JO YORK

Born in 1958 Jo is a contemporary painter inspired by landscape and exploring the way that margins between land, sky and water shift, merge and change and influenced by changing conditions of weather and light.  Jo comes from a line of artists’ colour men.  She grew up walking the South Downs in Sussex where her love and fascination for landscape and passion for walking began. The act of walking every day is still an absolutely integral part of her working process. She is currently living and working in rural North Yorkshire surrounded by ancient drovers’ paths and wonderful scenery which feature heavily in her work.  Jo’s main focus is on capturing the essence of being in a particular place and time; developing an idea of mood and atmosphere and seeking out wide, open, usually empty landscapes, often walking very early when the landscape is deserted. Back in the studio Jo will play with ideas and impressions, make notes and colour swatches in a studio journal and then small intuitive paintings which act as jumping off points for larger work. Jo’s paintings are made slowly; incorporating many layers of opaque and translucent paint and often incised detail, to create a complex picture surface.  In addition to her own practice, which has included Illustration and Surface Pattern Design as well as Fine Art, Jo has also taught both Art and Art History and had a long career as an Art Education Consultant. She graduated from The University of the West of England and Bristol University. Jo has exhibited widely especially in the North of the UK and her work is held in both private and corporate collections. She is an elected member of Leeds Fine Artists.