WAKEFIELD.- This winter, Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents Flights of Memory by painter and printmaker Angela Harding. The artist’s largest ever solo exhibition presents a striking collection of prints and paintings inspired by the thriving wildlife of Britain. The exhibition runs at YSP, near Wakefield, from 19 November 2016 to 26 February 2017.

Flights of Memory transforms YSP Centre into a map of Britain, showcasing the islands’ birds and animals in their natural landscapes, from countryside to coast, hedgerow to heath. A series of six North Yorkshire-inspired prints, including Cherry Tree in Richmond and Curlew at Whitby Harbour, hark back to Harding’s childhood spent in the region. The artist has revisited locations reminiscent of that time to produce new works which are observational and also rely on a combination of imagination and memory.

The exhibition premieres Harding’s mainly British bird alphabet, a series of 26 wood engravings, in the artist’s delicate and intriguing style, that take joy in the shape, form and pattern of our British birds.

All works in Flights of Memory are available to buy, along with a limited edition screen-printed linocut and silk-screen print – featuring a hare among the seed heads in the grounds of Newby Hall, Ripon – produced by The Penfold Press in Selby and exclusive to YSP. The artist has also designed an exclusive range of homeware for YSP Shop including a cake tin, apron, tea cosy and tray.

Harding is an established painter and printmaker who works from her rural studio in Wing, Rutland. She is a founding member and former director of Leicester Print Workshop, and in recent years she has made regular contributions as an illustrator for Gardens Illustrated, BBC Countryfile and Country Living Magazine. Harding principally works in block print, combining vinyl or lino with layered coloured silkscreen and stencil, which gives a strong graphic emphasis to the work.

YSP has led successful exhibitions with some of the UK’s best-known artists and designers including Mark Hearld, Angie Lewin, Emily Sutton and Rob Ryan. YSP Shop showcases original work by international artists and contemporary designers and makers.