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Cliffe Hill with Artist Helen Brown
Matt Birch • 28 August 2021
A conversation about inks, cloud swirls and moveable trees
I met Helen, a Sussex print-maker, at Lewes Station and we took the train east one stop to Glynde for our planned late summer walk up to Mount Caburn, on the south side of Cliffe Hill. I have had the pleasure of showing Helen's distinctive south downs woodcuts in Skylark for over a decade, and having created scores of prints in the same eye-catching style, she is a trusted
artist of the local landscape, in a sense. I was looking forward to hearing more about Helen's inspiration and artistic processes. Being in situ
was just great, as I could observe Helen stopping to make initial sketches, and talk about how she saw the landscape around her. The visibility was good, providing a welcome drawing opportunity after a somewhat murky early summer.
As fair weather clouds passed overhead, I asked her about the long and striking curls and flow lines she uses to depict clouds (or wind currents?) in her work. She explained that in the 90s she had lived and worked for a time in Kerala and had been interested in local decorative styles which inspired her to develop her own "somewhat swirly!" style in her art at the time. On returning to the UK, she had a yen to produce landscape work from life and initially created collage-based downland work, with quite literal skyscapes. Then, readying for an Open House exhibition she tried out the new signature sky-stylisation for a view of Devil's Dyke, and the woodcut print in question quickly sold in all 15 editions, a huge encouragement!
As we ascended the second field, we noted the attractive round bales scattered around us. We now had some elevation down into the wide valley and across to the far Kingston and Firle ridges, both of which have featured in popular prints by Helen. It was amazing how even a few steps up, down or to the side quickly changed the composition of the view, not least the nearer hillside shapes. Here, a pencil sketch was quickly produced, looking up to folds in the hillside, scrub and trees to the top of Caburn. This is always the start point, never photos, and usually determines the actual size of the final print, the sketch being traced, flipped and transferred to a Japanese Shina Ply wood block with carbon paper. I noted that the hill incline was subtly enhanced, another common signature of the work. To me, this seems to work as a mirror to the non-literal skies: a dreamy, heightened, generous, sublime interpretation of a risen old seabed, carved into whalebacks and dry coombes, and long farmed.
My walking companion explained that not everything that is drawn on the block comes from the first sketch, and this building up of the image is typical of the whole process. A freedom is retained in this way. Japanese U and V tools produce the relief that will take the ink. The inking process is intriguing. Only ever using the same five Indian inks (Yes! Another distinctive feature), the wood block is often jigsaw cut to allow the rolled sea green ink of the hills to sit flush with sea blue of the sky, and perhaps the marigold yellows and browns of fields, the default white of clouds or chalk paths, before the 1844 Columbian press at the bip-Art printmaking studio in Brighton is used for the print. Helen's mixed media approach further involves post - tinting to add texture and subtle tones, and often
chine colle paper sections in the final print.
Meadow browns and chalk blue butterflies frittered around the intricately cupped "umbrellas" of wild carrot flowers, tendrilling vetch and the ultramarine spikes of viper's bugloss, reminding us what a rich biosystem we have right here on our southern English downland. Poppies sometimes feature in the work, the hit of red always striking against the cooler colourways.
Helen was candid about "moving" the occasional tree, and not representing every last copse in the distance. Or having a field of rape where there is now a field of wheat. I suggested that this could be a pleasing nod to how the landscape is ever-changing over time anyway, like the air currents in her skyscapes. I pointed out some sheep above us. "I don't do sheep!" (I didn't pry! Fair enough...)
We reached the summit which now opened up superb views in all directions, over the darkening weald north and west to the white flash of chalk pit by Offham, where peregrines nest. Mount Caburn was an Iron Age hill fort of some kind, and you can understand why. Earth rings that bolstered the wooden fortification are still much in evidence. Whether it had a primarily military or religious purpose remains a subject of debate. It certainly remains atmospheric. The Ouse snaked silver towards the visible sea, with the Glynde stream winding east off it, and road traffic and occasional train proceeding toy-like below. Helen shared with me that she missed her beloved dog Mutley who had recently passed away, and that over many years he had accompanied her on her sketching trips up onto the downs. The rescued lurcher-collie had been great company and enjoyed chasing, if not catching, rabbits on expeditions. After a suitable interval Helen would like to get another canine companion, she said.
Each woodblock (or lino for the very largest work) produces up to 45 limited prints, but each is unique by virtue of which papers are incorporated, and which inks and blends are used where. The working "lifetime" of a particular block was typically 5 - 7 years. Printing is in small batches, 3 or 4, with a week for drying.
I asked Helen if she was tempted to turn her gaze to other locations. She explained that it was really important for her to work where she lives, in a place that she has grown deeply familiar with over time. For instance, after several months living in India, she felt ready to interpret her surroundings. In any case, the contours of the chalk downs, the mix of wood and small fields up and over them and the wide skies is endlessly inspiring. As we walked over Malling Down on our way back to Lewes, I couldn't disagree.
