired and respected 20th century potter. Showing in the Ceramics and Buttons exhibition at York Art Gallery are her bowls, bottles, vases and buttons.  My particular interest was her buttons.  Take a look...

Lucie Rie - Ceramic Buttons

Rie's button manufacture was set up during the Second World War. The buttons were sold to the fashion trade, to couturiers such as Paquin and department stores like Liberty and Harrods.  Couturiers could use Rie's buttons as adornment without flouting the clothing manufacture austerity measures of the Second World War.

Lucie Rie - Ceramic Buttons

Lucie Rie - Ceramic Buttons

Lucie Rie - Ceramic Buttons

Alison Welsh, Head of Fashion Research at Manchester Metropolitan University, has made some garments inspired by the modernist qualities of Rie's ceramics and featuring her buttons.  They emphasise the hand woven and the handmade, harking back to the days when dressmaker's or couturier's skills were sought after.

Lucy Rie - Buttons & Alison Walsh - Garments

Lucie Rie - Bowl 1970s

The lava like surface of this bowl is achieved by adding silicon carbide to the glaze.  Firing causes the glaze to bubble and form craters...

Lucie Rie - Bowl c 1985

Lucie Rie - Bottle 1959

Lucie Rie - Bottle c1978

Check out this exhibition on at York Art Gallery until 12 May 2019.

York Art Gallery Reopened

Clare Twomey - Manifest:10,000 Hours

York Art Gallery reopened in August after being closed for 2 years for a £8 million refurbishment.  The gallery is now 60 percent bigger with a new gallery on the first floor which is light and open.  There's an entrance at the rear which leads from a first floor terrace down to an open piazza and on to Museum Gardens.  The gallery has expanded into what was the City Archives next door and with a new larger cafe, new lifts, toilets, shops, it looks altogether better, lighter and more inviting.

First Floor Terrace

Views of the City Walls from the Terrace

Stairs from the Terrace (a lift is also available)

Rear Piazza linking to Museum Gardens

A special artwork by Clare Twomey was commissioned to celebrate the reopening of the gallery.  Manifest:10,000 hours is an impressive quantity of pots!  It is Clare's response to York's collection of ceramics.  There are 10,000 pots which take an hour each to make and are a comment on the amount of time it takes to master a skill.  They have been individually handmade by people from across the UK.

Clare Twomey - Manifest:10,000 Hours (detail)

York Art Gallery now houses CoCA which is the Centre of Ceramic Art and forms the most representative public collection of British studio ceramics in the UK.  It also has an impressive collection of artworks including Old Masters, Victorian to contemprary paintings & sculptures and pictures of York itself.  The Upper North Gallery is hosting an exhibition curated by local artist, Mark Hearld, "The Lumber Room: Unimagined Treasures" - a room of miscellaneous stored objects and artefacts including new work from Mark himself.  This alone is a good enough reason to visit the York Art Gallery.

There has been a lot of controversy about admission charges to the Gallery but with a York Card (available to York Residents for £5) you can purchase a York Museums Trust Card for £11 which gives you free entry for a year to York Art Gallery, the Yorkshire Museum and the Castle Museum which seemes like quite a good deal to me.

Worth a look (or several)!