Angela Harding: Flights of Memory Media release

SOLO EXHIBITION BY PAINTER AND PRINTMAKER ANGELA HARDING OPENS AT YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK 19 November 2016–26 February 2017 This winter, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) presents Flights of Memory by painter and printmaker Angela Harding. The artist’s largest ever solo exhibition presents a striking collection of prints and paintings inspired by the thriving wildlife of Britain. The exhibition runs at YSP, near Wakefield, from 19 November 2016 to 26 February 2017. Flights of Memory will transform YSP Centre into a map of Britain, showcasing the islands’ birds and animals in their natural landscapes, from countryside to coast, hedgerow to heath. A series of six North Yorkshire- inspired prints, including Cherry Tree in Richmond and Curlew at Whitby Harbour, hark back to Harding’s childhood spent in the region. The artist has revisited locations reminiscent of that time to produce new works which are observational and also rely on a combination of imagination and memory. The exhibition premieres Harding’s mainly British bird alphabet, a series of 26 wood engravings, in the artist’s delicate and intriguing style, that take joy in the shape, form and pattern of our British birds. All 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 YSP. The artist has also designed an exclusive range of homeware for YSP Shop including a cake tin, apron, tea cosy and tray. Visitors are invited to join the artist for two unique one-day vinyl-cutting workshops at YSP on 19 November 2016 and 11 February 2017. Harding is an established painter and printmaker who works from her rural studio in Wing, Rutland. She is a founding member and former director of Leicester Print Workshop, and in recent years she has made regular contributions as an illustrator for Gardens Illustrated, BBC Countryfile and Country Living Magazine. Harding principally works in block print, combining vinyl or lino with layered coloured silkscreen and stencil, which gives a strong graphic emphasis to the work. YSP has led successful exhibitions with some of the UK’s best-known artists and designers including Mark Hearld, Angie Lewin, Emily Sutton and Rob Ryan. YSP Shop showcases original work by international artists and contemporary designers and makers.

NOTES TO EDITORS Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is the leading international centre for modern and contemporary sculpture. It is an independent charitable trust and registered museum (number 1067908) situated in the 500-acre, 18th-century Bretton Hall estate in West Yorkshire. Founded in 1977 by Executive Director Peter Murray, YSP was the first sculpture park in the UK, and is the largest of its kind in Europe, providing the only place in the world to see Barbara Hepworth’s The Family of Man in its entirety alongside a significant collection of sculpture, including 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 five indoor galleries and the open air. Recent highlights include exhibitions by Fiona Banner, Ai Weiwei, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Amar Kanwar, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Joan Miró and Jaume Plensa. 100 works on display across the estate include major sculptures by Roger Hiorns, Sol LeWitt, Dennis Oppenheim, Martin Creed, Anthony Caro and Magdalena Abakanowicz. YSP was named Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2014. YSP’s core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation and Sakurako and William Fisher through the Sakana Foundation. Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield WF4 4LG +44 (0)1924 832631 / ysp.co.uk

PRESS ENQUIRIES Abigail Varian, SUTTON +44 (0)20 7183 3577 [email protected] Kerry Chase, Yorkshire Sculpture Park +44 (0)1924 832 515 [email protected] Download images at ysp.co.uk/ysp-media Follow @YSPsculpture

Image credits: Summer Foxes at Marske Hall, courtesy the artist; Blackbird Stealing Redcurrants, courtesy the artist