Art in the Chapel

An exciting new series of art exhibitions is being held monthly in the Chapel. Please do come and support this new venture for York Unitarians!

The next exhibition will be of paintings by Michael Scott and will be open on Saturday 13th March from 10am to 6pm and on Sunday 14th March from 12.30 to 5.30pm.

Michael Scott’s early years in rural Gloucestershire laid the foundation for his lifelong interest in landscape and wildlife. Qualified as a Biologist he worked for many years in agricultural research management. Later, as a field biologist and ornithologist, he developed his skills as a landscape painter. His work is greatly informed by this early professional career.

However, the impetus for his painting has changed and developed over the years, reflected in a wide variety of subjects and styles. Over the last ten years he has evolved towards more abstraction and a focus on the nature of trees, plant forms generally, and the idea of enclosed, safe places with a sense of spirit of place.

The paintings in this exhibition are not intended to be read intellectually but experienced directly as things in themselves.


In April 2010, there will be an exhibition of works by Mary Greene which will be open on Saturday 10th April from 10am to 6pm and on Sunday 11th April from 12.30pm to to 5.30pm.

Mary Greene graduated from Sheffield Hallam University in 1994 with a BA(Hons) in Fine Art. Over the next ten years, she worked as a community artist in schools, museums and art galleries. She also worked as part of a team in the craft department of a sheltered workplace for adults with learning difficulties in York.

In 2001, she completed a two year printmaking module at York St. John's College. Mary received Arts Council funding for research and development in 2000 and 2004. She has exhibited in galleries in Yorkshire, Cumbria, Stroud and Worcester, and regularly opens her studio to the public in the popular 'York Open Studios' event every Spring.

The work in this exhibition explores sounds and music that can be made with the human voice. Using a range of drawn marks, colour and form, Mary aims to convey visually the abstract energy and feeling of vocal expression.

Her love of drawing and the immediacy of scratching lines into plastic or metal makes drypoint etching an ideal medium for Mary. Some areas of texture and dense tone are achieved using carborundum grit mixed with PVA glue.

Mary is interested in Classical Indian music, which has at its roots a profound simplicity. She feels that it offers a way to journey into the beginnings of sound-making and that there is a philosophical understanding that all sound comes out of silence, and that ultimately, sound can manifest as physical matter.

With these ideas in mind, I look at certain qualities of sound: e.g. calm, meditative, lively, rhythmic. A solo voice or many voices. Sounds interspersed with silences. I make solid forms that stand alone, or relate to each other. Some are like Tibetan singing bowls with vibrations of sound emanating from within or without their seeming solidity. They sit motionless or seem to be moved by energy from an inner or outer source.

The role of the body in vocal sound-making, is crucial to my exploration. It uses breath to support all sound. Its bony structure provides chambers for resonance. It is connected to earth and air. With its feet on the ground, a flexible spine rising up through its centre, arms to either side, and its head on top, it is ready to dance and sing when the spirit moves.

The Chapel will also be open as part of the Open Studios weekend on 16th, 17th and 18th April, for more details see: www.yorkopenstudios.co.uk