He taught ceramics at St Helens College of Art and Design and Wirral Metropolitan College and also spent three years at Island Pottery in Bermuda. Returning to the UK in 1997, Simon re-established his workshop and has been a full time maker since, exhibiting in the UK, Greece, Norway and Bequia in the Caribbean.

The work for this show is mainly thrown and distorted: a balance between control and chance.Crank, stoneware and porcelain clays are used predominantly with blue/ green/ purple matt glazes fired to 1200 degrees celsius.

“Just over a year ago since his last exhibition, A Sense of Time, at the Maltkin Road gallery Chris’s latest work encourages us to discover the ‘Life of Stuff’” said Exhibitions Officer Richard Hatfield.“His work focuses on how objects change through the processes of use, erosion or decay and develop a new existence,” he went on.

And Chris added:  “Nature will fight back and weave patterns where none were intended.  Weather will sculpt new forms from precision materials, sunlight will peel and fade one thing while illuminating another creating new life among the every day stuff of life.”

“Everything in the world, whether it be a tree or a rock, a building or a chair, every object has a life of its own. It is a living thing,” he continued.

Many of Chris’s photographs have been taken around the Humber foreshore which has provided a rich source of material which many would overlook – such as peeling paint, spalled and water-stained concrete and rusted maritime forms.

“From my early times as a schoolboy photographer I saw things and photographed them long before I really knew what I was pursuing, simply because I was fascinated by the hidden pictures in my surroundings,” Chris explained.

The exhibition in Gallery One continues until Sunday, June 9.  The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm from Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays.  Admission is free.

The exhibition “A Sense of Place” has been curated by The Ropewalk’s print tutor Tim Needham and features work by some of this country’s leading printmakers.

“This has been a long time in the planning,” said Tim.  “The common theme running throughout the exhibition is the influence of places on these printmakers.”

“Their observation of ‘place’ as individuals is unique, although together they reveal their ability to capture the ‘Sense of Place’”, Tim went on.

“These artists through the medium of print have placed emphasis on the impact of place, shaped by human activity over time. With drama apprehension, and awe in confronting the sublimation of landscape and its picturesque qualities, whether in the dales or the city or near the sea.”

“Another point of interest is that while some works have been done “En plein air” or in the open air, others have been worked in the studio.”

The exhibition features many aspects of printmaking including screenprinting, sugar lift, drypoint, fine line etchings and relief printing.

It features work by Norman Ackroyd, John Duffin, Paul Hawdon, Trevor Price, Clare Halifax and Hakan Ulusman.

The exhibition in Gallery One continues until Sunday, June 2.  The Ropewalk is open from Monday to Saturday between 10am and 5pm and on Sundays and Bank Holidays between 10am and 4pm.  Admission is free.

“Everything in the world, whether it be a tree or a rock, a building or a chair, every object has a life of its own. It is a living thing”. Oliver Gagliani.

I am drawn to these phenomena. They almost make me laugh out loud sometimes. They make me alive. When I am photographing them I am transported, flying, seeing a harmony and rhythm, empowered by a kind of synaesthesia. These feelings continues during my processing and printing, inspiring enhancement or intensification of the original perception in an endeavour to express, through abstract images, the sheer joy of seeing.

“Our imagination is stretched to the utmost. Not as in fiction to imagine things that are not really there but just to comprehend the things that are there”. Richard Feynman

Chris Harland

This Exhibition, ‘A Sense of Place’, brings together an experienced group of Printmakers.

Their observation of ‘place’ as individuals is unique, although together they reveal their ability to capture the ‘Sense of Place’.

Samuel Palmer stated that the spiritual essence of landscape is elevated when “it has passed through the soul”. Palmer’s theory belongs to the romantic tradition; along with Coleridge, Palmer saw landscape as a conjuring up the ‘inscape’, the inner life of place.

These artists through the medium of print have placed emphasis on the impact of place, shaped by human activity over time; with drama, apprehension, and awe in confronting the sublimation of landscape and its picturesque qualities, whether in the dales, the city or near the sea.

Stand for a while in front of these prints as you might ‘take in a view’, be in the shoes of the artists, and look long and hard.

Tim Needham

A spokesman for the club said they were looking for help with items such as baby powder and soap, feeding bottles, babygrow suits, bibs and clothes.

Already the Club has collected a large quantity of baby items from members of the club itself and at St Mary’s, Trinity and St Augustine Webster churches.

“Items that are too large to fit into a shoebox can be transported separately,” said the spokesman.

“We are delighted to support the Rotary club with this,” said The Ropewalk’s Managing Director, Liz Bennet.  “Already we have been overwhelmed with the amount of support that this initiative has gained.  New items are being placed in the crib on a very regular basis.”

