LIFE after lockdown has been particularly busy for artist Holly Scott.
She has moved studios, produced a series of new linocut prints for a solo exhibition and taken delivery of an etching printing press which will help expand her creative printmaking.
Ms Scott has switched from the Hall Street Studios, in Barnard Castle, to bigger premises at Middleton-in-Teesdale Auction Mart, from where she put together the 25 hand prints for an exhibition which opened at Tennants Auctioneers, Leyburn, last week.
“I was in a small room with things stacked up to the ceiling – I needed somewhere bigger. This is very convenient because I can walk from home,” she said.
The exhibition will be Ms Scott's third at Tennants.
“I was invited to show there after I did the Great North Art Show and won a prize for the best new body of work. That was before the pandemic.
“Then when things started to open up a little bit, I had a mini-exhibition in there.
“Hopefully, a lot of people will see this one.”
Like may other businesses, Ms Scott had to adapt during the lockdowns.
“I relied on people who collect what I do, so that was very useful to me, and I had to start selling online, through the likes of Instagram, which was a learning curve,” she said.
“I like a traditional exhibition, meeting people face to face.”
Preparations for her new exhibition received a huge boost when a piece of glass, which had been lodged in a finger for two years, finally came out.
“Since that, I have had this burst. A lot of what I have done lately has been smaller birds. Because of the lockdowns, it’s really drawn my attention to garden birds.”
That has resulted in intricate linocuts of a variety of species, such as wagtails, robins, goldcrests and starlings.
“Before lockdown, I would have been on the fells, looking for other birds,” said Ms Scott, who studied fine art at Newcastle University before carving her niche in intricate hand-printed linocuts.
She said her new etching press will help her “work towards bigger things”.
She added: “I can expand into a different kind of print making. I am quite excited to be going into that.”
In addition to her latest solo display, she is also taking part in two other group exhibitions, one in newcastle and the other in Sheffield.
She has also produced some illustrations for a new book of poetry written by former Barnard Castle town councillor Judi Sutherland, who now lives in Ireland.
l Holly Scott’s exhibition of hand-printed linocuts will be on display at Tennants Auctioneers, Leyburn, until December 19.
