GRASSINGTON artist Mark Butler is inspired by walks taken near to his home including the impact of ash dieback disease.
His latest exhibition ‘Lie of the Land’ at Mill Bridge Gallery, Skipton, features drawn and sculptural pieces.
His sculptures are wall mounted in cast bronze with also steel and lead, while his drawings use burning, gunpowder and rust printing as well as more conventional ink drawing.
His ‘ash map’ series of work records the impact of ash dieback on ash trees in in Grass Woods.
He says maps are a significant part of the way he experiences the landscape - visualising where he wants to go, navigating, recording his journeys.
He said: “My work aims to express the fragments of remembered views and experiences built up by travelling through my local landscape.
“I also highlight my concerns about the ecology of the areas I travel through and their fragile nature.
“Although I am using metal in my sculptures - a markedly permanent material - I harness chance by using wood or thin wax originals in my castings to create imperfect and fractured pieces, mirroring the impermanence and vulnerability of the environment around me.”
Lie of the Land runs at Mill Bridge Gallery from September 23 to October 16. The gallery is open Thursdays to Saturdays from 11am to 4pm.
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