With the repair and restoration of De Grey House now complete, York Conservation Trust CEO Guy Bowyer wanted to mark the Trust’s first year in their new office with a welcoming and engaging arrival experience for visitors to the building.
Completed in 1835, with its high ceilings and impressive staircase, the stately entrance hall at De Grey House needed something that represented the Trust’s work in the city. After exploring a range of options, Guy and the team decided to commission well-known local artist Ric Liptrot to create five wall panels to capture, not just York’s unique character and quirky corners, but also the vibrancy of the city.
Guy commented: “We want the entrance hall of our new office to be a talking point and represent the work of the Trust. We felt the best way to achieve this would be to commission artwork that takes inspiration from our buildings and the city's streetscapes. We gave Ric the brief to work with the colours and textures of York’s historic buildings but also root it to De Grey House by incorporating the bold colours of the restored Art Deco floor. Ric is a wonderful artist who not only has a great eye for detail but also the historic fabric of place, making him ideal for this commission.”
Known for his depictions of York’s diverse architecture and shop fronts, Ric creates beautiful streetscapes that pick up on the iconic as well as the unseen. A graduate of UCLAN School of Art in Preston where he studied illustration, Ric came to York in 2010. “I began drawing buildings because architecture fascinates me. Starting with a degree project about encouraging people to look up and see things they may have passed every day without realising, York is a fantastic place to work. With very few straight lines, every time I go out, I discover more.”
For the project, the team at the Trust offered Ric a residency at De Grey House. Usually found at Pica Studios on Grape Lane, Ric frequently works outside, taking his stool and materials to capture the city’s buildings. The temporary artist studio at De Grey House gives him the room he needs to set out the five wooden panels. Ric is working with acrylic paints and a range of techniques including stencilling, rollers and mark-making to create contrasts in texture. Creating the look of stone, plaster, render and brick, with shapes extending past the boundary edges of the wooden panels to give a less formal shape. Ric commented, “I’m really enjoying the challenge the Trust has set me, including the need to address the colours of the 1920s floor and weave in different textures. We’ll be featuring some of the Trust’s most loved buildings, as well as other elements of the city.”
It’s hoped that the finished artwork will be installed in the entrance hall by mid-summer.
Watch this space!
Artist Ric Liptrot came to York in 2010.
Ric will be incorporating many of the Trust's buildings within the finished artwork.
Guy and Ric in the Bowes room of De Grey House choosing the elements for the five wall panels.
De Grey House entrance hall as it is now, awaiting the artwork.
