Alan Stones

I work as a painter and printmaker and 'people' are at the heart of the things I make. I do depict 'nature' too, but this is likely to be nature either as a metaphor for human activities or nature very much affected by man.

Much of my work falls into specific series, with the series itself being fundamental to an appreciation of individual pieces.

Looking back it is evident that there are on-going themes in the work and possibly the most constant of these is 'identity' or, more precisely, degrees of engagement we have with each other. My work in the 1970's focused on anonymity in society: for example, 'A Search for the Man in the Street' - a card index consisting of drawings, photographs and texts which was a meditation on life on a London overspill housing estate in Norfolk. In the intervening years 'intimacy' is more evident, as in my self-portraits, and a desire for empathy is behind a work like 'Collateral'.

Back in 1985 I began making lithographs after winning an award from the Gulbenkian Foundation to 'experiment in printmaking'. To start with most of my prints were made in response to hill farming on the Northern Pennines. Then, in the mid 1990's after a three month residency on the Falkland Islands, my prints became much more minimal. I feel sure that the vast open space of the Falkland Islands is somewhere behind these pictures, but then so too is the landscape of east Cumbria where I live and work: on overcast days the presence of Cross Fell diminishes and rooks and hawthorns appearing through the mist take on a great significance. The many thousands of thorn trees on the lower parts of the fell are truly wonderful in their great variety of shapes and sizes - some gnarled and bent by the elements and others with seemingly charmed lives. 
  
 
 

Solo Exhibitions 

2014 - 'Nature . . . . and Man', Severn Studio, Brantwood, Cumbria

2012 - 2014 - Alan Stones' Lithographs, CREA, Penrith, Cumbria,

2005 - Alan Stones' Lithographs, Chelsea Arts Club, London

2001 - Exhibition, Galerie Sud, Leipzig, Germany

2001 - Great Expectations, Borsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V., Leipzig, Germany

2000 - 2006 - Alan Stones at Rheged, Penrith, Cumbria

2000 - Thorn, Gateshead Central Library

1999 - Paintings, Drawings and Prints, Penrith Museum, Cumbria

1996 - Alan Stones, Hartlepool Art Gallery

1996 - Looking out from Within, Tullie House, Carlisle, Cumbria

1995 - Touring Exhibition, Falkland Islands

1994 - Oddfellow Gallery of Contemporary Art, Kendal, Cumbria

1994 - Open House and Studio Week, Blencarn, Cumbria

1993 - Eden And 50 Associated Studies, Penrith, Cumbria

1987 - 2012  - Open Studio - one afternoon every week, Blencarn, Cumbria

1986 - Fell Farm Labour, Carlisle Art Gallery and touring

1985 - Abbot Hall, Kendal, Cumbria

1985 - Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery

1985 - Oldham Art Gallery

1985 - Open Studio Week, Blencarn, Cumbria

1985 - Work Land And Livestock, Peterborough and Touring

Group exhibitions

2016 - C-Art Cumbrian artist of the Year  Rheged, Penrith, Cumbria

2015 & 2016  New Light Art Prize, The Bowes Museum County Durham, The Mercer Gallery Harrogate and Panter and Hall, London

2015 - Winter Exhibition, Gavagan Art, Settle, N.Yorkshire

2015 - C-Art Cumbrian Artist of the Year, Rheged, Penrith, Cumbria

2014 - Printfest 2014, Ulverston, Cumbria

2013 - Alan Stones and Rebecca Payn, Bellwood and Wright, Lancaster, Lancashire

2013 - Alan Stones and Rebecca Payn, Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth, Cumbria

2013 - C-Art @ Rheged, Rheged, Penrith, Cumbria

2013 - The Threadneedle Prize, The Mall Galleries, London

2013 - 'What is Drawing', Customs House Atrs Centre , South Shields, Tyne and Wear

2012 - Alan Stones and Rebecca Payn, Connections and Differences, The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, Cumbria 

2012 - C-Art @ Tullie, Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, Cumbria

2012 - Das Kleine Format 2012, Blaues Haus, Diessen, Bavaria, Germany

2012 - Winter Exhibition, Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth, Cumbria

2011 - 'Bite - Artists Making Prints', Mall Galleries, London

2011 - Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Competition, Kings Place Gallery, London

2011 - 'Twelve', Rheged , Penrith, Cumbria

2011 - Wrexham Print International, Oriel Wrecsam , Wrexham and touring

2008 -  Connections and Differences,   Alan Stones and Rebecca Payn, Farfield Mill, Sedburgh, Cumbria

