art Archives - Neil Turner's Blog

Making Waves at York Art Gallery

April 27, 2026 by Neil Turner

A print of 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' on display at the Making Waves exhibition at the York Art Gallery

As we were staying with my parents at Easter, we popped into York city centre on Easter Sunday to see the Making Waves exhibition at York Art Gallery. The exhibition is all about the art of Japanese block printing, where printers would carve wooden blocks that were then painted, to reproduce artworks on a massive scale.

The name Making Waves comes from the painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai, which is one of the most recognisable paintings from this method. There is one of the 111 surviving original prints of this on show in Making Waves, on loan from the Maidstone Museum.

Now I keep saying that I’m not really into art, despite visiting a Banksy exhibition and the V&A last month, and now this. I stand by this, and I found the information about how the prints are made more interesting than the prints themselves.

A modern print creating using Japanese Block Printing, with the blocks shown.

Making Waves starts with an explanation of the process; there’s a video as well as a step-by-step guide. It’s notable that the process generally results in the original painting being destroyed, and so there is usually no surviving ‘original’, just the first print run. I particularly appreciated the display of a modern print, made using the traditional method, on show with some of the wooden blocks that were used to make it.

You then proceed around the exhibition largely in chronological order. The exhibition ends in the modern day, with some newer commissions of block printed art featuring characters from Japanese video games. Also, in the final room, you can use a series of rubber stamps to create your own block print, which is a nice touch.

Japanese Zen Garden

Around the back of the art gallery is a small Zen Garden that has been created for the exhibition. This is connected to the Museum Gardens and leads around the back to the nearby Yorkshire Museum.

We visited York Art Gallery a couple of years ago, and so we didn’t go upstairs to the rest of the galleries this time. The Making Waves exhibition is open until the 30th August this year.

Accessibility

York Art Gallery offers step free access throughout the building, with lift access to the upper floors. Accessible toilets are available, and there is a Changing Places toilet around the corner at York Central Library when that is open.

Parking your car in York city centre is unwise, and many buses stop right outside the art gallery, including Park & Ride services from Rawcliffe Bar. York railway station is a short walk away.

Admission is currently £9 per adult, but there are many discounts available, including free entry for Art Pass and Max Card holders, and York residents aged 16 and under.

Bansky: Limitless exhibition

April 7, 2026 by Neil Turner

A timeline at the start of the Banksy Limitless immersive experience

This is the second of my blog posts about last month’s trip to London. The first was about Kinky Boots, and this is about the Banksy: Limitless exhibition which was the other thing that we pre-booked before travelling.

You’ve probably heard of the pseudonymous street artist Banksy. This exhibition is an ‘immersive experience’ which has around 250 of his artworks on display. These are a mixture of prints and recreations of his works, and include those displayed at Dismaland, the Walled Off Hotel, Ukraine and his London animal trail.

I’m not massively into art, but I find Banksy interesting – not least because his true identity remains a mystery to most. All most people know about him is that he is male, white, and that he probably comes from Bristol where his earlier works appeared. He has been producing street art since at least 1999, if not earlier.

He’s probably best known for his stencilled street art. Stencils allow him to design his pieces in his studio; then, when he’s out in a public place, he can then quickly spray paint his works and move on before he gets in trouble. However, his art takes many forms and this exhibition covers lots of them.

Immersive experience

Banksy: Limitless is billed as an ‘immersive experience’, which made me think about that infamous Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow. Thankfully, it’s not a load of AI generated slop. Instead, whilst some parts are like a typical art gallery, others parts are laid out like a tube station, or a recreation of Dismaland. The web site says that you can expect to spend at least 80 minutes here; we spent well over two hours in the end. And, of course, you Exit Through the Gift Shop.

It’s important to note that Banksy himself hasn’t authorised this exhibition. Instead, it’s a collection of (mostly) privately owned pieces and prints that have been brought together. I really enjoyed it.

Accessibility

Banksy: Limitless is in Sussex Mansions on Old Brompton Road. It’s a short walk from South Kensington tube station on the Piccadilly, Circle and District Lines. The nearest step-free tube station is Knightsbridge, the previous stop on the Piccadilly line, which is a one mile walk.

The building is wheelchair accessible. The exhibition is across two floors, and there is a lift available. There are also toilets on site. The nearest Changing Places toilets are at the Science Museum, and the Royal Brompton Hospital, which are both a short distance away. Strobe lighting is used in the exhibition, and there is also an optional section towards the end that people with motion sickness are advised to avoid.

Ticket prices start at £20 each; Google’s AI summary offered me the discount code LONDONBY10 which gave me a 10% discount. Tickets are handled by Fever who we also used for The Art of the Brick, and you can earn points from your booking to use against future bookings (although this can’t be combined with discount codes).

Kate Lycett’s Lost Houses

December 29, 2024March 1, 2016 by Neil Turner

Running a stately home is a lot of work – you only have to watch shows like Downton Abbey to see why. (note: I have never watched Downton Abbey.) Organisations like The National Trust spend millions every year to keep their properties going. Not all houses are lucky enough to have someone maintain them and some have fallen into disrepair or been demolished.

With this in mind, artist Kate Lycett has painted a series of pieces called the Lost Houses of the South Pennines, which has gone on display in Halifax’s Bankfield Museum. All of the paintings are of houses and stately homes in Yorkshire which are no longer standing, such as Manor Heath in Halifax (now Manor Heath Park) or Horton Hall near Bradford.

What makes Kate’s paintings stand out is her attention to detail. All of the paintings show the houses as if they were still in their heydays – lights on, and with an almost ethereal glow, giving them life again. Gold leaf has been woven in to good effect.

Alongside each piece is a description of the house – who built it, what it was used for, and its ultimate fate. Photographs are also provided, as are Kate’s scrapbooks that she used during her research. Ironically for an exhibition at a Calderdale Council venue, many of those houses were demolished by its predecessor organisations. Dry rot seemed to be a major problem in several properties but I think money (or the lack thereof) has been the major factor in most of the houses’ demise.

We’ve visited twice – Christine and I were lucky to be invited to the opening night by a mutual friend of the artist, but we also popped in with my parents at the weekend. It looks like it’s been pleasingly popular.

All of the paintings are for sale by sealed auction bid, but you can also purchase limited numbered edition prints that are signed by the artist. These include the gold leaf that the originals have. The exhibition runs until early April, and is free to visit.