Bridget Askew: Images From The Farm, Back o’ the Shop gallery, Terrington, until June 26 (From York Press)

Bridget Askew: Images From The Farm, Back o’ the Shop gallery, Terrington, until June 26

12:34pm Friday 18th June 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

The two passions in the life of Ryedale farmer and artist Bridget Askew come together in Images From The Farm, this month’s exhibition at the Back o’ the Shop Art Cafe in Main Street, Terrington.

“My inspiration comes from the people, animals and places I encounter,” she says. “I like to observe the way light falls on a subject; this gives the form mood and life.

“Part of the process is to paint in an expressive and experimental way to bring something vibrant to the canvas. I try to draw the viewer into the work, hopefully engaging the imagination and posing questions about the imagery.”

Bridget’s career had been diverse before the farming and the painting overlapped. She left Yorkshire to train at Lincoln College of Art and worked in a graphic design studio, before taking time out to look after her two young children.

On setting up as a freelance artist, she worked as a mural artist for local health authorities, councils, schools and businesses and on private commissions, too. This led her to run workshops and demonstrations in art-based subjects for colleges, schools, arts centres and youth clubs.

After serving as the visual arts officer for Blackfriars Art Centre, in Boston, Lincolnshire, Bridget finally moved back to the 460-acre family farm at Great Barugh, near Malton, to help her father, George, run the arable and beef enterprise.

She duly completed an HNC in agricultural studies and settled down to producing crops and looking after her suckler herd, but her love for painting remains undiminished, as can be witnessed in her Terrington exhibition, and in the painting here of a hare.

• Images From The Farm runs at the Back o’ the Shop until June 26. Opening hours are 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday, or by appointment on 01653 648530.