Sheffield Millennium Galleries

During our visit to Sheffield Millennium Gallery we got to look around all of the exhibitions. I found it interesting to see the many different styles of art work on display as this made me see what styles of work i found most inspirational. I took note of artists work that appealed to me so that I could research them and look at their work in more detail. 

Neil Woodall

Neil Woodall is a printmaker and painter who runs his own print studio at Yorkshire Art Space in Sheffield. Here he editions his own etchings and woodcuts and has been engaged to edition the work of leading printmakers. 

His experience in etching is always visible in his painting and drawing as they always look very effective and to a high standard. 

Woodall has also created a number of large public art works in stainless steel, including a five and a half meter high panel commemorating the official opening of the Lowry Centre, Salford, in October 2000.

This is my favourite etching of his that was displayed in the 'Printmaking Sheffield' exhibition at the galleries. It looks quite spiritual with the sunlight shining through the forest trees and the shadowed figure stood looking in to the distance. This then leads your eye to the 5 drifting birds.This stood out to me and i like the monochrome contrast, however i can also see this in natural colours like green and yellow. 

Below are a couple of Woodalls' other etchings which i find inspiring. 

 Jo Peel 

Jo Peel is a painter, printmaker, animator and film maker who was born in Sheffield and is now growing in the UK contemporary art movement. She gained a BA Hons degree in illustration from Falmouth Art College and progressed through a variety of art and design based projects before becoming a commissioned and exhibited artist in her own right from 2008.

Jo mainly produces paintings of intimate elements of city landscapes or ruins on to huge public walls and interior walls. She also displays her exploration of urban transformation as hand painted animations on to canvas or through fine art. 

She clearly puts a great deal of effort in to her work as it involves so much detail but she uses simple shapes and lines to produce it. The use of bright colours makes her work stand out to the public when passing it in the streets of where her huge wall art is displayed. 

Jo has done some interior work for the Art Hotel in Penzance, Cornwall. I like the combination of colours that she has used and how the orange has been chosen out of this for the room furniture to coordinate with it. Her work is very inspirational. 

This piece of hers that was displayed in the galleries stood out to me as it is the famous Hendersons Relish which originated in Sheffield. I like how she has done the signboards in colour and left the building in black and white as this draws your attention to the signboard with the Hendersons logo.

Peter York 

I like this piece of work of 'Sheffield Trees' that was also in the 'Printmaking Sheffield' exhibition at the galleries, created by Peter York. 

It covered a whole wall in the gallery which is why it originally caught my eye. I like how he has created it to look like a winter scene with the bare trees and foggy atmosphere. By doing this some of the trees are more defined than others and his choice of colours are subtle and light which add to the wintry effect.

However to some people this may appear worn and incomplete if they don't see the effect that he wanted to achieve, which could put some people off and consequently be a disadvantage to Peter.