YORK artist Jake Attree and Canadian poet Robert Powell have united for an exhibition with a focus on Yorkshire rivers at Lotte Inch Gallery in Bootham, York.
"It was a morning in late September, the fog just lifting, and we just started walking south along the Ouse, not at all sure what we were embarking on," recalls Powell.
So began A Small Box Of River, an exhibition inspired by a series of walks by the Ouse and the Foss over the past year that elicited a series of drawings and poems that attempts to capture the appearance and the spirit of the two rivers.
River Bend, Fulford, by Jake Attree
"We were very conscious of the power of the rivers and their importance in the lives of local people, and the terrible Christmas-time floods occurred halfway through the work," says Attree, one of Yorkshire's most accomplished artists, who was born and brought up in York, whereas Powell moved to the city in 2014.
"Jake wanted to revisit some of the places he grew up in, while I was keen to explore my new home ground," says Powell. "Rather than wander haphazardly, we decided to let the rivers Foss and Ouse guide us."
Gallery curator Lotte Inch says: "Attree's drawings are powerful yet delicate renderings of the rivers' visual qualities, while Powell's poems alternate between pondering their shifting moods and telling stories about people and events from the past: a man who wins a fortune at the races; a young woman daredevil teetering on a bridge; the ghostly footsteps of railway workers."
Robert Powell's poem Shoal
In addition to Attree's original drawings, the show includes framed lithographic prints that combine poems and drawings. "The exhibition explores the relationship and interplay between the written word and the visual, the different tools of the artist and writer," says Lotte.
The exhibition also marks the launch of a limited-edition artists’ book, A Small Box Of River, produced by Attree & Powell in the form of a box. Signed copies, in a run of only 150, are available for purchase throughout the show.
A Small Box Of River, Drawings & Poems by Jake Attree & Robert Powell runs at Lotte Inch Gallery, York, until Saturday and then transfers to Salts Mill, in Saltaire, Shipley, from November 19 to December 24.
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