'My art is inspired by my travels around the world - now I'm showing it to people in my back garden'
Some people might find inviting the public into their back garden a nerve-wracking experience, but for artist David Beresford it’s just another interesting event in a long career of unusual incidents.
He has produced an opera in a disused colliery, toured Mexico with the poet Ian McMillan and was part of the team at Yorkshire TV that made the first episode of Emmerdale Farm.
This month, he will be one of more than 200 artists welcoming visitors into his working space as part of North Yorkshire Open Studios, which takes place on the weekends of June 6-7 and June 13-14.
David said: “I’ll be showing work that spans 30 years of working in Lower Wharfedale and my travels. It’ll be placed in sheds, in my studio, in the entrance, in the garden – it’s going to be all over the place.
“I’ve also been looking at some of the early landscapes that I’ve never really shown before.”
The son of a miner – his father worked at Hickleton Main Colliery in Thurnscoe – David went to Barnsley School of Art at 14 before being accepted to the Hammersmith College of Art and later the Royal College of Art.
There he became interested in film and got his first job at Yorkshire Television in Leeds, where he was part of the team that made the first episode of Emmerdale Farm.
He later became an independent documentary maker, directing films about Yorkshire Jazz Band and Thurnscoe Harmonic Male Voice Choir, when in 1994 he created an opera with local choirs and bands about a mining disaster of 1944.
He continued to make programmes, working with poet Ian McMillan locally and in Argentina and Mexico. This led to an exhibition of paintings and poems in Mexico City.
David’s paintings are inspired by his travels to India, Mexico and Italy, as well as the landscape near his home in Weeton, including the remains of the medieval fortress Rougemont Castle.
He enjoys showing people his work – even if it means having to tidy up his cluttered studio, which he built himself out of straw bales in his one-acre back garden.
Despite his showbusiness experiences, he says there is nothing like seeing a visitor connect with his work.
He said: “You can do as many programmes as you like, but someone buying a piece of your work because it moved them is really something else.”
Brochures for Summer Open Studios, which include details of all venues and a map, can be bought online for £5 at nyos.org.uk/brochure.
Supporters can become a Friend of NYOS to receive a brochure and 15 per cent off work over £100.
North Yorkshire Open Studios is an artist-led organisation covering North Yorkshire, York and the Historic Ridings of North Yorkshire, which celebrates and raises the profile of the region’s artistic talent.