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Waymarks

I’m showing some work in the beautiful Storey in central Lancaster from 25th November until 7th December. Please drop in for a look if you are passing by. Here are a few words that I wrote to go with the show:

For as long as I can remember I have spent as many hours as possible walking and exploring the diverse landscapes that surround my home on Morecambe Bay. I have found that certain places linger in my thoughts and draw me back time and time again – the limestone hills around Farleton, Burton and Hutton Roof; the salt marshes and mudflats on my doorstep at Bolton-le-Sands; and the industrial coastal paths at Heysham.

I have been documenting and expressing my experience of these places through photography, drawing, and painting for several years, but rather than exhausting possibilities over time, they appear to be expanding and multiplying. It seems the more I get to know a place, the more complex and layered my relationship with it becomes. This is increasingly exciting and absorbing. There are specific locations on my walks that continue to capture my attention and my imagination. I have come to think of these as Waymarks and I have begun to make an interconnected series of works about them.

This is an opportunity to share some of the drawings and paintings that I have been making here in my studio at The Storey, but my project is wider than this and will hopefully continue to develop. If you’d like to see more of the work, you can connect with me online in the following ways:

Instagram: @debbieyare

Facebook: facebook.com/debbieyareartist

Website: debbieyare.com

Email: [email protected]

Limestone Still Life Study, Watercolour

Waymarks was originally published on Debbie Yare

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Preoccupations

The following is a short piece of writing that accompanies my current exhibition, Preoccupations, at King Street Studios in Lancaster. I have also included some photographs of the exhibition and images of individual works. You can still catch the exhibition until 30th September:

Preoccupations, the title of this exhibition, refers to my ongoing engagement with two very different landscapes – Morecambe Bay, and the limestone hills near Farleton, Burton and Hutton Roof. Each of these places has its own unique qualities and characteristics that continue to draw me back time and time again.

The Bay at low tide is simply magical – an exposed, expansive space that is completely transformed by natural forces from one day to the next. I spend many of my evenings walking across the salt marshes and mudflats just off the coast at Bolton-le-sands – an area I have walked in and known since childhood. Essentially, this is where I go to relax and enjoy the sense of freedom that can be derived from open spaces. There is no pressure to work or obligations to fulfil. As such, it is likely that this is also the time that I am the most open to the world around me, and I have made many images as a result of my time there. What started as a kind of photographic relaxation has gained momentum and has become an important part of my Art practice.

Some of the most memorable experiences I have had whilst walking on The Bay have involved rapidly changing, dramatic atmospheric conditions. I have been captivated by the most extraordinary moments of light transforming the landscape around me, and then dissipating within seconds. It became increasingly important to make a record of these arresting events in time and translate them into paintings. I began by working with photographic images that I had snatched out of the moment to keep as a memento. I wondered if the strength of feeling at the point in time was somehow contained within the image itself – in the shape of a cloud or in the sweep of the horizon? The resulting works are thoughtfully and carefully constructed. I wanted to stay close to the physical characteristics and visual phenomena that make walking on The Bay such a unique and compelling experience. Yet somehow, whilst exploring the connections between the earth and the sky, the paintings have begun to take on a life of their own.

I have so much affection for the limestone hills, and the characterful trees and rock forms that I have met whilst walking there, I can’t stay away for too long. The elements that make up this landscape – rocky pavements scattered with vegetation; quarries and farmland; the elevated position and depth of view; and ever changing weather conditions, form a complicated visual feast that is challenging to draw and paint. I have been regularly walking and working in this area since 2003 and have come to know its footpaths and features like the back of my hand. Yet each experience there still offers something fresh and new.

