Saturday last I was back at Sudley House for the Winter Handmade event, featuring all kinds of handcrafted creations from talented local makers.
Built as a private residence in 1821* and passing through the Liverpool Corporation and County Museums’ care, Sudley House is part of National Museums Liverpool. Studying art in Liverpool I have a particular connection to the museums and galleries of the city. Working there in the 2010s I was only a few minutes from the Walker Art Gallery and used to sketch there on lunch breaks, and regularly visit other sites like Sudley for special exhibitions. So to be once again invited to present my linocuts and wood engravings at Sudley is a deeply personal privilege.
One thing I enjoyed about Sudley last time around was the level of interest visitors had in all they saw on the day, and this time that was even better. I was quizzed on the meanings and inspiration of my work, and was able to demonstrate and discuss the differences in tools, technique and approaches to linocut, woodcut and wood engraving with a really engaged crowd.
Visitors variously related specific prints to the other works and artists they’d encountered, and I came away with a list of artists’ work to visit or revisit, as well as a sense of some of my aims having really hit their mark, and of my work resonating with people in ways I’d never imagined. I was re-introduced to the work of Ian Hamilton Finlay while discussing the text and image combination in ‘Listen To Meg’, and had a good chat about Stanley Spencer’s ‘Resurrection Cookham’, Cookham itself, and the bread-and-butter Spencers including the Walker Art Gallery’s ‘Villas at Cookham’.
I do very few events in a year (In 2025, just three), so it was gratifying to meet people who had purchased works in previous years, or who were back to see what was new.
Pleasing too was to see a variety of works prove popular on the day. I sold the first prints from two of my 2025 editions: a 3-colour reduction work called ‘Ruralist sunset’, and my latest wood engraving ‘Jackdaw Ash’.
Sudley House Handmade winter event has been really rewarding on so many levels, and I hope to return. Leaving at dusk on the Saturday evening I spied some beautiful if weathered old trees in the grounds which – given my recent interest in portraying these magnificient survivors – is likely to draw me back for a sketching trip in the next few months.
*In part with the proceeds of the International Slave trade. You can read more on this on The History of Sudley House page from National Museums Liverpool.