NORMAN ACKROYD

This exhibition of etchings by Norman Ackroyd CBE RA, his twelfth biennial solo show at North House Gallery, includes two of his annual collections: Reading the Landscape, 2019, and Lockdown, 2020, as well as the small series of Lockdown Rainbow etchings and 20 independent prints, large and small, from the last two years.

The etchings of Reading the Landscape, housed in a solander box, are interleaved with translucent paper printed with lines of some of Norman’s favourite poetry and songs from Milton to Dylan. Further printed matter includes a map and descriptions of the places depicted, some new and others revisited, but all, however wild, have a relationship to human habitation at some point in history. The etchings are available as a boxed set or individually.

The ten etchings of Lockdown are somewhat larger but boxed in a similar way and again also available singly. Although based on earlier drawings because of the Lockdown, there is a concentration and richness in these and the independent images of 2020, from the tiny Somerset Levels (7x15cm) to the large Croaghaun Cliffs - Achil Head - Co. Mayo (45.5x77cm). He explains:

"Expeditions for the past year have been few or delayed and non-existant since March 2020. I have found myself delving deeply into my library of watercolour notebooks from over 50 years of exploring our islands. Contained within over 40 standard sized books (that fit snugly into my jacket pocket) are well over a thousand plein air notes and rawings from all over the British archipelago. In addition there are several hundred loose sheets (6"x12") from watercolour locks, containing a wide variety of papers, that I have designed myself and that I have been using increasingly over the last 15 years. Lockdown offers much time for dreaming and the drawings trigger wonderful memories of people, places and extraordinary events and adventures, often in hostile seas. Most of the drawings are produced with etching in mind. For me etching and watercolour are deeply symbiotic."

Rainbows have often appeared in Norman’s work in the past but the Lockdown Rainbows have a particular contemporary resonance and express hope in dark times.


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