White Stripes, Lou Read and Cardiac: 'What I'm listening to while preparing my artwork for Selby Abbey'
Mandy Keating is one of Yorkshire’s leading graphic designers and visual artists, and she specialises in creating digital art – which tells its own particular story.
Mandy is particularly interested in recycling object of all shapes and sizes, and in forms found in nature. Her latest project, Emergence, can be seen at the historic Selby Abbey. Mandy lives with her partner Rich, and their ten year old children, Rosie and Max.
I’m currently reading
Away with the Penguins, by Hazel Prior – a heartwarming story of Veronica, a rather curmudgeonly older woman who takes off with her grandson on a voyage of adventure - she’s estranged from her family, and it’s a story of being yourself, and never ever believing that you are too old to start something new – and that if you don’t believe in yourself, then who on earth will?
Today, it’s a Kindle (purely for convenience) but when I was growing up, we lived in a little village where we were blessed with a mobile library, and it parked up once a week. Thank heavens, it’s still there as a local service, but it’s been cut back to once a fortnight. I read everything that I could lay my hands on.
There was a lot of Roald Dahl, and even more Enid Blyton – the Famous Five were a favourite. And then came Harry Potter, who outdid Miss Blyton because he had more action, and a lot more detail.
I’ve been listening to
It really does depend on what I’m doing. As I work on my piece for Selby Abbey, which will be hung somewhere in that wonderful building (we’re not quite sure where, as yet), it can be quite mindless at times, repetitive, if you are just sorting through some of the elements that will go into it. It’s then that the rock and upbeat music goes on, and it spurs me along somehow.
White Stripes, Lou Read and Cardiac, that sort of thing. When I’m in a reflective and constructive mood, and putting whatever it maybe together, then I prefer the quieter sounds – Ella Fitzgerald, the classics. That’s the time for concentration.
On TV, I’ve been watching
There used to be a lot of Peppa Pig when the children were younger, that’s for sure. Today, we are great fans of Slow Horse, which is a great British spy thriller series, and it stars Gary Oldman. I believe that it’s all based on a series of novels by Mick Herron.
It’s all about a collection of misfits in the secret service who have, for one reason or another, maybe a misdemeanour, been “shunted sideways” so that they can’t do any harm. For them, it’s dull, and routine, and they have an appalling boss. It’s sheer drudgery, and yet, they do actually solve a lot of cased that could be a threat to the nation.
There are some great actors besides Mr Oldman – Jonathan Pryce, Kristin Scott Thomas and Sophie Okonedo among them.
The live performance I’d recommend is
Anything by Heinrich and Palmer, who are light installation artists, and they began the Now Then! Project with Ancient Futures in Selby Abbey. It also appeared at Doncaster Minster, and their work is simply awe-inspiring, magical.
The Doncaster installation was started by them seeing a painting in the local art gallery, and from there, developing the scene it showed. They are nothing short of brilliant.
My next boxed set or streamed series will be (or was….)
A Discovery of Witches, which had its roots in that terrible period of time when the Witchfinders roamed around Britain, and “discovering” witches in the heart of communities. Totally innocent women were killed in a number of horrific ways.
These men were paid handsomely to carry out their vile work, so it’s really a story about money and power, and people in control. Does that sound familiar and appropriate to the times we live in, by any chance? Nothing much changes, does it?
The App I couldn’t be without is
Apple Music, because it gives me my own soundtrack, where-ever I may be, and when-ever I need it. There’s WhatsApp as well, and also Instagram. Both useful in their own way, but I do try to limit how much I use them.
What is right at the top of your “To do” Bucket list?
Two places that have an artistic connection. Portmeirion, in Wales (where they filmed The Prison) and Portofino, in Italy. We’d love to wander round both places – our youngsters are both very creative, as well, and they’d love it.
Mind you, if it came to the weather, then the choice would almost certainly be Portofino. At least we’d get a bit of sunshine.
Mandy is one of many creatives contributing to Now Then! – a massive arts project across Selby, Sherburn and Tadcaster, which will run into 2026. For more information go to: https://exploreheartofyorkshore.co.uk/now-then/