Making work about this landscape has seemed so difficult at times I have doubted that I would produce anything beyond the small works in my notebooks. Looking back through these though, I am surprised by how much progress has gradually taken place over time. Dark, expressive charcoal drawings have evolved into more thoughtful line drawings, and even more recently work with colour. All of this has encouraged me to absorb and think about the landscape in different ways. Recently, whilst drawing a collection of limestone boulders at the edge of the fell, I noticed that I am often drawn to the relationships between objects in the landscape, and the spaces that hang in between them. I have since begun to focus in on this back at the studio. Perhaps this is a means of identifying elements that unify an often overwhelming and complex visual experience? It is all currently very much a work in progress.

Drift, Oil on panel, 30x30cm

A Storm Reflected, Oil on panel, 30x35cm

Sketchbook Painting 1

Sketchbook Painting 2

Sketchbook Painting 3

Sketchbook Painting 4

Sketchbook Painting 5

Sketchbook Painting 6

Standing Stones, Oil on Panel

I am always interested in reading your comments or answering your questions. Please share your thoughts with me using the form at the bottom of the page.

      Preoccupations was originally published on Debbie Yare

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A New Lease of Life for Two Lancaster Based Artists

A new art space in King Street, Lancaster, is to host an innovative exhibition by two of its resident artists.

Entitled ‘Preoccupations’, the exhibition will showcase drawing, painting, sculpture and film by local artists Laura van Tatenhove and Debbie Yare.

King Street Studios has made its name as a vibrant and contemporary art space in Lancaster’s city centre since opening in August 2017.

Over the past year, directors Roy Smith and Kath McDonald have curated an exciting programme of talks, workshops, performances and exhibitions of work by local, national and international artists.

However for this exhibition Roy and Kath have focused closer to home and invited Laura and Debbie, both of whom rent space at King Street, to present their latest art works.

Laura and Debbie first met in 2005 but lost contact until last year when they both rented space at King Street Studios. They have been making art alongside one another ever since.

Debbie said: “I’d been working on my own from home for some time and was feeling quite isolated. At King Street Studios , however, I really feel part of an art community.

“It’s been such a positive experience and this exhibition, as well as the workshops I’ve run, have really helped focus and expand my practice. As a result, the work that I’ve made for this show is my most ambitious to date.”

Laura added: “The title of the exhibition, Preoccupations, reflects the focussed, almost obsessive approach we have both had towards our respective subject matter since we moved into the studio.

“Debbie and I are very excited at this opportunity to exhibit together and feel that our work makes for a really interesting and thought-provoking show.

“One of the things I think will be great about this exhibition is how it will present the viewer with, amongst other things, two very different conceptions of space. Whilst Debbie has her eyes cast out across the landscape my gaze is, for the most part, turned inwards. My painted studies of the work of Jacopo Tintoretto, sculptures of human body parts and small film work are about a very detailed and tightly compressed space. Debbie’s work is expansive whereas mine contracts. I find the contrast really fascinating.”

‘Preoccupations’ runs from 13th to 30th September 2018 at King Street Studios, 5A King Street, Lancaster LA1 1JN

Please contact: [email protected] or 07743238663 for further information.

A New Lease of Life for Two Lancaster Based Artists was originally published on Debbie Yare

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Venturing Out

Spring is here and it is time to venture out more frequently to work outdoors. Working directly from the landscape is an important aspect of my practice that I would like to develop further, and after a long, cold winter in the studio, it feels absolutely essential. My first destination is the limestone hill just to the north-east of my home on Morecambe Bay, where I often walk with my sketchbooks and camera. I have been walking and working in this area since about 2003.

Even though it is April temperatures are still well below 10C, which is unusually cold for this time of year. I am heading for a group of large limestone boulders that lie at the edge of the hill, where I often stop to make some drawings on my travels. Thankfully they are only half a mile from the road where I park my car and the going is easy, but later on when the days are longer, I will be walking further across some troublesome terrain. Ten minutes pass and I can see the boulders up ahead. A sudden moment of full sunshine between the clouds transforms their rugged surface, and I stop to take in this familiar yet breathtaking sight. This odd grouping of pitted limestone rocks holds a long-lasting fascination for me and I have come to think of them as a giant still life within the landscape.

