Location: North Yorkshire
Art Medium: Mixed Media
Education:
B.A (Hons) Graphic Design with Illustration, Bristol University
Jo York is a contemporary artist based in the beautiful North Yorkshire. Jo is the daughter of a professional artist and art has always been huge part of her life. Her work is inspired by the landscapes she loves, not only her Yorkshire home but many favourite places further afield.
Jo is an avid walker and it is here out in the wild, open spaces she finds her inspiration. Although her work is abstracted to varying degrees, it always comes from a feeling of being in a specific place at a specific time. When out walking Jo captures sensations of weather and atmosphere in her mind , along with photo references and small, quick sketches capturing colours and shapes. All of this helps her to anchor the finished painting into her chosen place and feeling. Back home she will work on small scale paintings her sketch book, free intuitive works that serve as a jumping off point for her larger pieces. She can play with ideas, colours and forms here.
“Ideas tend to come when I’m out walking; all the time, I’m noticing shapes and contrasts, atmosphere, layers and textures. Then back in the studio, I’ll start to play around with colour palettes, thumbnail sketches, notes, studies etc…until something grabs me that is worth developing”
Jo’s paintings are made slowly, building up multiple layers of opaque and translucent paint, before then scraping back and sometimes incising details, adding a beautiful depth and complexity to her work.
Jo has exhibited her work widely across the UK and her work is featured in many private and corporate collections worldwide. As well as her own artistic practice, Jo is passionate about art education, she was the Art Consultant for North Yorkshire County Council for over 10 years, and has also worked as a freelance consultant working with heritage bodies and sites, schools, colleges and universities.
Artist Statement
“I’ve worked in Art all my life; as a teacher, mentor, art consultant and art finder, designer and artist… After many years combining my Art practice with consultancy in Arts education, I’m now focussing completely on developing my own practice, mainly as a painter. My work comes from a strong sense of place derived from walking in the landscape; absorbing it in all weathers, seasons and moods. Landscapes are full of layers; geological and historical, industrial and personal- they carry traces of what’s gone before, and this is what fascinates and intrigues me. I abstract ideas from the landscapes I know well, using observation, imagination and memory.
Current work is exploring margins in those areas where land, sea, water and sky, shift and merge and change, and the wild landscapes of North Yorkshire, Cornwall and Scotland are recurring themes. My paintings are made slowly, building multiple layers and often scraping back and incising detail, before glazing over the top, to create a complex picture surface. Acrylics are central to my practice as I love their flexibility and immediacy, but I also work in oils, mixed media, textiles and print.I tend to work in series, and in a range of square formats between 41cm and 1m, and a larger landscape format of about 120 x 90 cm.”
See Jo’s work currently represented by us here:
Paintings: Jo York
Website: www.joyorkart.co.uk Instagram: @joyorkart