Yorkshire Agricultural Society to showcase unique David Hockney adaptation
The Yorkshire Agricultural Society is to showcase a unique adaptation of one of David Hockneys most renowned paintings at its headquarters in Harrogate.
A section of Hockneys vibrant Going up Garrowby Hill will be recreated as a 3m by 6m wall hanging for the Entrance Hall of the award winning Regional Agricultural Centre. The Society is best known as the organiser of the annual Great Yorkshire Show and its sister event, Countryside Live and its staff are based in the Centre which opened last summer.
The idea came from the Societys HR Manager, Susan Hibbert after she joined a felt making class. She decided on Hockney because of his strong Yorkshire links, and after gaining the artists permission, the work was commissioned by the Society.
The hanging will be made up of 18 separate felt panels, created from specially dyed coloured wool. Susan and her fellow felt makers are each making a panel, recreating the glorious colours used in the original master piece to produce the distinctive and unique piece of artwork.
Once completed, the panels will be connected and hung as one piece at the Centre. Wool has played an important part in the building both in its insulation – fleeces from 1,500 sheep were used and all the carpets in the two storey building are made from wool from Herdwick sheep. The Centre has won numerous awards for its sustainability, including most recently the highly acclaimed Project of the Year title as well as the award for Sustainability at the 2010 RICS* Pro-Yorkshire Awards.
Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, Nigel Pulling, said: This is an amazing project, and we are delighted to have David Hockneys blessing to go ahead. This unique wall hanging will tie in perfectly with the overall theme of our enviromentally friendly building and is just what our Entrance Hall needs. We will certainly be inviting Mr Hockney to see it once its complete.
Hockney was born in 1937 the year the Yorkshire Agricultural Society celebrated its centenary and Garrowby Hill was originally painted by the famous Yorkshire artist in 1998. The Society also has links with Garrowby Hill as both Lord and Lady Halifax whose home is at Garrowby have been involved with the Society for many years. Lord Halifax was its President in 1993.
Hockneys paintings often portray the great pride he has for the region, where Garrowby Hill particularly captures the beautiful landscape in his vibrant style. After living in America for a number of years, he returned to his Yorkshire roots in the 1990s, and was inspired by the regions beautiful countryside.
A blog has also been set up by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society to track the progress of the project, which can be viewed at www.yas2010.wordpress.com
YORKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY:
The Yorkshire Agricultural Society was formed in 1837 and is a charity dedicated to supporting the farming industry and rural life. The value of the support it provides to regional farming and countryside initiatives has risen year on year to almost 1m. It is based at the Regional Agricultural Centre, Harrogate; the RAC includes Fodder, the Societys regional food shop and caf which opened in June 2009.
The Society is the organiser of the annual farming and countryside showcase, the Great Yorkshire Show and its sister event, Countryside Live. The 2010 Great Yorkshire Show runs from Tuesday 13 Thursday 15 July and Countryside Live is on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 October 2010. Last years Great Yorkshire Show attracted 130,731 visitors and there were 10,014 visitors to Countryside Live.
Both take place at the Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire and are flagship events for agriculture and rural life.