Exhibition: Botanica

Botanica features work by Des Pattison and Pat Harvey, and takes a new look at form, pattern and surface through fusions of print and paint inspired by plants.

Des and Pat are painter/printmakers who met ten years ago on a printmaking Masters course at Bradford College and have shared studio spaces for more than two years in Farsley. They have been working on the Botanica project for about 18 months. Grounded by their agreed theme, they have tried out a variety of processes to achieve a spontaneity and looseness in the use of materials such as embossed wallpapers as the basis for their mark-making and surface printing, and have fused paint, acrylic, oil based and textile printing inks to produce their host of horticultural images on paper and canvas. The motifs may be familiar, but the means of expression are by no means traditional.