'While I breathe, I hope' - Yorkshire artist's latest exhibition inspired by Civil War quote and local castle
While I breathe, I hope, translated from a Latin phrase, is famously tied to West Yorkshire as an inscription on emergency siege coins minted at Pontefract Castle during the English Civil War.
Now artist Martin Rose is re-using the phrase for a new exhibition which focuses on the town where he works.
He spent 10 months at the castle as part of a self-engaged residency there – sketching the flora and fauna around the grounds, the exterior walls and the wear and tear and damage done over time.
He also took in the views and pictured the land as he imagined it used to be, from what he had read and seen throughout his research.
Mr Rose is an illustrator, printmaker and art-educator based in West Yorkshire. He lives in Halifax and runs his studio called Martin Rose Illustration, in Pontefract.
A former teacher for special educational needs children, he has been a full-time artist for 10 years.
He said: “I have had some good feedback from people regarding this exhibition. There have been some nice comments left for me.”
He trained in Illustration at Huddersfield University and now uses a studio in Pontefract owned by the East Street Arts organisation in Leeds.
He is shortlisted for the Visual Artists Association’s Art100 International, 2026. Should he be selected at this stage, his work will be one of only 100 featured artists in a printed catalogue published by the VAA.
This is sent to some of the most celebrated and trusted galleries worldwide.
He already holds the VAA’s prestigious “preferred artist status” since being shortlisted for the Art100 International in 2025.
Some of the work are riso prints. Riso machines were invented in Japan in the 1980s, using soy and rice-based inks to produce high speed prints at high volume. They work like an automated screen-printer.
He completed many graphite rubbings of the medieval stonework, along with another of the dungeon graffiti, which was carved into the stone there in 1645 – by Parliamentarian Army Captain, Robert Brier.
He was imprisoned until after the siege but once bailed, he refused to serve the remainder of his time in prison and vanished not just from Pontefract, but from the history books completely.
He says the show is “an intimate collection of hand-drawn illustrations, Riso prints and alcohol-ink painting – exploring and celebrating the history and legends of Pontefract Castle”.
Robert Briar is the protagonist in his first book Briar’s Curse, aimed at high school age pupils and above.
Briar’s Curse is also the title of the hand-carved, glow in the dark, painting that hangs in between the pages of the first chapter of his book.
The painting shows a dragon, coiled around an enchanted sword – with a dragon’s eye embedded on the pommel. The exhibition also features his most technical piece of work to date.
Called Pontefract Castle, it shares the linework of the largest of the paintings. However, this is a limited edition of 20.
He created a 13 layer, nine colour risograph print. This took him a number of weeks to plan and execute. 'While I breathe, I hope' runs at Pontefract Castle until December 31.