A Breath of Fresh Air

A tawny owl sweeps down over the winter grass in search of its prey against a stone wall and bare winter trees in the early morning as the sun is rising. colour palette of yellows, pinks, blues in the sky - cool blues and yellows foreground

Winter On The Moors | at Eastgate Gallery July 2nd - August 13th 2022

Last Wednesday I delivered my work to Susan Leeson, at Eastgate Studios in Beverley, East Yorkshire. What a lovely town!

Susan very kindly offered me the use of her self catering cottage for Wednesday and Thursday night so I could attend the preview and give my artist talk. (If you find yourself in that part of the world I can recommend it. It’s a very comfortable two bedroom (sleeps 4) terraced house, just minutes walk from the town centre and the Minster, with off street parking AND a jacuzzi!)

What a breath of fresh air to be able to deliver work and stay on for a preview. Haven’t been to one of those in a very longtime. Susan has a lovely independent studio above the gallery. She told me it used to be a very old established book shop in the town and one night whilst sitting in traffic she noticed the premises was up for sale. She spent the lockdowns converting it into a gallery and a printmaking studio for herself. Now however, she has opened the studio part to paying members who come to her for tuition and stay on as members for continued access to the equipment and space.

d prints lined up against the bottom of the wall prior to hanging
w of the gallery looking out through the window where I hung prints plus 'Startled II' hanging against the bright orange wall

Behind the gallery on the ground floor there is a silk screen facility. On the first floor there’s a Hawthorne etching press similar to mine in one room and an office/workshop room on the other side of the staircase. Up on the attic floor there’s space for cutting mounts and framing and storage. Susan also sells paper, inks, rollers and other printmaking equipment. The studio supports the gallery and the gallery supports the studio.

Throughout Wednesday afternoon as I was hanging the exhibition, and Thursday as I added the finishing touches, people dropped in off the street to come and see what was going on and have a chat. I met some fascinating characters who seemed genuinely interested in my prints. I popped back to the cottage around four to freshen up for the preview and when I returned two small prints had already been sold.

The preview was so enjoyable. I found myself being asked loads of questions about how I make my work, how I got into printmaking, Such lovely people. I’d forgotten what it is like to socialise and to talk to people share my passion for original print.

Carol NunanEastgate Studio & Gallery