Mark Hearld presents Studio Life, a new body of work inspired by the natural world, featuring both collage and ceramics. Mark studied illustration at Glasgow School of Art and then completed an MA in Natural History Illustration at the Royal College of Art.

‘My interest in the natural world has been central to me since childhood, but I have recently been on an outing to Stafford to a rather wonderful poultry fair which made me want to draw a range of rare breeds. There were thousands of different varieties of chickens, geese, turkeys, guinea fowl, ducks. The names are wonderful like the Appenzeller Spitzenhauben – a Swiss bird with a crest, Sebright hens and Oxford old English game fowl.’ Mark Hearld – 2019.

Studio Life by Mark Hearld also includes special presentations by fellow artists; Malcolm Appleby silverware and Malcolm Appleby jewellery, Ben Arnup, Clive Bowen, Joe Hogan, Paul Preston, Guy Royle and Samuel Waterhouse.

The Gallery will be showcasing fabric designed by Mark Hearld for St. Jude’s, produced in the UK. Fabrics and wallpapers are available to purchase directly from St Jude’s website here.

Mark Hearld

Photography by A State of Nature

Born: 1974

Place of Birth: York

Mark Hearld has an unbridled passion for making, and his extraordinary creativity leads to collaborative projects with artists and traditional craft makers across multiple disciplines. Collage is central to Mark Hearld’s artistic output, not only as a medium but as a process that is firmly rooted in twentieth-century art. Collage was a technique used by Matisse, Picasso and John Piper to introduce abstraction into their images. Mark similarly uses this means of abstraction, combined with his traditional academic training and careful observation, to inform his creativity.

Mark Hearld studied illustration at the Glasgow School of Art before completing an MA in Natural History Illustration at the Royal College of Art, London. He lives and works from his eclectic and iconic home in York.

The Gallery has enjoyed Mark’s theatrical, creative, immersive world ever since Mark Hearld & Friends debuted in 2009. He is also a great believer in artist collaboration, and he regularly works with other artisan printmakers and creators. Hearld takes inspiration from the natural world, particularly British flora and fauna, the fox and chicken, hedgerow, and songbird. He works across several mediums; his paintings, collage, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, designs and motifs are drawn from a lifetime of looking at pattern books, popular prints, primitive art and the poetry of Blake.

Highlights of his remarkable career include The Lumber Room held at York Art Gallery from 2015-2017 where Mark curated a room of miscellaneous stored objects and artefacts and in 2018, Mark re-displayed the British Folk Art collection at Compton Verney. York Sculpture Park celebrated Hearld’s career in 2021 which included several large scale sculptures, flat weave tapestry and papercuts.

To view prints by this artist please click here.

Studio Life

Mark Hearld

Sign up to our news and events