AN exhibition of esteemed artist Norman Ackroyd’s work will be staged at the North House gallery next week.

The online display will be his 12th biennial solo show at the Manningtree gallery, running from April 17 – May 8.

It will feature works such as Reading the Landscape 2019 and Lockdown 2020.

Also on show are the small series of Lockdown Rainbow etchings and 20 independent prints from the past two years.

Rainbows have often appeared in Norman’s work in the past, but this time they hold a particularly contemporary importance and aim to symbolise hope in dark times.

The etchings of ‘Reading the Landscape’, housed in a solander box, are interleaved with translucent paper printed with lines of some of Norman’s favourite poetry and songs from Milton to Dylan.

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Further printed matter includes a map and descriptions of the places depicted, some new and others revisited, but all, however wild, have a relationship to human habitation at some point in history.

Mr Ackroyd said: “Expeditions for the past year have been few or delayed and non-existent since March.

“I have found myself delving deeply into my library of watercolour notebooks from over 50 years of exploring our islands.

“Contained within over 40 standard sized books are well over 1,000 plein air notes and drawings from all over the British archipelago.

“In addition there are several hundred loose sheets from watercolour blocks, containing a wide variety of papers, that I have designed myself and that I have been using increasingly over the last 15 years.

“Lockdown offers much time for dreaming and the drawings trigger wonderful memories of people, places and extraordinary events and adventures, often in hostile seas.”

“Most of the drawings are produced with etching in mind.For me etching and watercolour are deeply symbiotic.”

For more go to northhousegallery.co.uk/exhibitionlist.