Sally Taylor’s show, Mouths And Triangles, Duckett & Jeffreys gallery, Malton, until April 24 (From York Press)

Sally Taylor’s show, Mouths And Triangles, Duckett & Jeffreys gallery, Malton, until April 24

3:28pm Friday 12th March 2010 in

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Artists and partners Ian and Stef Mitchell plan an edgy programme of solo shows for their new contemporary art gallery, Duckett & Jeffreys, in Old Maltongate, Malton.

The gallery’s first show is the intriguingly entitled Mouths And Triangles, a series of drawings by Sally Taylor, a 2004 and 2009 Jerwood Drawing Prize nominee who is acknowledged for her contribution to contemporary drawing practice.

Launched yesterday, Sally’s exhibition comes in the wake of her relocation to Yorkshire. She is showing an expressive series of drawings of mouths and symbols: “They affirm a desire to understand more about human relationships, specifically my own interaction with others,” she says.

Ian and Stef’s gallery will focus on painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, digital, drawing and collage, and their choices will be “founded on years of visual decision-making” in their own careers.

“We aim to show artists that are brave, have a confident aesthetic and an imaginative application of concepts and materials,” says Stef. “It will be the sort of work that makes us personally excited and art that we would travel to see and buy – art that’s edgy.”

Ian and Stef’s own artistic pursuits have led them to favour the solo spotlight in Duckett & Jeffreys’ programming, in which a series of six-week exhibitions will be mounted under the name of DJ - Solos. “As practising artists ourselves we realise that there are very few opportunities for artists to have solo shows in the North of England,” says Ian. “Solo shows are vitally important in the development of an artist’s career.”

Running alongside Mouths And Triangles will be work from the Duckett & Jeffreys art collection in the gallery’s Selections Room. “Our first DJ Selection has an international focus and is called Three Americans Draw, and it features pieces linked by a common obsession for drawings,” says Stef.

The gallery owners bring 15 years of working together to their new enterprise, having run a design consultancy, Brighthouse Design, as well as supporting each other artistic endeavours.

“Our leisure time is spent immersed in the arts, so for us opening a gallery is just a natural progression of our journey,” says Stef.

They first met in Newcastle in their early Eighties’ student days, when Ian was training in graphic design and Stef, who is originally from Pickering, was studying performing and creative arts. This was followed by a move to London where Ian worked in advertising and Stef attended Goldsmiths College, giving both a chance to develop their artistic styles.

They returned to Yorkshire in the early 1990s to raise their children and settled in Sledmere. Now comes their new venture, Duckett & Jeffreys, named incidentally after their grandmothers. “Stef’s was blind and deaf and mine had no taste but both were highly optimistic old ladies who are sadly no longer with us,” says Ian.

Sally Taylor’s show, Mouths And Triangles, runs at Duckett & Jeffreys, in Old Maltongate, Malton, until April 24. Gallery opening hours are Wednesday to Friday, 10am to 6pm; Saturday, 10.30am to 1pm; and at all other times by appointment on 01377 236008 or via email to mail@duckettandjeffreys.com. For more information, visit www.duckettandjeffreys.com

* The second solo show at Duckett & Jeffreys will feature Andreas Rüthi’s Double Page Paintings from April 29 to June 5.