sceNE
sceNE in Northumberland National Park
Barn Owls © Allan Potts
Opening on 11 June 2010 at the Biscuit Factory, sceNE in Northumberland National Park features some of the North East’s most awe-inspiring sights, by three of our most passionate photographers of the outdoors.
A protected part of the region, Northumberland National Park covers 400 square miles from Hadrian’s Wall to the Cheviot Hills on the border with Scotland. Few people save occasional hill farmers and walkers can be seen in its remote, beautiful landscapes, rich with wildlife and watered by the country’s purest rivers. These are special, but more special by far are those fleeting moments when these sights would take your breath away.
Our three master outdoor photographers – Roger Clegg, Simon Fraser and Allan Potts – know the National Park well; they walk the hills and valleys in winter and summer, in sunshine and storm. They see the light on the hills, the water falling down the crags and know the places where the wild things are. sceNE shows you our countryside through their eyes. With their delight in the light, the shapes, the atmosphere and the intimacy of wildlife in close-up.
Roger Clegg
Roger CleggAn award-winning photographer, Roger Clegg lives in Hexham, just 20 minutes from the place that has become his abiding passion – Hadrian’s Wall. Roger embraced photography professionally after a career in business and then as a lecturer. He has captured the contrasting moods and timeless scenes of Hadrian’s Wall from coast to coast, and is responsible, amongst many achievements, for the iconic scenes on the side of Northern Rail trains; the pictures used for marketing Hadrian’s Wall and the British Museum’s Hadrian exhibition in 2008, and the book The Spirit of Hadrian’s Wall.
His picture of Sycamore Gap at midsummer with walkers won the Northumberland National Park prize in the Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards 2009. Roger was the inspiration for the coming together of sceNE, feeling that the synergy of the three photographers’ work would be a powerful illumination of the jewels of the North East countryside. ‘The importance of this exhibition is in the photographers and our very individual take on what we experience and capture in our images. I hope that our collective insights into the magic of the Northumberland hill country will move people and perhaps inspire them to visit for themselves’.
Simon Fraser
Cheviots from Simonside Hills © Simon FraserSimon Fraser has been a professional photographer since 1986 specialising in science, nature and the environment. He started taking photographs as a record of climbs and travels in wild places around the world, especially the Himalaya, and in the 1980s he spent two years in Antarctica, as a mountain and polar safety guide with the British Antarctic Survey.
Simon’s work is represented by Science Photo Library, and the National Trust Photo Library, and his images have been published in many countries worldwide. He was commissioned to photograph the book ‘Gardens of Northumberland and the Borders’ in 2006, with the writer Susie White. New work on climate change, commissioned by the National Trust, was exhibited in an award winning exhibition at Hooper’s Gallery in London in 2007, which toured the UK. A solo exhibition ‘Earth, Light and Time’ opened at the National Trust’s Gibson Mill property near Hebden Bridge in 2009.
Simon lives in the heart of Northumberland National Park with his wife and young family, and enjoys mountaineering, beekeeping and organic gardening. ‘Living in the North Tyne valley gives me the chance to appreciate on a daily basis, the unique qualities of England’s most sparsely populated region. I love the sense of space and distance, the far horizons, the wide sweep of sky, and all the intricate details of the surrounding fells, valleys and woodlands through the changing seasons of the year.
‘I feel a strong commitment to promoting appreciation and enjoyment of the natural world, and environmental sustainability in a rapidly changing world.’
Allan Potts
Allan PottsAllan Potts has been involved in wildlife photography for the past forty years. His feeling for nature and the great variety of animal species is a deep attachment. Being a farmer and also a wildlife photographer brings him much closer to nature - to a certain extent nature lives at his own back door.
Allan’s book Natural North, documents the diverse natural history of the North East of England. Many of his images are used by photographic libraries for books, calendars and postcards and in the past has received a number of highly commended awards in the British Gas / BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Writing articles for magazines and working as a freelance photographer, he spends most of his time in his studio and also the living countryside. Specialising in panoramic images of the natural world, Allan brings an artistic interpretation to his photographs with computer imaging creating an extended vision beyond what we see in his fine art prints.
Sycamore Gap © Roger Clegg‘Few places in Britain can be looked upon as a true wilderness. I find the remoteness of Northumberland inspires an awesome feeling and stimulates the imagination. But the semi wilds of the bleak moors of Cheviot and Coquetdale are like no other place. On some occasions, it's possible to walk the lonely fells without seeing another human figure. Only hardy shepherds and dedicated farmers grind a living with dog and stick, in this hill country.
‘To interpret the changing moods of Northumberland, you need to be strong willed, and independently minded. But what makes my inner most feelings blossom, is this definite remoteness, and sharing with nature that brief moment in time when recording images of its lonely landscape.’
www.allanpottsphotography.co.uk
Ceramics exhibition
Barn owl - ceramicAlongside the photography, The Biscuit Factory is proud to exhibit the work of some of the UK’s leading ceramicists. Jeremy James has made a collection of detailed and acutely observed ceramic sculptures inspired by the animals and birds in the Park. The life, movement and fine details in his work makes Jeremy James’ sculpture highly collectable. In addition we showcase work by Christine Cummings , whose animal pieces are all hand crafted in earth stone clay and are finished either by Raku or smoke firing.
sceNE in Northumberland National Park runs from 11 June to the end of August at the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle. As well as the exhibition itself, the photographers will be holding a summer of photography workshops for schools, and photography competitions that everyone can enter with exciting prizes.
The Biscuit Factory
16 Stoddart Street,
Newcastle Upon Tyne,
NE2 1AN
0191 261 1103
Gallery Manager
