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Birds of a feather together in pictures
AN A to Z of birdlife – an amazing collection of wood engravings by the leading exponent of the craft in the UK – is the subject of the latest exhibition at Shandy Hall, near Coxwold in North Yorkshire.
Of a Feather – An Avian Alphabet by Colin See-Payntor, whose work features in many collections, including the V&A, the Ashmolean Museum and the National Library of Wales, represent the realisation of a long-held dream.
More than 60 engravings have taken four years to complete and take viewers through a pictorial alphabet of collective nouns from Abandonment of Cuckoos, through Gaggle of Geese, Parliament of Owls and Quietude of Swans, to Zephyr of Longtailed Titmice.
Mr See-Paynton said: "This exhibition is, I think, unique in showing exclusively an entire ensemble of newly created wood engravings. It had been a cherished and enduring dream that I might one day have the wherewithal and the time to produce a thematic series of prints, a body of fresh new engravings, which I could steadily assemble and eventually publish preferably in the form of a beautifully-made book.
"But further I wanted to create images that would be strong enough also to justify their presentation in an exhibition. This is that exhibition, Of a Feather and it represents the realisation of that long held dream."
Mr See-Paynton, a Montogomeryshire-based artist, is a fellow of the Royal Cambrian Academy, honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and a member of the Society of Wood Engravers.
In an introduction Sir David Attenborough said: "Colin See-Paynton has introduced yet another vision to the rich tradition of wood engraving. His delight in the lines of a bird so elegantly inscribed by the cut of his graver, his skill in varying texture even though he only has black and white with which to do so, his palpable pleasure in composing his subjects into joyous designs have brought something new to the portrayal of birds."
The art critic David Alston, senior arts officer at the Arts Council of Wales, said: "An admiration… that should be the collective noun for gallery visitors to Colin See-Paynton's Of a Feather exhibition, for this has been an extraordinary enterprise.
"The work has drawn on many years of patient and exultant observation, the accumulation of knowledge that allows the imagination to be accurate in the mind's eye.
"Not since Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) have both literary and pictorial aspects been found conjoined in the one talent as in this project, where Colin See-Paynton has both written about and made the plates for an illustrated lexicon of the collective nouns for birds."
Of a Feather – An Avian Alphabet, , which is accompanied by a book, opened yesterday and continues until August 17 at Shandy Hall.
The exhibition is open every day except Saturdays from 11am to 4.30pm.
A selection of small engravings from the exhibition can also be seen at Ken Spelman's bookshop in Micklegate, York.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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