Printmaker Angela Harding revisits her Yorkshire childhood favourites in her biggest ever solo show

Great British Life: Shippen CurlewShippen Curlew (Image: Archant)

Foxes, seals, curlews and even an excitable, stick-wielding dog make an appearance in a striking new exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park on the outskirts of Wakefield.

Flights of Memory is a walk on the wild side for painter and printmaker Angela Harding as she undertakes her largest ever solo exhibition, presenting a collection of prints and paintings inspired by the thriving wildlife of Britain.

The exhibition, which runs from November 19th to February 26th, looks set to transform the YSP centre into a flora and fauna map of the country, showcasing the islands’ birds and animals in their natural landscapes, from countryside to coast, hedgerow to heath.

Nestling comfortably among the greenery are six North Yorkshire-inspired prints, including Cherry Tree in Richmond and Curlew at Whitby Harbour, which hark back to the artist’s childhood.

Great British Life: Winter HareWinter Hare (Image: Archant)

She has taken the time to revisit many locations reminiscent of times past to produce new works that are observational and also rely on a combination of imagination and memory.

Harding, who works from her rural studio in Wing, Rutland, is a founding member and former director of Leicester Print Workshop, and in recent years has made regular contributions as an illustrator for Gardens Illustrated and BBC Countryfile.

She principally works in block print, combining vinyl or lino with layered coloured silkscreen and stencil, which gives a strong graphic emphasis to the work.

This delicate, intriguing style is shown to great effect in her mainly British bird alphabet, which will be premiered as part of her Yorkshire show. The series of 26 wood engravings takes particular joy in the shape, form and pattern of our vast plethora of native birds, making a fascinating conversation piece both individually and as a whole.

Great British Life: Barney with StickBarney with Stick (Image: Archant)

All the works in Flights of Memory are available to buy, along with a limited edition screen-printed linocut and silk-screen print featuring a hare among the seed heads in the grounds of Newby Hall, Ripon, produced by The Penfold Press in Selby and exclusive to the sculpture park.

And if you’d like to set your own inner artist free, you can book a place on a one-day vinyl-cutting workshop with Harding at the beautiful West Yorkshire art park on November 19th and February 11th. For details, visit ysp.co.uk

Why YSP?

Yorkshire Sculpture Park is the leading international centre for modern and contemporary sculpture, sitting amid 500 suitably beautiful acres on the 18th century Bretton Hall estate in West Yorkshire.

It was founded in 1977 by executive director Peter Murray, who created the first sculpture park in the UK and, subsequently, the largest of its kind in Europe.

It’s the only place in the world where you can see Barbara Hepworth’s The Family of Man in its entirety alongside a significant collection of bronzes by Henry Moore and site-specific works by Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash and James Turrell.

YSP also mounts a world-class, year-round temporary exhibitions programme including some of the world’s leading artists across its five indoor galleries and its vast open air art-space.

Recent highlights include exhibitions by Fiona Banner, Ai Weiwei, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Amar Kanwar, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Joan Miró and Jaume Plensa.