Cathedral show celebrates best in Northern artwork

the annual Great North Art Show has been showcasing the work of established and up-and-coming artists in the North for over a decade.

Last year it attracted more than 12,000 visitors and the 2013 show opens this weekend at Ripon Cathedral, featuring around 250 artworks from over forty professional artists including painters, photographers, printmakers and sculptors.

Among the artists selected for 2013 are landscape painter Jill Campbell whose work is inspired by her love of the wild and beautiful North Pennines landscape of Teesdale and Weardale, Yorkshire painter Emerson Mayes whose work is in the British landscape tradition and Scottish artist Malcolm Davies whose intriguing paintings focus on history, archaeology and wildlife.

Photography is well represented this year too and includes work from Masham-based photographer Michael Dunne, whose career spans 55 years taking in the top studios of Fifties London and fashion shoots in New York, Paris and Rome.

Leeds-based printmaker Janis Goodman, who lives in Chapeltown, has been creating etchings for the past 25 years. She has taken part in the Great Northern Art Show previously and this year is exhibiting six pieces. “It is a lovely setting and it draws in a different audience,” she says. “There are people who are there to see the art and others who are just visiting the cathedral and end up buying a piece of work.” Her intricate pieces reveal her fascination for the repetitive patterns she sees in her environment and feature walls, chimney pots, plants, birds and trees.

A visit to a show of Degas pastels in Paris so inspired Keighley-based artist Jan Kirkham that she has been working in pastels ever since. She is particularly interested in medieval history and most of her work focusses on ancient buildings and architecture. “I love painting old stone work and castles and cathedrals,” she says. “I spend a lot of time around those places – I find them very inspiring.” She is also fascinated by the moods of certain buildings – Middleham Castle is a particular favourite which she describes as “brutal and masculine” whereas York Minster, another structure she is very fond of is “very feminine.” Kirkham has exhibited in small local galleries before but this is the first time she has been invited to exhibit at the Great North Art Show. “It’s very exciting,” she says. “I was delighted to be asked to do it.”

This year will be the second time that Angela Bell, who lives in Hull, has exhibited her work at the show. Her colourful cityscapes are created in mixed media. She studied textile design in Manchester and her work reflects her interest in using different textures. “I am exhibiting three New York cityscapes in this year’s show. There are a couple of village scenes, but I prefer urban scenes because I like buildings and their energy.”