IN RETREAT: Work by Mark Rowney
4 Jul 2023 - 30 Jul 2023
An exhibition of paintings, leather sculpture and objet d’art. I love the bees that sting me, the midges that bite me and the birds that sing so sweetly. Images of the wildlife that inhabit these Dales and their capacity for presence.
I was born in Middlesbrough in 1962, then brought up on a ‘Ranch’ in my beloved Weardale, Co Durham. I studied at Maidstone, Kent, completing my BA at St. Martins in London. After several years working as an illustrator for a varied assortment of Newspapers and Publishers in London and New York, I started working seriously in leather. During this time I began producing accessories and objet d’art for the fashion designer Paul Smith on Fifth Avenue. I also started working as a designer for a soft furnishing company, spending time in India as an embroidery designer.
After many years abroad, I returned to the family farm in the hills of the Durham Dales, where I pursue my love of contemporary nature painting, leather art and sculpture. Each sculpture leather sculpture can take hundreds of hours to complete.
For this show ‘In Retreat’. I have endeavoured to produce a new and varied collection of work that encompasses my love for the nature that surrounds us and touches on my religious beliefs. New sculptures in both leather and wood, as well as paintings.
I have exhibited both leather work and paintings across Britain . My work is collected at home and internationally. I spend my days producing work that is inspired by the creatures, trees and meadows that surround me.
” To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower” …. William Blake