Mick Manning: Near The Bear North

3 – 25 May 2019

Mick Manning: Near The Bear North

Mick Manning’s exhibition Near The Bear, North is a lyrical mix of works on paper some of which feature the breath-taking cliff-top views near his Borders home. There are also careful life-studies of birds and animals showcasing on-the-spot calligraphy made with hand-cut sea weed dip pens.

The exhibition shares its evocative title with, and will be complimented by, the launch of a stunning new book Near The Bear, North a book solely illustrated with Manning’s pochoir-stencil prints. This ABC for all ages celebrates the untamed beauty of northern fauna and flora as experienced by Manning on his travels in Scotland and Scandinavia and, as Manning writes in the introduction, it involved some very close encounters;

‘The word Arctic comes from the ancient Greek word arktikos that translates as ‘near the Bear, north’. It refers to The Great Bear constellation but for me it also recalls a summer day in Lapland. I was returning to our log cabin after a fishing trip, retracing my original path, when I came upon huge paw prints imprinted on top of my own outward-bound tracks; a brown bear had followed me and the squashed moss was still bouncing up again.’

Near The Bear, North is published by Design For Today a small publishing press inspired by mid-century design and lithography. An exhibition of the unique pochoir-stencil artworks as well as signed copies of the book itself will be available for purchase in the Print Room.

Mick Manning studied at the Royal College of Art 1984-87 and on graduation worked as a freelance illustrator as well as working with various animators such as Gerry Anderson, Dick Taylor and Bob Godfrey. Between 1990-98 he was Illustration Course leader at Glasgow School of Art. He now focuses his attention on exhibition work and his multi award-winning illustrated books.

He has been made an Honorary Fellow of Bradford College and of the English Association. He exhibits with St Jude’s prints and the Open Eye Gallery, for whom this will be his third biennial solo exhibition.

For more information about the book please email the Open Eye Gallery mail@openeyegallery.co.uk