You can see some of Helen Brown's work currently on sale in Skylark here
The River and Mount Caburn - Helen Brown
I am excited to say that I have just added my own writng to the shelves of Skylark. Meridian: A Walk from Sussex to Yorkshire was published by the excellent Frogmore Press on 12th April 2023, and is available to buy in the shop or by clicking on this link. Here is the media release we put out... Matt Birch has run an independent bookshop and gallery in Lewes, East Sussex since 2006. After years of curating, looking at and selling travel and nature-based memoirs, he developed a strong urge to go on a journey of his own, and in a parallel journey, write it up as a book. The result is the sumptuous, hybrid, and unique Meridian: A Walk from Sussex to Yorkshire. In July 2021, as COVID restrictions were being lifted, he chose his walk. Guided by the Greenwich Meridian, which passed through his hometown, the route was determined by an abstract concept rather than natural features and completed in stages over four seasons. This book invites you to join him on his internal and external journey. Reflecting the rhythm of a long walk, his ‘snap shots’ alternate with short pieces of writing: writing that meanders through history, politics, nature, literature, music, etymology, prose and poetry as he follows this line cutting through a cross-section of England. An insightful and intriguing, personal and whimsical exploration of the places encountered between two little-known coastal towns, and of what the experience ultimately meant for the author. Within the pages, there is a real synergy between the large format photographs, and their associated, short essays. The book is both a descriptor of some typical eastern English landscapes (and a selection of the people, flora and fauna that they support), and a wider celebration of the rich knowledge-reward that a long journey across this land can gift the reasonably curious and observant walker. Chance incidents on the walk are frequently viewed through a wryly humorous lens. At other times, the reader is led into lively expositions on a range of subjects, from Daniel Defoe’s account of a famously wild Cambridgeshire fair, to the joys of wild swimming (and increasing limitations on it); from the troubling history of the Fennish who tried to resist the drainage of their lands to the pleasures of encountering British nature, whether a day-glo Spindle tree or those magnificent returning birds of prey, red kites. Through prose, poems and pictures, the reader will visit eerily abandoned canals, allotments with mermaid scarecrows, a strange tunnel under the Thames, the top deck of a bus full of teenagers, and the fastest-eroding coastline in Britain. In the Afterword, the author reflects back on the value of the walk. He appreciates the self-reflective opportunity provided by a long-walk experience, and how this journey allowed him to realise with enhanced clarity what really matters in his own life.
Karen Smith, Julia Webb, Jackie Wills and Emily Bell – Thursday 15th April 2021 Needlewriters is going to be online now until the autumn, when we’re hoping to be back at the John Harvey Tavern… but of course, that’s to be confirmed. Meanwhile our next event is on Thursday 15th April and we’re delighted to be welcoming Karen Smith (poetry), Julia Webb (poetry), Jackie Wills (prose and/or poetry) and Emily Bell (prose). Doors open at 6.20pm and readings begin at 6.30pm. The event is free to attend but please do book in advance. If you feel able, we would be very grateful for any help you can offer us by way of a donation and you will have that option when you register. Please register here on the Eventbrite page. We look forward to seeing you! Karen Smith is a wild swimming addict, librarian and poet from Uckfield, East Sussex. Since 2018, she’s been collaborating with Kin’d & Kin’d, an Ecopoetry collective of writers and artists. Her pamphlet Schistwas published in 2019 as part of the Laureate’s Choice Series and she is currently working on a hybrid text about water. Julia Webb is a writer, teacher and artist living in Norwich. She is a poetry editor for Lighthouse. In 2011 she won the Poetry Society’s Stanza competition and in 2018 she won the Battered Moon poetry competition. She has two poetry collections with Nine Arches Press: Bird Sisters (2016) and Threat (2019). She is currently working towards her third collection. Jackie Wills has been a journalist, editor and writing tutor but none exclusively. She’s written six collections, short stories and a handbook on running workshops. She’s run several reading groups, including for the Child and Adolescent Mental Heath Service on behalf of the Royal Literary Fund. Her most recent collection is A Friable Earth (Arc Publications 2019). Jackie has had an allotment for more than 20 years and has worked with the Surrey Hills AONB, Gatton House, the Garden Museum and RHS at Wisley. She’s written about her reading and writing life for Smith Doorstop – On Poetry – will be published next year. Emily Bell is a writer of prose and poetry and a research student at the University of Brighton. She is currently working on her PhD, a ficto-critical thesis exploring creative processes in literature and visual art, centred on the works of Emily Brontë. Image: Sorrell Kinley, Blackmore Vale, Dorset
An evening with Kazuo Ishiguro 23 March 2021 7 p. m. Online Join us for an evening with the Nobel Prize winning author, Kazuo Ishiguro to celebrate the publication of his stunning new novel, Klara and the Sun. Entrance to the event is free when you buy Klara and the Sun from us via Skylark's page on Bookshop.org here Once you have purchased the book, you will be emailed an invitation to the event on the day - save the date in the meantime via this link http://bit.ly/BSOKlaraEvent Klara and the Sun From the bestselling and Nobel Prize-winning author of Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, a stunning new novel that asks: what does it mean to love? This is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change for ever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans. ‘A masterpiece of great beauty, meticulous control and, as ever, clear, simple prose.’ Sunday Times ‘This is a novel for fans of Never Let Me Go, with which it shares a DNA of emotional openness, the quality of letting us see ourselves from the outside, and a vision of humanity which - while not exactly optimistic - is tender, touching and true.’ The Times ‘There is something so steady and beautiful about the way Klara is always approaching connection, like a Zeno's arrow of the heart. People will absolutely love this book, in part because it enacts the way we learn how to love.’ Anne Enright, Guardian ‘Another masterpiece, a work that makes us feel afresh the beauty and fragility of our humanity.’ Alex Preston, Observer Kazuo Ishiguro Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. His eight works of fiction have earned him many awards and honours around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Booker Prize. His work has been translated into over fifty languages. The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go were made into acclaimed films. Ishiguro also writes screenplays and song lyrics. He lives in London with his wife and daughter. Nic Bottomley - event chair Nic Bottomley set up the award-winning Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath with his wife Juliette in 2006 . Nic is also a past President and current Executive Chair of the Booksellers Association of UK and Ireland.
