THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS ST. BARNABUS GALLERY THE BELFAST YARD
Founder James Hill and colleague Danica de Souza
If you want to know where artists really want to be in Cambridge – here’s the ill-guarded secret. Turn off gloomy Coldham’s Lane at its most dangerous point over the bridge and plunge into a matrix of railway-infused buildings hugger-mugger in the space below. With no effort your feet will guide you to the Bohemian splendour of St Barnabus Gallery with its creative vibe and confused blend of often brilliant artistic endeavour.
James Hill has flourished in a long career in art. Over the decades and a portfolio of galleries he has persisted in his own original work – and cultivated the rare skill of encouragement for any new talent with a will to work. “ It’s about being here” he insists, Artists have to commit to turning up and sticking with it.”Fortunately there are plenty of takers.
James was only fifteen when happenstance brough him face to face with the world of printing. On a gloomy February evening be joined his father at his Print Class at St Barnabus Church
“ The tutor Richard Baxtor handed me the plate ( the heavy concrete basis for all printing) saying “Draw on that” “Teenage James knew then he wanted to master the complex art of print making. That way he realised lay artistic freedom. He wanted to know “all that Richard knew. I wanted to develop the touch and the intuition.”
Printmaking is a complicated and amazingly demanding art. Few people , even art lovers, have any idea of the collaborative complexity needed to bring a print into existence. The artist’s first print is a voyage of discovery with the printmaker at the helm.
“ The latter must ‘infer from any collaboration what the artist’s vision might be’ explains James. The aim is for the artist’s vision and yours come to merge and an image is conjured up.”
Chopping and changing can throw a spanner in the works as artists are usually ‘blissfully unaware’ of what is technically involved. As a printmaker James knows it is his role” to clear the way for any such technical problems and in so doing libertate an artist’s decision making process , allowing them to work without hindrance.”
Who knew all this? I got a glimpse of the demands on any print maker from a talk by the late Kip Gresham, a hugely admired practitioner, dear friend and influence on James Hill. The finely balanced partnership of print maker and artist is an industry secret.
Printmaking is a serious skilled business., James is clear
” As the artist gains an understanding of the the processes, they can then begin to push the boundaries of the medium to meaningfully further their work in any direction and this is where the work becomes truly interesting .”
Simple reproduction in case you’re wondering , is a thousand miles from the art of print making. For James Hill ‘ it’s all about educating people in the subtleties, the physicality and. Immediacy of the traditional methods of creating an image and combining them with new techniques like digital printing'“.
With splendid new shows now ready to present some brilliant work – and his own cultural off shot with art at the other side of the world after twelve years teaching in China, the scene has changed and James’ view with it - he feels it is a great time to catch the wave for art and original print making over there.
A long and sometimes choppy voyage from the old St Barnabus and that special teacher who was keen to spot an up and coming expert and consummate artist in a sixteen year old.
St Barnabus Studio Exhibition
Application and Concentration atSBS
Music Sessions in the Studio with James’s son’s Band
Surveying Prints