2008 - 'Because, Because I Do, I Do', University of Cumbria, Ambleside

2008 - 'Jerwood Drawing Prize', Jerwood Space London, & touring

2008 - 'Originals 08 - Contemporary Printmaking', Mall Galleries, London

2008 - 'Outside the Glass - Perspectives on the poet Norman Nicholson', Theatre by the Lake Keswick, & touring

2007 - 'Stone Plate Grease Water' - International Contemporary Lithography, MOMA Wales, and touring

2006 - 'Originals 06 - Contemporary Printmaking', Mall Galleries, London

2005 - 'Daffodils', Brantwood and Keswick Museum, Cumbria and touring to South Africa

2003 - 'Jerwood Drawing Prize', Jerwood Space London , & touring

2002 - Love, Labour and Loss, Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter Museum and Art Gallery

1999 - Cheltenham Open Drawing and touring to Brussels and Hull

1999 - East North East, Northern print studio and Nagoya Printworks Japan

1998 - Cheltenham Open Drawing and touring to Berlin and Hull -commendation

1998 - Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

1997 - Robert Horne Printmaking, Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery and touring

1994 - Art In The Garden, Oddfellows Gallery, Kendal, Cumbria

1989 - The Advent Calendar, Gallery North, Cumbria

1988 - Impressions Of Cumbria, Gallery North, Cumbria

1987 - Northern Prints, Edinburgh Festival

1987 - The Self Portrait - A Modern View, Artsite Bath and touring

1986 - Tradition And Innovation In Printmaking Today, Milton Keynes and touring

1983 - Artist In Industry, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield and touring

1982 - Six East Anglian Artists, Kettles Yard, Cambridge

Residencies

1996 - Printmaking Residency, Lowick House Printworkshop, Cumbria

1995 - Falkland Islands, Falkland Islands Government, South Atlantic

1984 - Artist in Industry Fellowship, Cooplands Bakery / Yorkshire Arts Association, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

Awards

?2017 - Cumbria Visual Artist of the Year, Cumbria Life Culture Awards - Finalist

2015 - Cumbria Visual Artist of the Year, Cumbria Life Culture Awards - Finalist

2015 - C-Art Cumbrian Artist of the Year - short listed and winner of The People's Choice Award

2015 - Upfront Open Exhibition, Unthank, Cumbria - 1st Prize

2008 - Originals Contemporary Printmaking, Mall Galleries, London 

2000 - European Union/Northern Arts Cultural Business Venture

1998 - 1st Hartlebury Award, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, Cumbria

1997 - Eden Arts Bursary

1996 - Lowick House Printmaking Residency

1988 - Northern Arts Loan

1987 - Northern Arts Travel Award

1986 - Northern Arts

1984 - Gulbenkian Foundation Printmakers Award

1979 - Eastern Arts Major Award

1978 - Eastern Arts Award

1976 - Eastern Arts Award

Major Commissions Include:

Falkland Islands Government, The National Science Museum, Portsmouth Central Library, Copeland Borough Council, IBM UK Ltd, Viscount Devonport, Eden District Council for Penrith Library, Count Fritz von der Schulengurg, Dista Products Ltd, Lord and Lady Inglewood, Mr William Irving, The Hon. Christopher and Margaret Vane, Culgaith Parish Council for Kikland Church

 
  Collections:
  The National Science Museum, London
  Cumbria County Library (Penrith)
  Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery
  Portsmouth Central Library
  Cooplands (Doncaster) Ltd
  St Marys Hospital, Isle of Wight
  Count Fritz Von der Schulenburg
  Lord and Lady Inglewood
  Viscount Devenport
  Paintings in Hospitals,
  Sheffield City Art Galleries
  Derbyshire Museum Service
  Bolton Museum and Art Gallery
  Tyne and Wear Museums
  Darlington Museum
  Howarth Art Gallery Accrington
  Gulbenkian Foundation
  Wakefield Art Gallery
  Imperial College of Science & Technology
  Bradford Industrial Museum
  Grundy Art Gallery Blackpool
  The Leicestershire Collection
  Penrith Hospital
  Nature in Art
  Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery
  MAFF
  University of Aberystwyth

Qualifications

1971 Dip Ad Fine Art, St Martin's Scool of Art, London

Influences
The news (world events), the life and landscape of the Eden Valley in Cumbria, psychology, and other artists - particularly Piero della Francesca, Hokusai and Michael Andrews