There is a long tradition of nature and travel writing in this isles, from beautifully intense accounts of particular species ( The Peregrine, J A Baker) to heart-felt, almost mystical reflections on certain adored landscapes, such as The Cairngorms ( The Living Mountain, Nan Shepherd). I took a look along Skylark's non-fiction shelves and picked out some personal favourites that celebrate the human and natural history of particular regions of England (specifically) through diversely-styled but always fine writing. First up, published in 2017, The Old Weird Albion is by Justin Hopper and published by Penned in the Margins. A native of the US, but now a resident of Constable country on the Essex/Suffolk border, Justin turns his gaze south, to the very region I call home, the South Downs. The author weaves together an account of a walking journey along the South Downs Way from Winchester to Eastbourne, with memories, myths and histories of the landscape as told to him by a cast of eccentrics and visionaries he meets along the way. He partners this with some detective work regarding the story of his own grandmother in Sussex, and apposite digressions into related subjects including ecotherapy and ancient chalk figures. An engaging styling is the use of italicised indicators of each page's subject matter penned, well, in the margins. This is "a poetic essay interrogating the high, haunted landscape of the English south".
I took a high summer bicycle-and-train trip westards from Lewes to the village of Hassocks. Above the tracks, cirrocumulus and cumulus clouds seemed stopped in the sky, as though painted. The ridge of the South Downs lay close to the south, a natural barrier to the very different energy of Brighton. Hassocks used to consist of just a few cottages until the arrival of the Brighton-London railway, and is now quite sizeable. The name derives from the Old English 'hassuc' via Middle English 'hassok', meaning clump of grass or vegetation. I didn't have time to explore whether the local fields were still noticeably tuffet-y, where not now built upon, and with the air heavy with buddleia instead sought out a village-edge address. I met Ashley in the garden of his West Sussex home (complete with a lounging cat and lovely pond), and after coffee was shown the studio he built in 2016, under the ash tree that gives his company it's current name. The spacious workspace featured three etching presses. What most catches the eye is a beautiful 1930s GEM proofing press made in Manchester, in royal blue. Alongside are two more modern presses which, as Ashley conceded, are for most purposes more practical! Hanging up to dry, ten or so sheets with the first applied print colour - a pale stoney tone - from a new lino etching featuring a pair of greater spotted woodpeckers (birds in natural surroundings are a recurring motif in Ashley's work). This will be one half of a diptych with the other print being a nuthatch. Both will be a six colour reduction print, finished off with an embossed Kew Gardens greenhouse running through them.
Hello, Jeremy Page and Alexandra Loske. Thank you so much for participating. I have some questions for you! What is The Frogmore Press, and how did it all begin? JP The Frogmore Press was born as an idea at the Frogmore Tea-Rooms in Folkestone in 1983. The early 80s were a challenging time for young people emerging from higher education and opportunities were limited. A group of us used to congregate at the Frogmore – which had an impressive literary heritage, having been frequented by H G Wells back in the day – on a regular basis. These days the Frogmore Press is based in Lewes. Alexandra came on board about fifteen years ago and has been the Managing Editor since 2010.
During the temporary closure of The Needlemakers along with most high street shops this spring, there has been the opportunity for both a revamp of the physical shop, and the creation of a new website. I feel our new on-line presence now better reflects what we are about. And of course, it provides a means to shop directly, 24/7! We are also glad to think that we can still serve those customers who are unable to visit for any reason. Over time, I also look forward to creating this "Skylog": occasional writings and interviews that explore our Sussex setting. I hope to travel out and meet some of the creative folk the shop has links with in their natural habitats or work places. A couple of the print makers have already said that they would be very happy for me to visit their workshops, whether down in raffish Brighton or up in the beautifully wooded Weald. I have an associated yen to visit local places that are the subjects of particular pieces of work... Whatever transpires, Sussex is so rich in history and countryside I am sure I will find plenty of excuses to take trips out of the shop. Watch this online journal space!