Sarah Kirby

A Walk in the Park
by Sarah Kirby

5th April - 3rd May 2025

"In 2023 I was offered a solo show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park- my proposal was to make a body of new linocuts based around the 500 acres of park and woodland laid out in the 17th - 19th century around Bretton Hall that make up YSP.
“landscape gardening may properly defined as the pleasing combination of art and nature adapted to the use of man. … Humphrey Repton (1725 - 1818)
The meaning and role of private and public parks in society and culture changes through time …YSP is so much an example of this change and adaption. However parks and garden are not only theoretical, conceptual or historical spaces, but are places with immense personal and emotional significance…invested in and contributed to by the people who visit, love and know them.
During 2024 I made two or three trips a week and spent each day walking and drawing exploring and discovering the park, - contemplative and immersive time in nature .…then back in the studio developed the ideas , the images of what I had drawn and what I had experienced into linocut prints.
The show ‘A Printmaker’s Landscape’ started at YSP in November 2024 with 40 pieces of work. A Walk in the Park’ is another ‘version’ …I was able to resolve and finish more of the ideas and create some additional pieces for ‘this show and thrilled to be able to show them in the Print Workshop where most of them were made!"

There will also be an artist talk on the 25th April 2025 6pm-8pm as part of cultural quarter lates in the gallery space.
"A Walk in the Park... the practicalities/logistics/economics of making the YSP show with Sarah Kirby"