Society of Wood Engravers, Zillah Bell Gallery, Thirsk

THE society's annual touring exhibition returns to Thirsk for the third year running again offering impressive workmanship by artists from all over the world.

Technical virtuosity is a hallmark, with more than 130 works by just under 100 exhibitors.

But apart from staggering skills, the range of subject matter brings images not usually seen in other local exhibitions, from the everyday to the bizarre, from nature scenes to flights of fancy.

Rarely, if ever, observed in Thirsk, for example, is a quartet of muscular cowboys posed to display heavily tattooed torsos. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Peter Brown's exquisite study of a goldcrest, tiny and perfect, perched on a leafy branch.

Jim Westergard's The Prisoners is a shocking image of emotional suffering, part human head, part sculpted bust, but there is amusement in his highly detailed and literal etching Cute as a Bug's Ear.

The roller coaster continues throughout all the galleries. Among several works by Hilary Paynter, one in a passageway may cause a bottleneck while viewers work it out. Sudden Death, with slightly confusing perspective, alters what initially looks like a coppice into a massive sinkhole in the ground, grasped by the viewer thanks to the downward glance of a small dog perilously close to the edge. Textural variation, every blade of grass delineated, is stunning.

Striking portraits range from a genial Updike, by Simon Brett, his deeply lined facial features echoed by the pattern of his tweed jacket. In contrast, a psychological study of Chet Baker by Francois Marechal depicts the troubled face of a man half lost in impenetrable shadow.

Two artists from this region include Paul Kershaw, of Ripon, who creates a heightened image of crumpled rock formation in Scar, and Alistair Lovett, of Durham, with a timeless study of men sea coaling on the North-East coast.

Peter Lazarov's theatrical subjects drawn from Greek myth are counterbalanced by multi-layered harmonies of abstract pattern by Edwina Ellis.

The show runs until April 11.