York Minster

Creation - Artists for York Minster

Published Tuesday 18th July 2006 by Eleanor Course

Posters by three nationally famous artists are helping raise money for the restoration of York Minster's East Front. Jake Attree, Susan Brown and Rosemary Carruthers have been selected to produce paintings inspired by the Minster, which will be reproduced as high quality posters, as part of a new arts programme at the cathedral - 'Creation'. These three posters will be the first in a series, with new posters by different artists available at regular intervals.

The original paintings will be on display in York Minster from 27 July to 23 September, along with an exhibition of more work by Jake Attree. This will be the first of a series of exhibitions in the Minster by selected artists.

The Dean of York, the Very Revd Keith Jones, said, "This is a truly exciting and innovative project. The paintings by Jake, Susan and Rosemary show different aspects of the Cathedral's beauty, and it is fitting that the maintenance of art created 600 years ago should be helped by today's fine artists. These three posters are the first of a series, and with new works by different artists becoming available twice a year, we hope that people will collect all these posters."

The 'Creation' programme was the initiative of Ann Petherick of York's Kentmere House Gallery, who was responsible for selecting the artists. She said, "The idea for Creation developed from the desire of the Minster to work with professional artists, and thus to link the craftsmanship of the past with work of equivalent quality being created today."

Jake Attree said, "The Minster has had an enormous impact on my personal sense of scale as an artist and, the Minster's presence in the city I grew up in cannot be overestimated, in that it has influenced my visual response to the world. To be invited by the Minster Development Campaign to exhibit in the Minster is both a privilege and a pleasure."

The money raised by the sale of the posters will go towards the restoration of York Minster's East Front, which will cost £23 million. The East Front, completed in the 1420s, is one of the finest examples of the Perpendicular style of architecture, which was unique to England. The focal point of the East Front is the magnificent Great East Window, which is the biggest single expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. It is roughly the size of a tennis court, and has been described as "the Sistine Chapel of the stained glass world". York Minster receives no money from national or local government, and must raise all money for restoration work itself.

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Biographical details:

Born in Yorkshire in 1950, Jake Attree studied at the York School of Art and Liverpool College of Art, going on to be awarded The Creswick Landscape Prize, The Landseer Figure Prize, The David Murray Scholarship and the Bronze Turner Medal from The Royal Academy of Arts from 1974-1977. Jake has been painting in York for 40 years, nearly all of his painting life. His work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Hart, New Grafton, Bruton, and Thackeray art galleries in London, as well as in New York and Germany.

Susan Brown was also born in Yorkshire. She studied at Leeds Polytechnic between 1976 and 1979 gaining a BA Hons in Three Dimensional Design. She is the recipient of many art prizes and awards for her contemporary paintings these include: The Laing Art Competition, Hunting Art Prize, Regional Winner and the Singer & Friedlander - Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2001 where she was a finalist. Susan Brown's paintings appear in many notable private and public contemporary art collections, including those of Halifax Plc, Allied Domecq, Dame Janet Baker and Sir George Martin Trust.

Rosemary Carruthers studied art at Canterbury and Bideford Art Colleges, and taught art in the West Country in the early 1970s. She has lived in Norfolk since 1973 and has studios there and in Suffolk. Her work is exhibited in East Anglia, Yorkshire and London, including the Royal Academy and New English Art Club. In 2004 she was invited by the Kentmere House Gallery to be the artist-in-residence at the York Early Music Festival.