Working outdoors is a completely different experience to working in the studio. The landscape doesn’t have edges like drawings or photographs and the depth, breadth and detail of it is mind-boggling. I walk to the boulders, touch them and walk in between them. They are large and heavy, solid and reliable. I wonder why they draw me back time and time again, and it occurs to me that the repetition of revisiting the boulders and making work about them is a means via which I might measure myself – my progress. To see how my perception and rendering of the boulders and their surroundings has developed over time. There is more to it than this, but I like the idea that the work and I are in a constant state of flux, like the clouds above, while the boulders remain as fixed objects in this changing world.

As I begin to work the light shifts constantly, and shadows cast by clouds stalk across the landscape. Two blades of light suddenly appear on the distant hills, so I quickly draw them as they disappear again, holding their memory in my mind. The following four hours pass by like moments in a state of deep concentration, but the cold has got into my bones so I have to stop. Stepping back from the work I can see how tentative and uncertain it seems, but there is a playfulness about it that makes me smile. Before leaving I walk up the slope behind me to look down on the boulders from above. The surrounding landscape is far more visible up here and its presence fills my eyes. There is much more work to do here yet.

I am always interested in reading your comments or answering your questions. Please share your thoughts with me using the form at the bottom of the page.

The boulders at the edge of the fell. Like a still life in the landscape.

        Venturing Out was originally published on Debbie Yare

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Northern Grit - An Exhibition

I’m delighted to be exhibiting with Penny Hunt at Florence Art Centre in Cumbria during March and April. Please drop in to take a look at the show if you can. All the information is included below:

‘Northern Grit’ is an exhibition by northern artists Penny Hunt and Debbie Yare and is showing at Florence Arts Centre near Egremont, Cumbria from March 11th until April 22nd 2017. Both artists draw inspiration from direct experience of landscape, incorporating elements of the landscape into the work. Whether directly applying earth and grit to surfaces; using paint ground from locally sourced stone, or working directly from their surroundings to express a sense of place; there is always a vital connection between the landscape and the work created. A selection of paintings, drawings, photographs, prints and ceramics will be showcased and available to purchase during the exhibition.

“Working in the landscape, exposed to the elements, getting to know it’s different moods and responding to them intuitively. Or being inspired by a particular place that draws you back time and time again. These things are more about a need to convey the feeling of the landscape and your own relationship to it than simple visual representation.”

Florence Arts Centre, a former Iron ore mine in Egremont is the perfect venue for this collaborative exhibition. Florence Paintmakers create artists pigment, paints, and drawing materials on site using the iron ore once mined there; as well as hosting exhibitions, live music and other events. Each artist has incorporated the distinctive Egremont Red pigment into a selection of the work that will be exhibited.

There will be an opportunity to visit the exhibition and meet the artists on Sunday 12th March and they will be running a drawing and printmaking workshop that utilises themes from the exhibition on Saturday 18th March. Contact Florence Arts for details and to book a place.

Northern Grit runs between the 11th March and 30th April and can be viewed during normal opening hours: Wednesday-Sunday 10-4pm. Please visit www.florenceartscentre.com for more information.

Northern Grit Exhibition Poster

Northern Grit – An Exhibition was originally published on Debbie Yare

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A Year in Pictures

2016 has been a mountainous year with unforgettable highs and some tricky, hard to navigate lows. Looking back through the work I have made during this period has been an opportunity to reflect on what has been learned, to consider strengths and weaknesses, and to create a plan of action for the months ahead. It has also been an opportunity to remind myself of some of the best bits about being alive – The discovery and rediscovery of the incredible coastline and landscape that surrounds my home; and the challenge of new creative projects. Thanks so much to all my friends and contacts for continuing support this year and for encouraging me to stay focussed on the things that matter. I wish you all the very best.

Please take a moment to take a look through my ‘best of 2016’ – A slideshow of photographs, and selection of images out of my sketchbook and studio. An unforgettable year exploring the coastline, mountains and lakes, limestone landscapes, and the industrial history of this fascinating region.

