Print artist captures the mood of the pub

ARTIST and printmaker Kath Lockhart’s earliest memory is of drawing people dancing on stage.

“I would be about four. I was a miner’s daughter in Nottingham so we weren’t going to grand productions at the theatre or the opera. It must just have been local and school productions. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t want to draw,” says the retired art and design teacher.

At the bar, linocut by Kath Lochhart

She still feels the same compulsion, but generally in bars in and around the Cumbrian fells and the Yorkshire Dales, living on the borders of both in Cowgill, near Dent.

“I have to work fast, though, because people can up and leave unexpectedly,” she says.

She can’t ask them to sit still; it would spoil the spontaneity, and captured naturally in the lino-cuts she makes from the drawings is something of the mood and chatter of the local pub.

She’s a member of a number of widely spread groups, from the Green Door society of artists in Kendal, to Northern Print studios in Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Gayle Mill craft group near Hawes, in which capacity she was recently working and exhibiting at the Yorkshire Dales National Park’s Aysgarth Centre.

For this, her work was different, reflecting the abundant wildlife of the Dales and enabling even small children to make cards from the linocuts and inks she provided. The ten day “pop-up crafts” extravaganza of rug-making, spinning, felting, quilting, printing and a host of other skills were demonstrated and shared, with children and adults having chance to try their hand at most of them.

“It’s wonderful to see the children’s response when they have chance to try something like print-making. Their faces light up with the delight of creating something. In an age of screens and computers they don’t change fundamentally. They’re still captivated by a simple, creative process,” says Kath.

There will be another chance to see and experience the different crafts at the Aysgarth Centre from August 22-31. Call 01969 662910 for details.

Kath’s prints can be seen in What We Do, an exhibition of the Gayle Mill craft group’s work at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes (01969 666210) until June 29. Her work is also displayed at the Kendal Museum, the Brewery Arts Centre and the Brewhouse in Kendal.