The collection crib can be found in the Ropery Coffee Shop and will be there until the end of this month.

“The first three meals, one this month and two in May, tie in with events at Ropery Hall but you need not to be going to Ropery Hall to enjoy an evening in the lovely surroundings of the Coffee Shop,” said Liz Bennet of The Ropewalk.  “If you are going onto Ropery Hall we can reserve your seats for you.”

The first three Cook’s two course Early Evening Meals take place on Saturdays, April 13 and May 4 and Friday, May 24., with two sittings at 6.30pm and 7pm.

On each of the three dates there is a main course of a meat, fish or vegetarian dish, all served with seasonal vegetables and potatoes as well as a visit to the famous Cook’s Pudding Table where there is a choice from one hot and three cold puddings as well as a selection from the cheese board.

“Cooks already hold very successful Pudding Club Nights here at The Ropewalk and it seemed a natural progression to further extend this to an evening meal,” Liz continued.  “We’ve been asked many times previously if we would consider offering evening meals particularly by those who travel some distance to our events, so we are delighted to be able to do this.”

Meals cost £18 and booking, in person at the Craft Gallery or by calling 01652 660380,  is essential.  Menu selection and payment is also required in advance.

Full details of the new venture, along with themed evening meals devised by the Coffee Shop’s manager Amanda Foster and her staff as well as Cook’s Pudding Club nights can be found on http://www.the-ropewalk.co.uk/coffeeshop/coffee-shop-evening-meals

Twists and Turns features work by 26 full members of East Riding Artists in a wide range of media.

The Ropewalk’s Exhibitions Officer, Richard Hatfield, said he was very impressed with the high standard of work in the exhibition.”

“It is the first time that the group East Riding Artists as a group has exhibited at The Ropewalk,” he said.

“The exhibition, being staged in the Artspace, features  selected works of these 26 members of the organisation and shows a wide range of media including paintings, photography, jewellery, sculpture and ceramics,” he went on.

“Working to the loose theme of Twists and Turns, members responded enthusiastically to the subject to produce a display of work that is strong both in excellence and variety,” Richard continued.

“It was lovely to welcome so many of the artists and their friends to the preview of the exhibition which already has proved very popular for sales,” he said.

The exhibition continues until Sunday, April 21.

Now a second date, Sunday June 23, has been added to the date of the original workshop which takes place the day before.

In the workshop Alice will explain the potential for using rusty objects for printing on paper as well as the different methods used for transferring colour from rusty metal and ways to develop these prints with further layered techniques.

Her show, Textures of Spurn, evolved from her current work based on coastal themes.  She was artist in residence at Spurn Point National Nature Reserve over a six-month period during 2012 and during that time recorded her experience on the narrow sand spit: the wide horizons, windswept beaches, an abundance of migrating birds and other wildlife as well as fascinating patterns in mud and sand as the tide constantly ebbed and flowed.

All participants have to bring along with them is a small rusty object to be used as a starting point.  All other materials will be provided.

The Sunday workshop runs from 10.30am until 4pm and costs £35 or £32 if you are a Ropewalk Member.

One thing that did come across strongly was a willingness to help and for that I am extremely grateful. So never let it be said that we let the grass grow under our feet – our first ever call for volunteers!

Could you deliver some of the Ropewalk Magazines when you are out and about? We would like to have a presence in every hairdressers, dentist, opticians, doctors, company staff room, gym, and public space in Lincolnshire, East Riding, Hull and beyond. If you can take magazines out for us please email Jodie@the-ropewalk.co.uk with details of where you can take them and we will compile a list of where they are going and email to you so you can see if we’ve missed any. We will then email our army of distribution volunteers when the magazines are printed every quarter.

Ideas we will be looking into over the next couple of months are

• Legacy giving for The Ropewalk on the website
• Programming film and theatre matinees in the next autumn programme
• Compilation of a mailing list of large companies to put Ropewalk Magazines in their staff rooms and details on their HR mailings
• More dancing gigs like Hot 8 to change the demographic of the audience
• Presence at local shows ie Lincolnshire, Winterton
• Establish a children’s trail/cultural passport

Ones that will take more discussion and consideration

• Week of films – International film festival
• Tattoo convention
• Literature festival
• Speed dating
• Film club
• Burlesque and cocktails night
• Community kiln and pottery room
• London Affordable Art Fair
• Transport to events for older patrons
• Research becoming an English Heritage “associated attraction”
• Customer survey/questionnaire for those who currently do not attend.  Canvas more widely
• Leaflet drop
• Establish permanent outdoor eating area for Coffee Shop
• Events Board at Tesco
• Seek nominations for national/regional tourism competitions and similar
• Community art event
• Museum at night sleepovers

If anyone has any further comments please contact me.

Liz Bennet