  I am always interested in reading your comments or answering your questions. Please share your thoughts with me using the form below.

  A Year in Pictures was originally published on Debbie Yare

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Crossing Familiar Terrain

I have had a busy summer of creating, exhibiting, and grabbing precious opportunities to work in the outdoors. As Autumn crept in I returned to wander in the limestone fells and pavements to the north, more frequently than ever. Autumn is a special event here, and this year it has been so spectacular, I have struggled to tear myself away. Having said that, these limestone pavements and their surrounds have always been special to me, and this hyperactive period of visiting seems to be part of a cycle that I go through – that often includes other locations within reach of my doorstep.

It is so good to be back amongst the rocks adding to my catalogue of adventures here, and to my collection of work about the area. In many ways each new experience is more exciting than the last; and even more engaging than my first visits, working on door sized canvasses on the pavements back in 2006. It seems that familiarity breeds an extra special kind of satisfaction in my evolving relationship with this place. Each drawing connects me to the landscape, and also to myself, strengthening a bond that can never be broken, no matter how far I travel away.

I have enjoyed some amazing conditions on the rocks in the last few weeks, and have drawn and photographed with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. I have sat and watched as the late evening light transformed the pavements into a symphony of shapes, colour, light and shadows. I’ve sheltered amongst standing stones with my sketchbook as dark, brooding storms have passed from west to east, and have been thrashed by the wind. There is always something new to see and learn. For the first time in a long time, the work has taken a leap out of my sketchbook, and grabbed a hold in the studio. I am excited about what may evolve from this.

There is some recent work below. Please click on an image to view in the lightbox.

I am always interested in reading your comments. Please share your thoughts with me using the form below.

Crossing Familiar Terrain was originally published on Debbie Yare

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Moving Through Landscape - An Exhibition

I’ll be taking part in a joint exhibition – Moving Through Landscape, between 8th October and 5th November 2016 at Signature Gallery in Kendal, Cumbria. This is an exciting opportunity to showcase a selection of new and recent works inspired by experiences walking and exploring landscapes near and far.

I hope many of my local contacts and friends will be able to join us at the Preview on Saturday 8th October between 2 and 5pm, or visit the exhibition during it’s run. I have included details about the venue below.

Moving Through Landscape can be viewed at Signature Gallery during normal opening hours:

Mon – Wed 10-5pm, Thurs- 10-4pm, Fri – Sat: 10-5pm

I’m always interested in reading your comments, please share your thoughts with me using the form below..

  Moving Through Landscape – An Exhibition was originally published on Debbie Yare

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Walking Through our Industrial Past

Walking is discovery and rediscovery. I have great enthusiasm for walking in the landscape as it provides life-affirming adventures and experiences, new inspiration, and renewed enthusiasm for life. Even a familiar place can reveal something different about itself on another new day.

Recently I have been exploring pathways that pass through old disused mines and quarries which have provided an endless source of inspiration over the last few months….

Back in February, whilst walking in the woods, a break in the path emerged at a huge disused limestone quarry. Massive cliffs plunged towards the ground heavily patterned with marks made by the machinery that cut the stone away; lined at their upper edges with an audience of trees peering over the precipice into the man-made arena below. A parting of the clouds, a shaft of light and a rainbow added even more poetry to this already rich and storied landscape. It was a remarkable moment which resonated for weeks and caused me to consider some of the similar places I had also walked through recently. Disused slate quarries harshly located on the rugged Cumbrian Fells, exposed to the elements, their slate spoil heaps and machinery cast around in memory of their industrial past. Quarried limestone cliffs that have been reclaimed by nature and are now protected and managed as nature reserves. Havens for trees and birds, and for visitors seeking peace or recreation. Since then I have walked through many similar landscapes in the area and have begun to make work about them.

