Lucy May Schofield

Since obtaining a first class honours degree in Book Arts and Crafts at London College of Printing, Lucy has spent the last two years studying paper making and woodblock printmaking in Japan. Lucy has exhibited widely in this country and abroad and taken part in numerous Art Book Fairs. She has received awards and has work in collections in the UK and the States. Lucy has taught as an associate lecturer at Manchester School of Art and has led workshops to people of all ages and abilities; an activity that has always been a large part of her practice.

Lucy obtained a first class honours degree in Print Media at London College of Printing in 2002 before being awarded a 2 year Arts Council funded residency at Manchester School of Art.   Lucy was joint recipient of a British Council grant to exhibit a collaborative project at IMPACT 9 Printmaking Conference in China in 2015 and later at SGCI in Portland, USA.

She has undertaken residencies in Iceland, California, Shetland and Japan, where Lucy recently spent two years exploring the art of paper making and water-based woodblock printmaking.

Lucy has exhibited widely, in the UK and abroad, most recently at Art Toronto & The London Art Fair.  She has work in many collections including Tate Britain, MIT & Yale Centre for British Art.

Lucy is an associate lecturer at Manchester School of Art and has led workshops to people of all ages and abilities over the past ten years; an activity that has always inspired and informed her practice.   See her website here.

Throughout her year with us Lucy has been working on a body of work  ‘Nature Caress’.    Lucy has been making Japanese water-based woodblock prints – ‘mokuhanga’ – and there will be thirty carved woodblocks and prints on display in her studio for BLUE HOURS: An Exhibition in Four Parts, 16th – 17th September.  This will which conclude Lucy’s residency

Japanese culture notes 24 seasons in the year; each with a different name and character.  Lucy has been closely observing the seasons at Highgreen and making artwork around the Spring and Autumn equinoxes and the Winter and Summer Solstices.

Lucy marked the Winter Solstice on 21st December with ‘The Last Light’.  This work comprised 160 small pieces of paper hand-made in the studio, given a light-sensitive coating, numbered and placed before dawn on 21st December in a grid pattern on the interior wall of a derelict shooting hut on the moors near Highgreen.   During the day local residents dropped in to the studio to make paper lanterns.  Then at dusk Lucy led a lantern-lit walk up the moorland road to the hut where the pieces of paper were removed, taken back to the studio and later washed, dried and stitched lightly together in order, as in the image here. They will take a new form in her final exhibition BLUE HOURS when they will be exhibited in one of Highgreen’s outbuildings.

Through the daylight hours of 21st December, the sun’s rays on the papers and their movement in the breeze was captured by time lapse photography; then made into a short video you can see on the right of this text.  Photographs that are part of the sequence are provided amongst the gallery of images.  Photography and video by Guillaume Brisson-Darveau who also helped install the piece.

In March Lucy undertook her piece marking the Vernal Equinox.  ‘Awake’ was a sleep performance.  Lucy slept on the moors from dawn till dusk upon a light-sensitive silk sheet.  The cyanotype sheet embodies the memory of the sun’s passage.  ‘Awake’ celebrates the beginning of spring with the return of lighter days and shorter nights.  Time-lapse images were taken during the day by artist Khosro Adibi and these have been made into the short film you can see on this page.

Installations, video and prints made during the first six months of the residency were displayed at The Holy Biscuit in the artist’s solo exhibition ‘Light Meditations’ 23rd May till 22nd June.   Find out more about this exhibition here.

To mark the Summer Solstice on 21st June Lucy fixed large pieces of light-sensitive paper to the gable end of a derelict shooting hut near Highgreen where they remained for all of the daylight hours of this longest day of the year.  Tarset residents and friends were invited to join her and VARC for a Solstice celebration with pizza in Highgreen’s outdoor oven followed by a walk up to the shooting hut at dusk to see the cyanotype prints in situ.  Gathered in, and installed in one of Highgreen’s barns, they will form part of Lucy’s finale weekend display.

Since her arrival Lucy has hosted two popular and successful Open Studio events at Highgreen; one in November and one in April.  Tim Bird took some great photos of the events as usual (as here).

Attending the Quilting and Stitching and Wool Gathering group sessions at Tarset Village Hall, Lucy has been enjoying learning new skills as well as the company of local residents.

In turn Lucy has been passing on her printing skills.  She has visited the Wood Elves group during one of their sessions at Elsdon Village Hall and Greenhaugh and West Woodburn First Schools.  She talked about the Japanese tradition in printing and each child made a print to take home.

At Highgreen, Lucy has led print-making days at for visiting groups of students and staff from three SEN Schools – Thomas Bewick School and Percy Hedley School in Newcastle and Thornhill Park School in Sunderland.  Students took home with them a hand-made book of prints of natural materials found during exploring walks.  Everyone also had a go at making home-made pizzas in our outdoor earth oven!

A group of eight Fine Art students from Newcastle University also spent time at Highgreen early this summer.  Lucy led a five day mini-residency for these students that afforded them a unique immersive experience and the chance to learn wood-block carving and print-making and experiment with these skills.

During the Late Shows at The Holy Biscuit Lucy offered visitors the chance to make a print from her carved wood-blocks.  Approximately a hundred people enjoyed having a go and took a print home with them.  At Northumberland County Show people were fascinated to watch Lucy as she demonstrated carving a wood-block using traditional Japanese tools.

A very successful weekend of woodblock carving and printing  was held in August.

‘I’ve had a fantastic time.  Lucy is a really excellent teacher.’

‘What a great workshop!  Totally absorbing – complete focus and concentration from 11 – 6 on both days.  Challenging and therapeutic at the same time.’

Lucy’s end of residency exhibition ‘Blue Hours’ was held over one weekend 16th/17th September.  Approximately 150 people attended both from the area and from much further afield.  Lucy made, as part of the event, a lavish and beautiful selection of salads and other foods to reflect the seasons.   Installation shots of her work in situ at Highgreen are shown here along with photos of the event itself.

VARC has published a 28 page full colour catalogue ‘Blue Hours’ with an essay by poet, artist and writer Nancy Campbell.  You can buy it from our website here.

See www.lucymayschofield.wordpress.com for more from Lucy about her residency and other work.

Featured image and many others here are by Khosro Adibi.  Photos of Blue Hours exhibition event are by Tim Bird.   Thank you!

 

Click to view Lucy's exhibition catalogue 'Blue Hours'. ©Lucy May Schofield. Please seek permission before using any images.

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