You can feel a real sense of industrial history in disused quarries, which have a haunting atmosphere often associated with abandoned places. It is easy to imagine the harsh conditions for workers; especially in winter time. On the other hand, there is the new life taking root between rocks and nesting in cliffs; or the surrounding rugged, mountainous terrain, whipped by the wind, to offer another fascinating perspective.

Industrial landscapes have always fascinated me, usually because of their location and especially when they are juxtaposed with natural, rugged landscapes, and are exposed to the elements. There is such a startling relationship between nature and landscape here; with numerous stories, textures, and colours, that might offer inspiration. I wanted to post this to coincide with my joint exhibition, ‘Nature Returning’ which runs until the 22nd June in Lancaster, and features some of this quarry inspired work. An exhibition that seems to mark the beginning of a project, rather than the end of it. I hope to make many more works inspired by these wonderful landscapes

I have posted a selection of the works below. Please click on an image to open in the lightbox.

You can view more work in this series by visiting my gallery pages.

I’m always very interested in reading your comments. Please share your thoughts with me using the form below.

            Walking Through our Industrial Past was originally published on Debbie Yare

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Nature Returning - An Exhibition

I’ll be taking part in a joint exhibition with fellow Artist and landscape lover Fay Collins between 28th April and 22nd June.

‘Nature Returning’ is the first exhibition to be showcased in the Williamsons Gallery at Ashton Memorial in Lancaster since it’s refurbishment last year. The exhibition features paintings, drawings, prints and photographs inspired by nature returning to post-industrial landscapes. Particularly landscapes in North Lancashire and South Cumbria that have been quarried. These include Trowbarrow Nature Reserve (Silverdale), Hodge Close (Coniston), and Williamson’s Park itself where footpaths weave through rocky outcrops remaining from the old quarry that once provided stone for Lancaster’s buildings.

The exhibition is the result of numerous explorations and observations of these fascinating altered landscapes. There is a real sense of industrial history, juxtaposed with the new life taking root between the rocks and nesting in cliffs. The haunting atmosphere of the quarried landscapes combined with often subtle and unexpected beauty makes great inspiration for creativity.

‘Nature Returning’ runs between 28th April and 22nd June, between 10am until 5pm. If you are making a special visit on a Saturday please be aware that the gallery is occasionally closed for other events. Fay and I will be at the gallery at Ashton Memorial every Monday throughout the duration of the exhibition, so why not drop in and say hello? Prints and unframed originals will be also available for purchase.

As always, I’m very interested in reading your comments. Please share your thoughts with me using the form below.

Exhibition Poster

Nature Returning – An Exhibition was originally published on Debbie Yare

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The Old Man's Quarry by Debbie Yare Via Flickr:

The Old Man's Quarry, Digital Photograph, Copyright © 2016 Debbie Yare, All rights reserved

A selection of beautiful archival prints now available at The Print Area

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The Descent by Debbie Yare Via Flickr:

The Descent, Digital Photograph, Copyright © 2016 Debbie Yare, All rights reserved

A selection of beautiful archival prints now available at The Print Area

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Landscape Stories - An Exhibition

My exhibition ‘Landscape Stories’ is showing at The Dukes in Lancaster between 1st March and 4th April 2016. This is an exciting opportunity for me to show a wide range of recent work including photographs, drawings and paintings; alongside posts from my blog.

I hope many of my local contacts and friends will be able to visit the exhibition. I have included details about the venue below.

Open daily. Landscape Stories can be viewed in The Dukes gallery during normal opening hours. If you are making a special trip please contact the Box Office on 01524 598500 as sometimes the gallery is used for other activities.

The Dukes, Moor Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1QE

http://dukes-lancaster.org/

As always, I’m very interested in reading your comments. Please share your thoughts with me using the form below.

    Landscape Stories – An Exhibition was originally published on Debbie Yare

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Landscapes in Transition

Can you imagine the landscape as a container of memories, or maybe imagine the mind as a landscape where individual memories are like objects scattered about its terrain? Humans are inseparable from the landscape; we have lived upon it, re-shaped it to meet our needs, and have left it ‘littered’ with evidence of our history. Our individual and collective stories have been woven through the land, through time and memory.

When I sat down to write this my intention was to say something about transitions in landscape and I guess that this idea about memories ties in with that. I don’t mean the kind of transitions that happen from season to season or from day to night. Rather those that involve human interventions, and activities that have shaped our landscape over longer periods of time. The cliffs that remain on the site of a disused quarry, years after its rock has ceased to be useful for industry, are now used for recreation by climbers. Old, empty buildings that slowly decay while nature begins to re-take control. A landfill site, it’s past hidden beneath green grass and grazing horses. Or perhaps a new building development that alters a familiar skyline? Our surroundings are in a constant state of flux.

These ‘transitions’ are landscape stories. They tell us things about places, the people who have been there before us, or the people who are there now. Such landscape stories may seem to be imbued with emotion – feelings that cling to a place. There is a kind of beauty in all these stories. Not a traditional kind of beauty, and sometimes it isn’t obvious, but it is there if you are prepared to look for it.

From my series ‘Transitions’. Please click on an image to view in the lightbox.

As always, I’m very interested in reading your comments. Please share your thoughts with me using the form below.

All images and content: Copyright © 2012-2016, Debbie Yare, All rights reserved

    Landscapes in Transition was originally published on Debbie Yare

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Believing

I published this post on an older version of my blog a couple of years ago and have considerably revised and updated it to include here. I leave it again as a reminder not to allow doubt and negativity to interfere with plans and goals; and to remember to make space in the day to simply ‘be’…

Every day, weather permitting, I walk from my house to the sea. This has become an increasingly important part of my creative journey, and I miss it terribly if it is too stormy and wet, as it is today. These walks are a gift to myself, a special time to recharge the batteries, reflect, and look around. I have always felt better somehow when walking in the outdoors – more vital and alive, but also more relaxed and at peace. The act of walking projects the body through space whilst simultaneously allowing the mind to meander through a series of thoughts, and the eye to stroll along the horizon. I have discovered a beautiful rhythm in this which I like to think of as a kind of meditation. There is no pressure to make or do anything creative, although I always carry a camera and sketchbook. Whilst photography and drawing are part of my daily work activities, they are also hugely therapeutic and life affirming when the all too familiar pressures of time and money are removed from the equation. The pauses between steps, the clicks of the shutter, or pencil marks falling across paper, naturally become part of the rhythm of the walk.

It is remarkably common for people to be discouraged from their goals and dreams by fear of failure, lack of confidence or self doubt. So it is during these walks that I am slowly cultivating a kind of positive thought that I suddenly realise is a crucial part in achieving anything that is significant in our lives….I am starting to believe…This is so simple, yet so important, that I had to rush home and write it down…..

Since sharing this the first time, I’ve developed a whole body of photographic works, and a number of significant ideas for studio work as a direct result of these relaxing excursions along the coastline. I have also swung from euphoric states of believing back to hopeless states of unbelieving. The walking always brings me back to the former, and for that I am eternally grateful.

The images below are from the ongoing project One Mile of Coastline, which has gradually emerged from my daily seaward wanderings. The project can be seen in full here.

As always, I’m very interested in reading your comments. Please share your thoughts with me using the form below.

All images and content: Copyright © 2012-2016, Debbie Yare, All rights reserved

  Believing was originally published on Debbie Yare

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After the Rain by Debbie Yare Via Flickr:

After the Rain, Digital Photograph, Copyright © 2015 Debbie Yare, All rights reserved

A selection of beautiful archival prints now available at The Print Area

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Unexpected Beauty at the Landfill Site by Debbie Yare Via Flickr:

Unexpected Beauty at the Landfill Site, Digital Photograph, Copyright © 2015 Debbie Yare, All rights reserved

Now available as a beautiful archival print at The Print Area